After taking a break over the summer, the community curator group reconvened at the Pioneer Museum’s learning loft. Getting together for the first time since making a simple Zough recipe in July, the group brought with them the coriander, parsley and chillies they had managed to grow from seed. Our harvest was not very abundant, but with some added supplies, the group were able to make batches of a new ‘Rochdale grown’ spicey zough relish.
Collectively making the zough marks the beginning of our next phase of activity, where we will be collectively making decisions on the stories we want to share in the Dining Room Space. We will be using museum objects and items from the local community to tell different stories of Rochdale that connect to the diverse communities of the borough both past, present and future.
Considering our task ahead, we reflected upon our decision to use food as a means to explore Rochdale’s diverse history. We all have experiences of food – the act of eating or sharing a meal is something that connects each of us across cultures and communities, as well as being a means to connect us to communities of the past. Rochdale has a unique connection to food, being the home of the Rochdale Pioneers and the global co-operative moment. The movement was initiated through a desire for access to unadulterated nutritional food and the belief that everyone should have access to good quality staple produce, in a sense it was a movement for food justice. Moving from the Pioneers to the contemporary moment Rochdale’s history of food tells a story of the shifting make-up of the town and expanding food palette. As we continue to meet, the group will begin to unpick some of those changes and consider which stories they would like the Dining Room space to tell.