The Culture of Food and Notes on Tool Kits
On Food journals and how making curated kits allows me to stay consistent in my creative practice.
I have always loved drawing food. The different colors, textures and shapes found in food make it a very interesting drawing subject but there is an implicit emotional component in food that is not always discussed.
My food journal entries showed how the food I ate changed depending on who I was with and where I was at. It also spoke to how I was feeling - if I missed home, or if I was stressed, if I had too much work or if I was lonely. The pages were abundant with emotion.
“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” - Jean Anthelme Brillat
This past month, I had the opportunity to be part of the Isolation Journals - a community led by an amazing woman, Suleika Jaouad. The aim of the 30-day project was to keep a writing practice everyday for thirty days - a journal, if you will. The journal, however, turned out to be so much more. Not only was the experience transformative on shedding light to what a consistent creative practice can clarify, it ultimately enabled me to start this newsletter.
During the course of four weeks, Suleika went over the different forms of the journal. I particularly wanted to highlight something that she mentioned about the food journal or the Epicurean journal.
‘Writing about food or drink is a way into writing about so many other things that are important to us, like community, novelty, pleasure, tradition, or the singular joy of a bright yellow egg yolk.’
Like she mentioned, I realized how these pages are documentations of my culture and the rituals I unconsciously follow, narrating a deeply personal aspect of my identity. Food is also the closest tie we have to our ancestral roots - rekindling in us feelings of security, comfort and connection. I can not count the number of times I have yearned for a simple bowl of rice, fish and vegetables after a tiring day. There is an unexplained sense of comfort one garners from eating the food they grew up with.
Food is also closely tied to our cultural identities and associations of perceived gender roles. As I was thinking about this, I remembered this wonderful podcast from Racist Sandwich about Race, Family and Food with Amy Lam. Amy talks about her immigrant upbringing and how her relationship with food defined how she felt towards cooking.
“ It was deeply ingrained into my mother’s work ethic that her life is centered around food and cooking. My father wanted me to learn how to cook like my mom, even though, they were impressing upon me that I need to get a good education and get a good job, but yet also fulfill this gender role of being their good daughter and in the future being someone’s good wife - although my younger brothers did not have the same expectation.“
She goes on to discusses with her co-hosts how her immigrant mother never followed recipes from ‘cookbooks’ - she just knew the right proportion of spices, the right temperature to cook the meat, and the particular way to cut up ingredients for her complex recipes without having to refer to anything.
I could totally understand this sentiment - My mother has the largest cookbook in her head, and can retell any one of her hundred recipes at the notice of a phone call and I always marvel at how one could do this - especially considering the nature of complex Indian recipes.
When thinking about food, it’s almost impossible not to think about how food awakens all our other senses too. The crispy chew of a potato chip and the pungent smell of a roasted garlic are all memories that form associations for each of us in our own individual ways.
Being Indian, I can never think about food without thinking about how the house smells of roasted spices when I came back from school. The smell of fried fish always reminds me of home, no matter where I am.
Pondering about this, I realized that food is a universal way to communicate. At the most human level, being fed is the most fundamental way of communicating that we are cared for. The most powerful and unifying factor of food perhaps lies in this : We can always share a meal together even with those whom we can not have a conversation with. It is one of the simplest and easiest ways to express that we love each other.
With that, here are some spreads from my food journals ! Each page has something different highlighted about that day.
I was alone on this trip and saved the little note from the door dash receipt!
Another meal where I saved the bill along with shopping receipts from the evening right before. The steamed buns were so good!
Amazing noodles from Marugame Udon, Waikiki. If you ever go, you MUST try their noodles!
Had handmade noodles from NYC again and saved this extremely expensive bill from the bar downstairs just to remember how absurd it was!
If you are in Monterey and need a good, fresh, filling (and cheap) sand-which, try this place called Compagno’s Market and Deli ! Get a to-go and walk to San Carlos beach which is at the end of the road, and you can sit on the rocks and have your meal.
I did not get time to draw the food on this day because I was ravenous and gobbled everything up as soon as it got served, but while waiting, I drew the people standing in line + saved the little umbrellas from the pineapple juice!
As promised last week, I also wanted to share a bit about the tools I use when I travel to journal and sketch. This is like my favorite topic in the world, so…here goes!
On tools of trade and my DIY watercolor kit!
If you are an artist, or a writer or a baker or do any sort of creative activity, you know how important your tools are.
What counts, in making art, is the actual fit between the contents of your head and the qualities of your materials.
- Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
In my personal experience, I am most likely to sustain a creative practice if both these points are true.
If my tools are easily accessible : If it’s going to take me anything more than 3 minutes to source all my materials to create something, the likelihood of creating anything is going to get reduced by half. It is very important that I have everything I need at the easiest access point so there is least amount of resistance.
My tools should be a joy to use : I need my tools to be both beautiful and functional. Sometimes I open my sketchbook just to use a new pencil or feel the tip of the pen and this enables me to create more.
On that note, I would like to present to you my ingenious travel watercolor kit that I configured after numerous failed attempts, years of trying different things and frustrated screams. All the materials I used are readily available, so you can make your own! :D
Today I want to highlight the watercolor kit and all it’s components. It’s small but mighty!
The brass case is actually a cigarette holder. It is durable, strong and is a perfect pocket size. It has these two hinges with bars that is actually meant to hold cigarettes in place which works out well to hold all the little pans without movement!
Here’s a detailed shot of everything in the picture!
Brass cigarette case - I got mine from amazon.
Disposable palette paper attached to a business card for mixing paint
A kitchen towel / tissue
This foldable ruler that fits right in here that also acts as a protractor.
Water-soluble graphite pencil - I use these!
A mini-water color brush which is very good quality - I think it’s Windsor & Newton? I’ve used it so much that the brand name faded out.
Eye shadow palettes in different sizes!
Small putty eraser, small hard eraser cut to fit inside
Small sponge cut to size
By lining the insides of the brass case with a magnetic sheet, you can place the eye shadow/paint palettes anywhere within and you can be sure it wont move! I’ve found this simple palette of three basic colors and two additional pigments of water soluble graphite works well for me, but the great thing about this kit is that you can add in any number of color you want!
And the best thing is that it fits within the palm of your hand!
Now, you might ask, does this teeny tiny palette work? Can you really create good artwork with this?
Proof is in the pictures! I feel the limit really allows me to create without thinking too much. Because of the small size, I also use this handy kit at home when I am too lazy to take out all my painting supplies.
All right folks, thats it for this week! Thanks for sticking till the end! If you liked this post and think someone else will like it, please share it!
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Okay bye! See y’all next week!
Love this edition. Can’t wait to see more from you. That puttu & kadala is making me miss home right now🤤