Recipes for Disaster is a handbook that brings together narratives about cooking and eating during the aftermath of disaster events. Along with stories, the handbook features recipes that readers can recreate at home.
Food is a central part of the story of any disaster. In the immediate aftermath, communities must adapt to new and often precarious living situations, find ways to be creative with few ingredients, and grapple with the trauma of losing their homes, friends and family. Cooking and eating become a way to come together, to show care and to start the process of recovery. Community members, often women, modify recipes and work with limited ingredients to feed their families and communities.
After a disaster, gathering over food becomes a radical act of community resilience. But these moments - and the people that enable them - are rarely highlighted in narratives of disaster recovery. Through Recipes for Disaster we seek to shed light on these hidden stories and bring new protagonists to the fore.
Project Intentions
Recipes for Disaster highlights the vital role that women and girls play in repairing the social fabric of a community after a disaster. By examining disaster recovery through the lens of food, we aim to emphasise the importance of an ethic of care, to shed light on the gendered experiences of disaster, and to celebrate those whose praises often go unsung.
The word ‘recipes’ in
Recipes for Disaster was the subject of much internal debate. We are keenly aware that using recipes to cook food is a class-specific phenomenon, which often relies on having easy access to a wide range of ingredients, and the luxury of time in order to follow structured prescriptive steps in order to prepare a meal. We are also aware that, in many post-disaster contexts, people are struggling to survive and feed themselves and their families and are often dealing with scarce, precarious and monotonous food supplies. As such, for people in these dire contexts, the idea of understanding food through the lens of ‘recipes’ may feel inappropriate. As such, we conceive of ‘recipes’ in a broader sense of the word. Not so much as strictly food recipes, but as a figure of speech indicating things coming together – a way of referring to the entanglements1 of actors, conditions, actions, and intentions that amalgamate as stories of disaster recovery unfold. Through
Recipes for Disaster we intend to map these assemblages in order to tell a fuller, more complex, and less familiar story of resilience, community, and recovery.
Project Approach
In collecting stories and recipes, we took a decentralised approach whereby researchers who were familiar with the context of each project site worked with community members to gather stories and recipes. This approach allowed us to mitigate potential linguistic and cultural barriers while we centred and prioritised existing relationships and affinities. It also meant that the stories and recipes collected from each site reflect the unique context therein.
The three sites that we chose vary not only in terms of their geographical and cultural context, but also in terms of the type of disaster that occurred (e.g. tsunami vs. typhoon vs. flooding), the type of support that was available during recovery (e.g. international aid, local governmental aid, informal community-driven mutual aid), and the timeline of the recovery process. As such, these stories illustrate the range of different experiences faced by people during disaster recovery while shedding light on emergent threads of convergence and commonality.
So how did it work? Our three partner researchers each leveraged their personal and professional networks in order to arrange a multi-day visit to the site of a recent disaster event:
1. Dr. Pamela Cajilig went to San Vicente, Palawan, Philippines (the site of Super Typhoon Rai (Odette) in December 2021);
2.
Dr. Juniator Tulius went to Sipura, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia (the site of the 2010 Tsunami);
3. Ms. Charida Jitwongwai went to Chiang Rai, Thailand (the site of Mae Chan floods in 2014).
The researchers gathered stories from community members about their experiences of these disaster events, inquiring especially into the processes and strategies they employed in order to feed themselves during the disaster recovery period. They recorded their conversations with community members - gathering stories, quotes, and recipes about the food they ate, how they procured and prepared the food, who played an important role in feeding the community, how (if at all) food aid featured, and what food-related memories they still retain.
Ethical Risks, Considerations & Commitments
There are numerous potential ethical risks associated with a project like
Recipes for Disaster. The project team discussed these risks at length in order to mitigate them.
Our intention was to use the lens of food and recipes in order to elevate and make visible the crucial role that women and less commonly celebrated people play in disaster recovery. In so doing, we did all that we could to ensure that the project a) was not extractive, and that all who contributed to the project were compensated fairly for the value they added, and b) did not romanticise or trivialise people’s harrowing and traumatic post-disaster experiences by looking at them through the lens of food.
With this in mind, we decided upon the following ethical principles to guide our work:
Transparency: Information about the project (background, budget, people involved, etc.) was transparently shared with all members of the core project team. Through doing so, we prioritised transparency between all parties.
Accessibility: All stories and recipes were collected in the local language of the community members. The final website content was also translated back into these local languages so that community members could have full access to the project material that they inspired.
Equity: All research partners had their travel expenses covered and were paid equally for their contributions to the project. All core project team members and external consultants who help with other aspects of the project (project design, project management, content creation) were paid the same hourly rate. All communities from across the three sites were compensated equally for their contributions.
Sensitivity: Research partners conducted their research with community members with the utmost cultural and contextual sensitivity in mind. They prioritised building trust and deepening relationships over gathering specific information. They utilised a trauma-informed approach to asking questions and gathering stories and recipes.
Dialogue: Within the core project team, all members were asked to contribute their perspectives, ideas, and opinions. During decision-making, we aimed to ensure that all voices were given equal weight, power, and consideration, and that everyone was treated with respect and dignity.
Reflexivity: The core project team centred considerations of power in all stages of the project. By examining and explicitly acknowledging each of our own positionalities, we strove to mitigate and resist the replication and perpetuation of colonial power dynamics during our work (both with one another and with the communities).
The Team
Recipes for Disaster is an initiative by the Community Engagement Office at the Earth Observatory of Singapore. The project was first inspired by
Principal Investigator and Associate Professor David Lallemant from the Asian School of the Environment. Since his initial spark of inspiration, the project has brought together a range of collaborators who have each contributed to its creation.
Collaborators
Kei Franklin: Project Lead
Kei is a writer, facilitator, coach, and artist working at the intersection of culture and the environment. Central to her practice is the belief that the power dynamics that sustain broad systems of injustice are reflected in our relational lives. Any meaningful change, therefore, must involve intervention in the inter- and intra-personal realm.
Kei worked as a science writer in the Community Engagement Office at the Earth Observatory of Singapore before embarking on a career as an independent facilitator, coach, artist and community organiser. She grew up between New Orleans, Louisiana (USA), Dakar (Senegal), and Taos, New Mexico (USA). She spent three years in Eswatini, and called Singapore home from 2013 to 2020.
Kei’s formative life experiences seeded in her a deep curiosity about and comfort with navigating multi and intercultural contexts. She developed a keen awareness and embodied understanding of power dynamics and inequality from a young age, which have fueled her work in anti-imperial movements for justice.
As a white American with limited language proficiency in any Southeast Asian language but with experience forming deep relationships with colleagues and friends from across the region, Kei felt that the best way she could contribute to Recipes for Disaster was to act as a facilitator-convener of sorts, bringing together people with a broad range of skills, perspectives, and experiences in order to create a dynamic dialogue and collaboration.
Dr. Pamela Cajilig: Partner Researcher & Project Advisor
Pamela is a design anthropologist working at the intersection of disaster, climate change, community health, and women’s rights. Pamela believes that the lived experiences and voices of those most affected by contemporary crises should be central to designing products, services, and programs that contribute to bringing about social justice. This belief drives her participation in Recipes for Disaster.
After working for over a decade in consumer research in Manila, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur, Pamela co-founded Curiosity, a design and research consulting firm. In Curiosity’s first year of operation, and shortly after finishing her master’s degree in Anthropology, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck the Philippines. Pamela then worked on post-Yolanda recovery programmes involving humanitarian shelter and initiatives to address gender inequality and gender-based violence through Curiosity and in partnership with the Women’s Education Development and Productivity Research Program (WeDpro). This experience sparked her interest and commitment to contribute to the field of disaster risk reduction and management and deepen her understanding of the politics of post-disaster housing reconstruction by completing her PhD at the RMIT University Humanitarian Architecture Research Bureau in Melbourne.
Pamela uses her multisectoral background in the private, civic, and academic sectors to become a translator who helps identify shared goals and foster partnerships that attend to the needs and capacities of those living within climate extremes. While she identifies as a woman from the Global South whose personal life has been affected by several disasters, she believes that taking on a stance as learner when engaging with disaster-affected communities is one way to challenge her middle class educational and professional privileges. This stance is key to Pamela’s practice of anthropology as an endeavour in taking seriously those who have been systematically excluded by society.
Dr. Juniator Tulius: Partner Researcher
Juniator Tulius is an anthropologist who obtained his PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands in 2012. His academic focus was on the roles and functions of oral tradition with regards to current conflicts over land in Mentawai Islands in Indonesia.
Tulius is a Mentawaian, originally from the east-central part of Siberut Island. He spent his childhood in the village of Saibi Samukop and he left his village at the age of ten to pursue a better education by attending the Catholic Boarding School in Muara Siberut for five years. Thereafter, he left Siberut Island to live in Padang, the city capital of West Sumatra in order to pursue higher education. During this time he regularly returned to his island for family visits or in order to guide tourists and documentary filmmakers to meet Mentawai tribal communities. He was involved as a consultant and translator in the process of making several documentaries on Mentawai culture for different international broadcasters such as National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, ChannelNews Asia, France 2 and so on. After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in Anthropology at Andalas University in Padang, he moved to the Netherlands where he received his Masters and Ph.D. in Anthropology.
After spending 11 years in the Netherlands, in 2013 Tulius left the country and moved to Singapore in order to contribute his knowledge to the creation of more safe and sustainable societies in Southeast Asia. He began working at the Earth Observatory of Singapore at Nanyang Technological University, first as a community engagement specialist in the Community Engagement Office before shifting to his current position as a Research Fellow in the Centre for Geohazard Observations. In his current role he conducts research into the social and cultural perspectives and approaches regarding the social impacts of earthquake, tsunami and volcanic hazards on local communities in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Tulius’ work frequently takes him to Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and Singapore. During his fieldwork, he engages with local communities in an exchange of knowledge about the impacts of natural hazards on people and their environments.
Ms. Charida Jitwongwai: Partner Researcher
Charida Jitwongwai, also known as Bee, currently works as a full-time trader and resides in Phuket. Previously, she held the position of Assistant Manager in Relationship Management at the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS), before relocating to Phuket where she became the President of Phuket Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF).
Bee grew up in Phuket and Bangkok and gained a Master’s Degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management, she has also gained qualifications in in Mental Health Counselling and Image Consultancy. Bee developed her skills at relationship management across 15 years of professional experience working in different industries - at EOS, PDRF, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and even as a TV Presenter.
Bee has a passion for travelling and immersing herself in different cultures which allows her to connect with the people very quickly. Her prior experience in PDRF has given her insight into the distinct challenges that people encounter during crises. Bee believes that highlighting the contributions made by women through Recipes for Disaster can help to challenge stereotypes and promote gender equality.
Having never visited the North of Thailand, the region where her mother grew up, this project provided Bee the opportunity to better understand the local culture in Mae Chan. More importantly, she was enthused about meeting the inspiring women who made such remarkable contributions during the disaster and about being able to play her part in highlighting their efforts which had previously gone unnoticed.
Acknowledgements
This project was made possible by many thoughtful, skillful, and generous people who contributed their perspectives, advice, experiences, knowledge, connections, time, and wisdom. In particular, we would like to acknowledge:
· Associate Professor David Lallemant whose initial inspiration and ideas birthed this project.
· Dr. Lauriane Chardot who leads the Community Engagement Office with intentionality and skill and who acted as a crucial sounding board and co-creator of this project.
· Community members from a) San Vicente, Palawan: Minda Ponce-Rodriguez, Perlits and Noralyn Yayen, Junalyn Pangilinan, Ms. Thelma, Jan Paul Rodriguez, Princess Mae Selim, Minda B. Ponce, Jerry Lasaca, Maribel Cainos b) Sipora, Mentawai Islands: Village Head of Bosua Village of South Sipora District, Villagers of Bosua Village of South Sipora District, Santono Samangilailai, Julianus Waoma, Saragina Samaloisa, Juradis Tasilippet, Baniar Taikatubutoinan, Karta Sakerebau, Jainar Samangilailai, Rosita, Mersi, Erda, Dewi Elsa, and c) Mae Chan, Chiang Rai: Mr Nakhon Khampie, Miss Alisa Chaichomphu (Sai), Miss Jattakarn Somdaen (Tik), Miss LaOng Tiyapairach, Miss Orapin Kant (Maeluang Ton), Mr Seksan Chanthiratikul, Mr Samroeng Ranpoh, and Assistant to Miss LaOng Tiyapairach who shared their stories and recipes with generosity.
· Sanjana Tadepalli whose perspectives and ideas were foundational to the early iterations of their project.
· Dr. Nota F. Magno whose expertise and generous sharing helped us articulate the initial conceptual frames for this project.
· Feroz Khan, Dr. Christina Widiwijayanti, Dr. Maricar Rabonza, Dr. Sabine Loos, Dr. Patrick Daly, Dr. Lin Thu Aung, and Dr. Phyo Maung Maung who shared valuable insights, perspectives, and advice which helped us shape our project approach and ethical considerations.
· Elizabeth Wong who supported many of the vital administrative aspects of the project.