BROOKE KIPLING, 2021 MPS SHOWCASE

Storytelling through Food: Migrant Narratives from Tijuana’s Food Sites during Pandemic times

My 2021 Mellon Public Scholars Project, “Storytelling through Food: Migrant Narratives from Tijuana’s Food Sites during Pandemic times,” is about rediscovering what mutual aid means for migrant communities in and around Tijuana during pandemic times. Collaborating with Indigenous migrant chef, Doña Esther Morales Guzmán, on her mutual aid project, “Comida Calientita”, or “Hot Food”, we served hundreds of tamales and platters of beans to migrants across Tijuana, whether in shelters, on the street, in front of clinics, or in crisis centers through the summer of 2021. Through the direct action of serving food to and with migrants, networks of solidarity materialized.