Taste and smell are incredibly powerful in creating and negotiating memory, identity, perspective, and experience, but it rarely forms a sustained component of heritage strategies. Epi.Curio was developed to infuse flavours and smells of the past into the experiences and gastronomic creations of people in the present.

The project draws on curio cabinets and antiquarian approaches to curation as inspiration; these objects were collected, curated, and shown off, sparking curiosities and engagement with diverse cultures and histories.


Recipes, too, are heritage collections; individuals and families have long collected, curated, shared, or in some cases kept very secret, recipes that evoked particular identities, histories, and memories; like historical narratives, recipes are modified, manipulated, and negotiated. They are political, social, and economic; they are both shared and individual. The recipes, and the ‘artifacts’ they create, can therefore act as mechanisms through which to explore heritage and our understandings and imagination of the past.


Embracing open access resources, digital preservation, and experiential and sensory-based learning, Epi.Curio is a platform for curious and imaginative minds, and stomachs.

Authenticity

Recipes were developed from historical and archaeological resources on food, flavours and cooking processes, as well as museum collections and archives of objects, pairing recipes with appropriate artifacts. Some deviations from authenticity were taken to reflect the availability of products and particular equipment in modern kitchens; these changes were noted as much as possible in recipes for transparency but it was considered necessary for the accessibility of the resource. There are other opportunities for authentic versions of recipes and cooking techniques particularly at historical interpretation centres and in specialist books, but this is truly a resource for contemporary home bakers. This also leaves it open for others to reinterpret recipes, modify to their own abilities and resources, explore, play and get creative (and report back via contributions and comments).


Recipes are meant to be collected, shared, and modified, as they always have been. There is room for tradition as it replicates particular experiences. However, it is impossible to wholly and completely replicate the past; these recipes are meant to be fun and playful ways to engage with heritage and imagine the past. So experiment, modify, and report back. Share the recipes with others (though it would be appreciated if you cite/link back to this site where possible). Develop new skills and perspectives, and act on them.

Creator

Katherine Cook is a PhD student in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, and lives in Hamilton, Canada. Her research combines ethnography, material and landscape analysis, and digital technologies to explore historical archaeology, particularly death, commemoration and identity in the transatlantic worlds of Canada, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. She is an avid baker, and all things sweet are her main vice!

Follow her (and the development of projects like this) on Twitter: @KatherineRCook

This project was inspired by and developed in participation with Heritage Jam 2015 at the University of York.


Many thanks to those who ate, commented and tweaked the recipes, design and visualisations for this project (particularly Chrissy Taylor). I also appreciate my current involvement and mentorship at the Institute for Digital Archaeology at the University of Michigan, which has sparked a great deal of my interest in digital heritage, and given me some of the skills to muddle through the web-based element of this project.