Cooking up a connection with refugees
Place des Arts event aims to bring refugees and Montrealers together
Place des Arts is being transformed into a refugee camp this weekend.
Rows of white tents have been erected on the Ste-Catherine St. esplanade like those that shelter desperate people who have run for their lives. Old suitcases snake up the steps to the plaza, as if dragged there by migrants hauling their hastily packed possessions.
This is not a real refugee camp, of course, but part of an art project called Cuisine Ta Ville by the activist collective ATSA, which translates from French to “When Art Takes Action.”
Visually, the lines of tents are cold, uniform and austere, meant to convey a landscape of limbo and disorientation. But what ATSA has planned for the interiors will warm the heart.
Inside, real refugees who have come to this city to build new lives, will make soup for small groups of Montrealers. And while the cooking takes place, hopefully, so will conversations, said Annie Roy, who along with Pierre Allard, is a co-founder of ATSA.
“It will be like someone inviting you into their home,” said Roy.
The refugees who will tell their stories while they chop and stir come from Vietnam and Burundi, Colombia and Congo, Poland and Algeria — and of course, Syria. Some are old; others young. Some have been here for decades; others are recent arrivals. As Roy pointed out, they are real people who will be sharing very personal and, in some cases, difficult ordeals.
“These are ordinary folks. They’re not actors,” said Roy. “They are working very hard preparing their testimony. They have a need to communicate what has happened in their lives so we understand what they’ve been through . ... These people have resilience, humility, courage.”
All the elements of Cuisine Ta Ville have been carefully considered to cultivate an exchange between cultures and individuals. There is nothing more Québécois than a kitchen party, unifying participants on common ground: Montreal. The actual tents are a nod to local custom as well: the ubiquitous tempos used to cover cars from Quebec’s harsh winters are standing in for United Nations-issue shelters that house refugees.
Making food the focal point of the encounter plays on the reality that for many, their first or only exposure to a foreign country is through the cuisine. And soup itself is full of significance. It is common to every ethnicity. It is comfort food. It warms. It nourishes.
“Cooking food is a universal experience,” said Roy. “There’s love in food. It transmits culture. Human warmth comes from food.”
ATSA’s body of work, carried out over the past 20 years, address contemporary social issues such as globalization, climate change and homelessness. Like all their projects, Cuisine Ta Ville is designed to foster dialogue, build understanding, and push people beyond their own little bubbles by relying on physical experiences.
In this case, the aim is to create a convivial and intimate atmosphere between perfect strangers. And what better way than cooking, eating and chatting together in a small enclosed space?
Each kitchen party will last about an hour. Participation will be determined on a first-come, first-served basis. Groups will be limited to 10 to 15 to keep the atmosphere intimate. There are servings almost every hour Saturday and Sunday.
A second event will also take place over warm bowls of soup. Strangers will be paired up, positioned in chairs face to face, and encouraged to have a spontaneous conversation on a topic to be proposed by a moderator.
Films and documentaries on refugee experiences will be screened in some tents and a large map that plots the history of immigration to Montreal is on display.
Cuisine Ta Ville is part of the arts programming for the city’s 375th birthday. It celebrates Montreal’s history as a city shaped by waves of newcomers. And it attempts to recognize that different groups and communities have contributed to creating the only French-speaking metropolis in North America.
But make no mistake: Cuisine Ta Ville also has a political message, said Roy. It seeks to challenge the rising tide of nationalism, xenophobia and hatred we are witnessing head on, one person, one encounter at a time.
“It’s a political act to come here and say ‘I’m not afraid of “the other.” I’m open to other people, other cultures,’ ” said Roy. “It’s like a demonstration; a demonstration of our desire to move toward others rather than to fear others.”
Cuisine Ta Ville launches at 5 p.m. Friday in the esplanade in front of Place des Arts and runs all weekend.