The records of the Asian American Foodways Project document the planning, execution and outcome of the Anacostia Community Museum's effort to collect community-informed evidence of Chinese American, Korean American and Vietnamese American food businesses, practices and traditions in the Washington, DC metropolitan region. The project was carried out between August 2020 and December 2022 and involved photo-documentation, interviews, collecting, and description by community curators. Materials include photographs, interviews, video, advertisements, menus, recipes and other ephemera. The project received Federal support from the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
Scope and Contents:
The records of the Asian American Foodways Project encompass hundreds of photographs, some 40 audio interviews, and 2.05 linear feet and 27.4 GB of field-collected materials including recipes and cookbooks, restaurant menus, supermarket flyers, and other ephemera. The bulk of the material dates from 2020 to 2022, with some photographs and ephemera dating to the late 2010s.
The collection was developed in close consultation with the project's community-based scholars. The series are arranged according to types of businesses or organizations (e.g. eating & dining) or types of activities (e.g. festivals & events), and reflect a desire to convey the curatorial underpinnings of the project while also facilitating public access and understanding. Subseries correspond to specific individuals, organizations, places, or events. All photographs and interviews were described or captioned by the scholars.
Materials documenting neighborhoods with Asian American businesses include photographs of urban landscapes and food businesses, from individually-owned institutions to franchises of popular chains from East Asia. Photographs also depict food products for sale in markets and shopping centers.
Asian American producers and distributors are documented with photographs and interviews that provide insights on farming, supply chains, kitchen equipment, cottage food producers, catering and meal delivery services.
Asian American supermarkets and convenience stores are documented with photographs, interviews, and supermarket flyers. The materials document both Asian- or ethnic-focused markets and small stores in neighborhoods with a smaller Asian presence.
The eating and dining series consists of photographs, interviews and menus that document Asian American food services including new and legacy restaurants; take-out or carry-out businesses; and food delivery services. Menus provide a record of local tastes, culinary offerings, imagery, and prices, as well as insight into business models and locations.
Festivals and events held in the Washington, DC region are documented with photographs, interviews, short videos, and programs or flyers. These include community festivals, sponsored events that promote Asian American food and culinary traditions, and public celebrations of significant Asian American holidays such as Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival.
The work of Korean American artists is documented via photographs and interviews. Another series focuses on recipes and cookbooks developed, compiled, transcribed or commemorated by Asian American home cooks. Materials include photographs, interviews, recipes and cookbooks.
Project files contain background research, planning documents, internal and external correspondence, reports, newspaper articles, and working photos of the community curators.
Arrangement:
The Asian American Foodways Project Records collection is arranged into 8 series which were conceived in close consultation with the project's community-based scholars. The series are arranged according to types of businesses or organizations (e.g. eating & dining) or types of activities (e.g. festivals & events). Subseries correspond to specific individuals, organizations, places, or events.
Series 1: Neighborhoods with Asian American food businesses, 2021-2022
Series 2: Producers and distributors, 2021
Series 3: Supermarkets and convenience stores, 2020-2022
Series 4: Eating and dining, 2020-2022
Series 5: Festivals and events, 2021
Series 6: Artists and creators, 2021
Series 7: Recipes and cookbooks, 2021-2022
Series 8: Project files, 2020-2022
Historical:
The Asian American Foodways Project was developed by the Anacostia Community Museum's Collections & Research department in collaboration with food scholars Jung Min (Kevin) Kim and Anh Hong Duong, who acted as community curators. The project launched in August 2020 and continued until December 2022, with the goal to document Asian American culinary traditions, food businesses and foodways that are a mainstay of the Washington, DC metropolitan area's food landscape. The project focused specifically on the local Chinese American, Korean American and Vietnamese American communities, and happened in parallel with the development of the museum's exhibition Food for the People: Eating and Activism in Greater Washington (April 17, 2021-September 17, 2022).
Topics addressed in the project include Asian American contributions to the food landscape in the DC-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) region, from farming and food production to supermarkets and other points of sale, as well as food preparation and dining, including restaurants, cafes, catering and take-out. A range of businesses are documented, and a theme that emerges is urban development and demographic change, with providers opening or relocating in neighborhoods with large Asian American populations, or adapting and diversifying offerings to cater to a broader clientele. Documentation covers public spaces and businesses in traditionally Asian American enclaves such as Wheaton, Maryland; Annandale, Virginia; the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, DC; Union Market in Washington, DC; and the Eden Center shopping complex in Falls Church, Virginia.
Another topic is the way food touches on the everyday lives of Asian Americans in the Washington, DC region. Collecting was guided by themes including tradition, exchange, innovation, hybridity, resistance, resilience, and social justice. The collection documents ways in which local Chinese American, Korean American and Vietnamese American communities have preserved and/or adapted dishes, recipes, and practices. An area of focus is the range of ingredients sold in ethnic markets and supermarkets, specialty products available from small businesses, and seasonal and holiday foods produced or sold locally. Local Asian American cuisine is documented in restaurant menus, photographs, and interviews with food business owners from restaurateurs to take-out and food-delivery operators.
The role of food and meals in facilitating social and cultural connections among Chinese American, Korean American and Vietnamese American communities is documented. Some legacy dining institutions double as popular meeting spots for civic and social groups, and church cookbooks share the congregation's recipes. Documentation also covers the celebration of traditional holidays such as Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival, when many Asian American businesses increase sales of traditional foods, and Asian American communities gather and celebrate their common heritage. Also documented are several Korean American artists whose work connects to food and foodways.
The project enabled community-informed documentation of Asian American food traditions and foodways. Museum staff worked closely with food scholars Jung Min (Kevin) Kim (Korean American) and Anh Hong Duong (Vietnamese American) to develop collecting priorities, identify content, and describe collected materials. The scholars leaned on their academic expertise and intimate knowledge of the cultures and communities involved. They led outreach and communication with individuals, businesses and organizations, identified and acquired relevant photographs and materials, conducted interviews, and in collaboration with museum staff, developed rich descriptions of the materials.
The project was affected by the COVID 19 pandemic, which curtailed opportunities for in-person engagement, cancelled cultural events, and caused some businesses to pivot, downsize or close. The pandemic was also associated with a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and violence nationwide, which influenced this project and its participants.
The project team, including Jung Min (Kevin) Kim, Anh Hong Duong, and the museum's collections manager Miriam Doutriaux, expresses its gratitude to the many people who contributed to making this project a success—prime among them, the participants who generously shared their time, knowledge and insights, and consented to their activities and businesses being documented. The museum's archivist, Jennifer Morris, contributed significantly to shaping, arranging, and describing the collection, and registrar Grant Czubinski facilitated acquisitions. Curator Samir Meghelli served as an advisor on the project and archivist Christina Meninger supported cataloguing.
Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Asian American Foodways Project Records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
This Asian Pacific American Foodways Project received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
This subseries contains photographs and an oral history interview documenting the work of Korean American artist Mea Rhee, who owns Good Elephant Pottery. Materials were created in 2021.
Biographical / Historical:
Good Elephant Pottery is the ceramics studio of Korean American artist Mea Rhee in Silver Spring, Maryland. Rhee produces rustic buncheong-style stoneware, a form of Korean stoneware that was traditionally used as table and tea ware and dates to the Joseon dynasty, and applies hakeme (also known as gye-yal in Korean) slip work, a traditional ceramic technique of brushing white slip onto clay. Her work blends her Korean heritage with her Maryland upbringing, as seen in her use of Maryland motifs and designs such as the blue crabs and blue herons. Rhee was born and raised in Maryland, and graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in graphic design. After working as a designer for almost 20 years, she established Good Elephant Pottery in 2002 and dedicates herself full time to ceramic making.
Related Materials:
This subseries contains artifacts catalogued in the ACM Objects collection.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment: ACMarchives@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection Citation:
Asian American Foodways Project Records, Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
This Asian Pacific American Foodways Project received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
An interview with Gala Porras-Kim conducted 2020 August 20, by Josh Franco, for the Archives of American Art's Pandemic Oral History Project Porras-Kim's car in Los Angeles, California.
Biographical / Historical:
Gala Porras-Kim (1984- ) is a Colombian and Korean American multi media artist based in Los Angeles, California. Porras-Kim interrogates museological norms through drawings, sculptures, and large installations.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the audio is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the audio recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Multimedia artists -- California -- Los Angeles Search this
Museum für Kunsthandwerk Frankfurt am Main Search this
Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place:
Korea (South) -- History -- April Revolution, 1960
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Chunghi Choo, 2007 July 30-2008 July 26. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Korea (South) -- History -- April Revolution, 1960
Date:
2007 July 30-2008 July 26
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Chunghi Choo conducted 2007 July 30-2008 July 26, by Jane Milosch, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the artist's home, in Iowa City, Iowa.
Choo speaks of establishing the Metalsmithing and Jewelry program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City; the elaborate equipment, tools, and safety protection used in the studio; her experience teaching silent metalforming at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine; participating in international workshops and seminars in Korea; the extensive world traveling she does with her husband, Dr. Charles Read, including destinations in Scandinavia, Thailand, Austria, Italy, and South Africa, among others; the house she designed in Iowa City; her love of the city and being surrounded by treasured friends, a supportive university, and beautiful environments; an interest in creative cooking and appreciation for diverse dishes from all around the world; her childhood and young adulthood in Inchon, Korea; growing up with an appreciation for beautiful art objects and classical music; an early interest and talent in drawing; attending Ewha Women's University as generations of women in her family had previously; experiences during the Korean War and April 19 Revolution in 1961; coming to the United States in 1961 as a student; studying English, ceramics, enameling, and stone cutting for one semester at Penland School of Crafts in Penland, N.C.; attending Cranbrook Art Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and studying metalsmithing with Richard Thomas, ceramics with Maija Grotell, and weaving with Glen Kaufman; living with Mrs. Loja Saarinen during her three and a half years at Cranbrook; teaching general craft at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Rapids from 1965-1968; pioneering the mixed-media studies with her students at UNI; accepting the challenge to build a metalsmithing and jewelry program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1968; learning and teaching electroforming; the development of the electro-appliqué technique; extensive donor support and fundraising for the Metalsmithing and Jewelry program and its students; finding inspiration in nature, East Asian calligraphy, classical music, and travel; her long friendship with Jack Lenor Larsen and the great influence he has had on her work; being represented in major art museums and institutions world-wide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Museum fur Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt, Germany, and many others; the joy she has when her students succeed and surpass her; and plans for future work, writing projects, and travel. Choo also speaks of the 2008 flooding of Iowa City and the state of Iowa during which her studio was severely damaged and many things were lost. Choo also recalls Park, No Soo; Lee, Sang Bong; Ruth Kao; Stanley Lechtzin; Yuho Fujio; David McFadden; Paul J. Smith; Rosanne Raab; Cody Bush; Jocelyn Chateauvert; Mary Merkel Hess; Sandra Mayer-VanderMey; Kee-ho Yeun, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Chunghi Choo (1938- ) is a Korean American educator, metalsmith, jeweler, and textile and mixed media artist based in Iowa City, Iowa. Interviewer Jane Milosch is a curator from Silver Spring, Maryland.
General:
Originally recorded 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 27 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 22 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
An interview of Johsel Namkung conducted 1989 Oct. 5-1991 Feb. 25, by Alan Chong Lau (1989) and David Takami (1991), in Seattle, Wash., for the Archives of American Art Northwest Asian American Project. Namkung discusses his family background and the effect of living under Japanese occupation in Korea; U.S. immigration in the late 1940's; studies in music; his determination to become a photographer, early color photography, his philosophy as a photographer; and the Asian American community in Seattle. Namkung recalls Paul Horiuchi, Mark Tobey, George Tsutakawa and Chao-Chen Yang.
Biographical / Historical:
Johsel Namkung (1919- ) is a Korean American photographer based in Seattle, Washington.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hrs., 37 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Photographers -- Washington (State) -- Seattle Search this
Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (digital audio file)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Date:
2016 July 08
Scope and Contents:
Oliver Shin-Shen Wang; DJ Rhatrick [None]
Collection Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
Collection Citation:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Wiegand Gallery records, circa 1941-2019. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Johsel Namkung, 1989 Oct. 5-1991 Feb. 25. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Gala Porras-Kim, 2020 August 20. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Traces and trajectories : current works by ten Korean-American artists : participating artists, Namu Cho ... [et al.], January 6-31, 2009 / [curator/producer, Komelia Hongja Okim]
