BANFF FOODSCAPES
place-based research / library / educational programming
2015, Banff Centre, Canada
Located in the Canadian Rockies, Banff has a rich history largely shaped by tourism and the Banff Centre, which has been bringing international artists to the area since 1933. When I was invited to participate in a residency at the Banff Centre, led by artists Lucy and Jorge Orta around the theme FOOD WATER LIFE, I became curious about the region’s various and overlapping foodscapes.
RESEARCH
During this six-week residency, I studied Banff’s “foodscape” — the physical environment that has influenced, or is influenced by the growing, production, and cooking of food specific to a unique place. Within this foodscape are a national park; sacred land of the Blackfoot, Stoney Nakoda, and Tsuu T’ina Nations; an artist colony; and a town that is home to 8,500 people.
To understand each of these potentially-conflicting identities, each with their own food politic, I went into various communities and met with chefs, gardeners, and First Nations elders. I became particularly interested in how the tourism industry appropriates (or ignores) food from local Native cultures such as the Blackfoot and Stoney Nakoda. I noticed how distinct spaces surround five different foodscapes: the First Nations food culture, the abundant restaurant scene, the realms of homemade and garden-grown foods, and the food habits and preferences temporarily imported by artists visiting from around the world. I gathered menus, contacts, recipes, memories, and books to support my learning. I found important local case studies in the Bison Belong initiative, SAIT Honeybees, Alpine Edible Schoolyards, Blackfoot and Stoney Nakoda food-based rituals, Banff Indian Days, the Filipino immigration, and in the invasive trout.
BOOK GROUPS
Our residency’s seventeen-person cohort consisted of artists, architects, fashion designers, anthropologists, curators, and writers. Everyone, no matter their discipline, brought with them to Banff, a stack of books. I became curious about the resources collected around our group and facilitated a weekly book group during which individuals were invited to share about their books. I made a catalog of these ~100 books.
SYMPOSIUM
On August 8th, 2016, a year and a half following the residency, I returned to the Banff Centre to curate and host a panel discussion devised from my research. I invited four individuals to represent each of the four foodscapes: a restaurant owner to discuss food and the tourism industry, an employee of the park system to discuss National Parks and preservation, a farmer from the local "urban" farming initiative, artists who consider topics of food in their practice, and the role food has in the indigenous community: specific cuisine, healing aspects, processes of growing, ritual and culture. During the round table discussion, I asked each participant to speak on food as it relates to their livelihood (heritage, culture, work, home) as we considered together how food reflects, changes, and challenges Banff’s Bow Valley.
AFTERWARD
This series of events and activities reflects how I like to work in a distinct place. I relish the opportunity to do place-based research and develop projects that engage various communities in dialog about where they live and what they know.