We had no idea we were following a longstanding tradition of activist cookbooks when we published our Recipes for a Digital Revolution from Latin America. NPR has a story this week about how American suffragists used cookbooks to fight for women’s’ rights to vote in the late 1800s.
Today, some might ask: What were feminists doing printing cookbooks? Wasn’t their whole movement aimed at empowering women beyond home and hearth?
The reply to this question from culinary archivist Jan Longone is that women used the tools they knew to get their message into the hands of other women. She says the recipes were also a kind of rebuttal to negative stereotypes of suffragists as unwilling mothers and cooks.
There were both real recipes and some infused with irony and political quotes. A 1915 Suffrage Cook Book from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania archived at the Michigan State University Library includes dishes such as “Hymen Cake”, “Mother’s Election Cake” and “Suffrage Salad Dressing”.
Easy to Follow
It makes sense. When Renata and I came up with the idea for a digital activism cookbook at my dining room table in Berlin, it began as a joke about how to encourage the involvement of women in digital rights work.
The reason we stuck with the idea is that it’s an easy to read format that everyone is familiar with. Our recipes aren’t actually edible, but if you follow them, you will definitely stir up trouble. We wanted people to feel inspired to try new things in a field of activism that has grown a little repetitive with countless hashtags and petitions. And we wanted to share ideas across borders, which is something cookbooks are great at.
Ahead of the Stockholm Internet Forum in October, we tested the cookbook concept and the ability of people in the global digital activism space to invent new recipes on the spot.
In our workshop, we divided participants into groups (“salad group”, “cocktail group”, etc) and had them brainstorm new recipes that they wrote on poster boards and presented to the rest of the participants.
Wouldn’t you just love to taste “Bloody Hate Speech on the Beach”, “Jollof Rights” and “Spicy SIM Cato Chips”? Delicious!
The results of the workshop were super creative and fun, and made us look forward even more to the next editions of the cookbook.
Aprons and all, we want to remind people that even at its most serious, digital activism anywhere in the world can be humorous and surprising.
Excited to present #porlasmujeres y #porlasniñas of @MConstruyendo at #SIF15 as a “DigitalRecipe” w #RoblesMaloof pic.twitter.com/YUN9viNcmP
— Claudia Calvin (@LaClau) October 20, 2015
And the fun continues… Pre #SIF15 @fxinternet pic.twitter.com/PjVXRn8Bg8 — Renata Avila (@avilarenata) October 20, 2015
Presenting our “Spicy (sim) chips” recipe at the pre #SIF15 audience at @Sida @fxinternet pic.twitter.com/ZyR0Yw81SI
— ExpoConsultores (@ExpoConsultores) October 20, 2015
Next group cooks Jellof Rights (teaching activists how to access blocked internet) #SIF15 @fxinternet @webwewant pic.twitter.com/x2PntY9rmS — Hannah McCarrick (@hannahmccarrick) October 20, 2015
Cooking activism at #SIF15 @Sida with @avilarenata @webwewant @webfoundation @fxinternet pic.twitter.com/9k6tqdG8MZ
— jens Karberg (@jenskarberg) October 20, 2015
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