The simple dinner table of any given individual, family, or community is in reality the culmination of a complex network of historical events, geopolitics, and environmental opportunities. As such, the rituals of food preparation and consumption are an undeniably powerful tool to understand and reflect upon a particular culture or peoples.
Urban centers in the Hejaz Region are characterized by their ethnographically diverse civic communities. For hundreds of years, Makkah, Jeddah, and Madinah have acted as capital cities for Muslims of any background by virtue of Hajj, trade, and education. Pilgrims from as far away as Java, Africa, and Central/Southeast Asia have settled in these urban centers and formed communities with their distinct set of customs, attire, and cuisine.
Much of this diverse cultural heritage is being diluted today as a consequence of capitalist interest and the proliferation of consumerist behaviors. In spite of an increasingly homogenizing cultural landscape, cuisine still remains a strong testament to the rich cosmopolitan narratives that characterize Hejazi urban societies. By unpacking the geopolitics of food that support the ethnic communities integral to Hejazi civic society, we may highlight the diverse makeup of this culture and study its position vis-a-vis global networks of travel, trade, and cultivation. This understanding would allow us to critically re-assess contemporary discourses on national identity through the framework of migration of peoples, cultures, and materials.
This body of work would kick off with an assessment of the Indonesian community and the widespread popularity of their cuisine in the western region of the Kingdom until today. With a long history dating back centuries, the relationship between Makkah and Java provides a rich, well-documented case study of this unique form of trans-continental exchange. Themes of integration, appropriation, and autonomy would be explored in relation to the Indonesian community and their Saudi descendants through their distinctive cuisine. A performative dinner, infographics, cartography, table wear, and cast objects are among the physical and ephemeral expressions explored to narrate the contemporary and historical role of this community. More generally, this project aims to highlight the natural and cultural consequences of food production, transportation, and consumption.
