Ye Shufang

PROJECT - RECIPE BOX
(mothers disguised as recipes disguised as art)

A Collaborative Project for Women/Beyond Borders, Singapore 2001


DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
A collection of recipes printed on palm-size cards, presented in a small box. Black words printed on white cards, seemingly militant in its instructions, spelling out the intimate history of a mother’s own recipe.

I would like you to invite your mother to contribute a recipe for this project. This could be an elaborate dish (would she divulge the secret ingredients?), or it could be as simple as achieving the perfect half-boiled egg.

The word "recipe" is open to interpretations, remedies/ conversations that occur in the kitchen/ contents of a pre-packed lunch/ etc. So far, some of the recipes include kaya toast, a stiff drink and super-sensational Bamiah.

I am also working on the possibility of selling, exchanging or sharing these recipes to enable the subtleties of a culinary dialogue between different mothers/ families/ countries to begin. Issues of copyrights are in the process of being worked out, you will be informed before anything is being printed.

Please send or email one of your mother’s recipe to me before 1 January 2001.
Have fun!
________________________________________________________________________________________________
EXAMPLE

MOTHER’S NAME (age)
CHILD’S NAME (son/ daughter, age)
NAME OF DISH (origin/ or original?)
Gai See Meen (Chicken Noodles, Cantonese style)

INGREDIENTS
4 Chinese dried black mushrooms
1 cup shredded poached chicken
1 lb. Chinese thin egg noodles
1 cup of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of rice wine
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
½ tablespoons of dark soya sauce
Chinese sesame oil, sugar, salt, pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Boil mushrooms until soft. Squeeze out excess water. Cut the caps into thin slices.
Poach and shred chicken into strips. Stir in a teaspoon of sesame oil and rice wine to season chicken strips.
Boil the stock, oyster sauce, soya sauce, sugar and mushrooms in a wok. Allow gravy to simmer for 5 minutes.
Boil noodles in a pot. Drain away water when the noodles are soft.
To serve, dish noodles onto a plate and dribble sesame oil over the noodles.
Distribute the chicken, and pour the mushroom gravy over noodles.

TIPS
Chicken may be prepared and seasoned overnight for more flavour. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
**This is just a guideline, please include any other information which you feel is important.

Thank you very much for contributing to this project, do contact me if you have any questions.

Ye Shufang
1 December 2000


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ABOUT WOMEN/ BEYOND BORDERS (WBB)

Women/ Beyond Borders (WBB) is a cross-cultural collaboration that was conceived by Lorraine Serena and Elena Siff in Santa Barbara, California. This travelling exhibition first took place in 1995; and to date, comprises a collection of 400 boxes, from artists from 26 countries.


WBB Singapore will feature about 150 boxes from Singapore along with 200 boxes from more than 26 countries. The curators are Joyce Fan and Susie Wong, organisers are Lorraine Serena (WBB) and Patricia Chen-Law (Sculpture Square).