From left to right: Siliga Setoga’s artwork of a lolly lay with common New Zealand brands flipped to Pasifika stereotypes. An assortment of misleading food labels. A women labelled with a question mark.
The only time my mum would allow scissors on the kitchen table, was when we were making lolly lays.
Airport customs got their way, and we preserved frail flowers in lolly wrappers to give back and forth between nations.
Through Siliga Setoga’s (2015) artwork I tasted my own sweet story of diaspora.
I found his lollies wrapped in stereotypes, the same ones I welcome my cousins from the islands with, fresh off the boat. They taste bitter but better than the lollies my cousins are always chewing when they ask me, “are you a real Tongan?”
Funny, how this sounds more like a statement than a question.
Angry Chef Anthony Warner (2014) questions the ‘pseudo-science’ facts of food diets and labels, criticizing the generalization of nutritional ideas, simply because they’re easier to swallow.
Funny, how this same mentality applies to stereotypes.
Funny, how most meanings are lost to convenience.
The labels we accept, whether bought off supermarket shelves or cheap prejudice, on food and people, shapes society. Henry Hargreaves (2017) reveals this idea in his food maps,
through the significance of specific foods in literally and socially shaping national identities.
I’m still trying to define my own.
I’m still unsure whether it’s rooted in chicken with mashed potatoes or lu pulu with talo, the land or the sea, New Zealand or Tonga.
But until then, I will still finish my plate.
References:
Barkman, L. (Photographer). (2015, August 28). Labels are for bins, not people [digital image]. Retrieved from https://lauriebarkman.com/2015/08/28/labels-are-for-bins-not-people-repost/
Hargreaves, Henry. 2017. “Playing with Food” in Kai and Culture, ed. Emma Johnson. Wellington: Free Range Press. Pp. 72-77
Naked Food Magazine. (Photographer). (2015) The 13 Most Misleading Food Label Claims [digital image]. Retrieved from https://nakedfoodmagazine.com/13-most-misleading-food-label-claims/
Siliga, S. D (Photographer). (2015, December 21) Lolly Lay [digital image]. Retrieved from https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/article/super-sonic-sour-suck-pop-art-sculpture-holiday-workshop
Warner, Anthony. “About.” The Angry Chef. Updated 2014. https://angry-chef.com/about
Not being a minority (ie. white) and coming from a very simple and boring cultural background I found Siliga’s talk very eye opening. Really interesting to see how Siliga related his identity to the foods his family ate and also the processes in which it was prepared.
I can imagine that taking back the labels he was identified as would be quite empowering for someone who may have been trapped within the confines of those labels. By placing those phrases on the foods that were introduced to the Pacific, Siliga identifies the source of the of his labels.
It’s great to see that you were able to relate to his experience and I hope you are empowered by his work to be able to identify as yourself and not how you may be labeled at a cultural level.
Your blog post reads beautifully! I think it holds the wider mentality and frameworks around the food culture of the immigrant and second gen immigrant, but also is so delicately personal. It feels fresh yet familiar because your experiences are far from my own, but reading this gave me an odd sense of dejavu. I really enjoyed it 🙂