Pickled Eggs and Natural Dyes: Food as Active Memory
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Abstract
Food and grief are often closely connected. Many people prepare favorite foods of passed loved ones as part of a healing process—a way to remember. Re-creating beloved recipes can help bring memories to life. But how can we re-create those memories in the kitchen while also learning to live without the individuals we’ve lost? I argue that sometimes, to navigate grief, discovering new cooking techniques can help the mourning process. In an interview conducted in 2021 with Toronto resident Gaïa Orain, I learned how she began to pickle eggs using natural dyeing techniques as a coping mechanism for the death of her mother. While Gaïa’s mother was an avid cook, pickling eggs was not her recipe. It was something Gaïa learned on her own and has since come to embody her mother’s essence and a way for Gaïa to actively remember and honor her while simultaneously developing a sense of autonomy.
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