As she sipped on her drink at a wooden table near the entrance of Joe’s Coffee, Evelyn Chapman, 23, a Journalism+Design major at Lang leaned on her elbows and talked at length about the different people and stories she has encountered through her senior thesis project.
One of her most memorable interviews was with a subject from England who refused to make a traditional English breakfast and instead made marmite toast. She explained that that one simple dish held a strong emotional sentiment for him.
“His father passed away a few years ago and he said that you could always tell when his dad was making this toast because he never smeared the spread to the edge of the crust,” she said as she spoke about his father’s distinct practice from the rest of his family. “People come up with the most random memories when they’re talking about food.”
Adam Humphreys is one of the subjects Chapman has interviewed for her senior thesis capstone project, “People Cooking Food”. Aiming to complete 10 profiles before the May thesis deadline, her project captures the stories of home cooks and their connection to a certain dish or type of food through a collection of audio and visual slideshows. To Chapman, food serves as a gateway to memories and a relatable subject that allows us to understand other people’s experiences.
“I wanted to tell everyday people’s stories and food is such a personal window into a person’s life,” she said. “We don’t realize how intimate it is.”
Spending more than 10 hours a week finding people to profile, editing her audio and photos together and creating write-ups for each subject, Chapman discussed her process for conducting her interviews. “I try and be as relaxed as possible because it is their home and I want to make them feel comfortable.”
She added that after photographing and taking audio of her subjects preparing their meals, she omits herself from the narrative and final profiles. “My voice isn’t a part of it, it’s just going to be them telling their own stories which is one of the whole reasons why I wanted to do this project,” she said.
Initially, her project was meant to study meat culture in New York City but with the guidance she received from her thesis class with Sarah Kramer this semester, she narrowed down her scope to the diverse cultures and voices represented through food.
Some of the main influences for her project were The New York Times’ audio project, “One in 8 Million”, which Kramer was a series producer for, and the photo blog, Humans of New York. However, it was her family’s tradition of cooking for large get-togethers that inspired her to pursue the idea for this project.
“It wouldn’t be our family’s identity if they plopped down a box of pizza,” she said. “Food didn’t have to always be an experience but the experiences that it would create were really special so I wanted to see other people’s.”
Chapman’s decision to present her profiles through audio derives from her love for the medium as she grew up listening to the radio in the background with her family. She was able to further develop her interest in the medium after taking a Podcasting class at Lang with Sarah Montague and learning how to hone her audio skills. “A person’s voice says so much about them and it really brings you in,” she said. “The way that the person tells their story is part of the story itself.”
Although having fun documenting her food profiles, Chapman continues to face a major obstacle in gathering subjects who would not only be willing to invite her into their homes but also have their stories and voice recorded and cook a meal for her. Because her subjects are home cooks, she added that it has been hard setting up meeting dates since they’re busy with their own social and academic schedules and family commitments.
Chapman has also had to go out of her comfort zone and find new ways to convince these home cooks to take part in her project. “I’m not a great salesperson,” she said with a laugh. “I really have to sell the project which I’m not used to doing but it is helping me learn how to brag a little bit.”
She mentioned that it has been helpful that most of her subjects are friends of friends, which has made her feel less hesitant with approaching them for her project.
Despite her challenges, the goal she aims to achieve is capturing the individual anecdotes and relationships people share with different food. “I’m focusing on everyday, ordinary people because we so often don’t hear those stories and they’re the ones that we relate the most with,” she said.
As the deadline for the capstone project approaches, Chapman has set her own deadline to finish any final work by the last weekend of April. By working with a topic and medium that she is passionate about, she is looking forward to putting the final piece together and is proud to put this project on her resume.
“If food is what brings me around the world then great,” she said contently.
To see Chapman’s “People Cooking Food” profiles, visit her Atavist page, https://peoplecookingfood.atavist.com/.