Archival Dining™ is The House of Zaikanama’s practice of creating edible exhibitions.

 

The work begins with fragments from the archive: cookbooks, household manuals, memoirs, and scattered references to meals. These fragments are read carefully and placed in relation to one another. From them, a historical moment begins to take shape.

 

The aim is to use the historical method of reconstruction to examine and understand a strand of history of a particular period, often narrowed down to a specific geographical location and theme.

 

Our most recent series explored food and domesticity in nineteenth century Delhi. The data points, arguments, and artefacts of the exhibition are arranged according to a methodology that identifies ruptures and possible interpretations. As a research house we remain mindful of the evidence-based material culture and work within the limits of what is currently known. 

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In a conventional exhibition the artefacts remain on display. Here, they are not only displayed but engaged with through eating and tasting.

 

The exhibition ends when the artefacts are ingested.