What We Ate
No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers. — Laurie Colwin
The project was born out of a question: Why do we only focus on the roles of fighters and rebels during wars and conflicts? Why do we erase the mothers, aunts, grandmothers, etc who fed and cared for these fighters and led quiet revolutions in their homes?
What We Ate explores the relationships between African women in the diaspora and their matriarchs back home. The matriarchs tell their stories, about how they lived, how they held their families together, and how the food eaten during that time created connections that last to this day. These women recreate the food that meant so much to their families, turning a simple act of cooking into a preservation of memory and a celebration of resistance.
Somehow, despite zero filmmaking experience, a $0 budget and a threadbare team, this film is well on its way to being finished. I might not have started this project if I knew how hard it would be. But fools rush in, and in this case, it seems to have paid off.