Trade–me–nemen is a collaboration between Suzan Kalle & Suat Öğüt that takes as point of departure a popular Turkish dish called Menemen, which becomes a social metaphor that allows them to explore hidden stories, customs, culture, and the experience of place. Between 6 and 27 October, Kalle & Öğüt took over our Instagram account, and every Tuesday around lunchtime published videos that unfold the history of the dish and its value as a part of a long genealogy of traditional cuisine. Trade-me-nemen was presented as part of the festival ‘A Matter of (In)digestions‘ that organised in October-November 2020.
About the artists
Suzan Kalle holds a BA in Museology (2011) and a MA in Education in Arts from the Amsterdam University of the Arts (2016). She initiated De Kijkdoos, a public art project space on De Weesperstraat, Amsterdam in 2010-2018. Since 2015 She is a co-founder from Corridor Project Space, an non-profit art space in Amsterdam. She is currently a museum teacher at Sound and Vision, Land Art, HKU and founder of Corridor Catering with Su.
Suat Öğüt is graduated from Marmara University, Fine art Education Department, Painting and Sculpture department in 2017. In 2011-13 he was in post graduation program at HISK, in Ghent, Belgium. Since 2015, Öğüt is one of the founder at Corridor Project Space in Amsterdam. In his works he has an interdisciplinary approach to his work, wanders around identity, biography, artworks values and culural consumptions by relationship about memory, perception and witness. His works were exhibited at Framer Framed, Van Gogh Huis, Melkweg, Get-Lost, Corridor Project Space, W139, PuntWG and Unfair in the Netherlands, SALT, KASA gallery, DEPO, Akbank Sanat, PILOT Gallery in Turkey, HISK, Art Brussels in Belgium, Apartment Project in Germany and Storefront Marketplace in USA. He currently lives and works in Amsterdam.
Links
Post 1- Tuesday 06/10/2020
This video is a short introduction about how the handmade copper pan that is traditionally used to cook the dish, is produced in the South of Turkey. What leads us to the creation of the pan and hearing the stories by its maker as we believe every object has its story. Our interest triggered to find out other layers of searching where the particular taste of the dish comes from.
Post 2 – Tuesday 13/10/2020
Menemen presumably comes from the Greek ‘menemenos’, which means ‘overflow’ (this makes sense when you see the dish). Menemen can be prepared in different ways, with cheese, sucuk (a sausage cooked with garlic), onion; even garlic can be added. But what remains the same in each recipe are tomatoes, green peppers and eggs.
The exact origins of the dish are debatable because it is part of the complexity of the story. Some food historians believe that it spread to Spain and the Greater Middle East from Ottoman Turkey, while others believe it originated in Morocco. A third theory is that it comes from Yemen, where it is served with zhug, a hot green paste.
Post 3 – Tuesday 20/10/2020
In their contribution this week, Kalle & Öğüt see the use of the term “taste” as a kind of metaphor: as a moment of reflection on food rather than as an aesthetic judgment. These videos refer to an ability to discern taste and to question the sound of other aesthetic qualities, which seems intriguing and paradoxical.
Here, we study how real food and taste can correspond to the ingredients of men’s part of the daily routine of life.
Post 4 – Tuesday 27/10/2020
In collaboration with food historian Tamara Votjechovsky, Kalle & Öğüt produces a series of 5 short videos that take us on a historical journey of the Menemen dish and reflect on its main ingredients: cottage cheese, eggs, tomatoes, and peppers.
Tamara Votjechovsky is co-founder of Spijspad where she creates and gives food history tours that include a lot of tasting.