“Roll with It” was a project I did for the Odyssey Works Experience Design program in 2024. I wanted to design an experience that got strangers to collaborate while exploring loss, memory, and adaptation. I created the installation and experience at our closing exhibition, the New Frame, which took place on November 24, 2024, at Chemistry Creative in New York.
This project idea was developed over the summer while I was conducting my lived research over the summer, speaking with refugees and immigrants, going to food gatherings, taking food design classes and spending time at my family’s Filipino diner.
Premise
Roll with It was set in a fictional sari-sari store, a makeshift store set up in someone’s home, which is common in the Philippines, owned by a fictional grandmother simply referred to as “Lola,” which means “grandmother” in Tagalog.
When participants arrived, Lola is no longer around, and her granddaughters, Joni and Meg, ask for help in recreating a Filipino dish, lumpiang Shanghai, to help reconnect with a family ritual that they lost along with their grandmother.
Participants were instructed to put on their aprons and wash their hands to signal the beginning of the event.
The workstations were close together and while each participant had their own mixing bowls, spoons, and chopping blocks, I provided only four knives so they had to share. I also provided a chopping tool for people who weren’t comfortable using knives.
Participants were loosely given instructions on how to make lumpia, but it was mostly up to them to choose their own ingredients and turn to other participants for ideas.
Worldbuilding
“Lola” left notes on the wall with personal reminders, musings, and frustrations that participants could read and get a sense of her grandmotherly wisdom.
The store had wire shelving commonly seen at sari-sari stores. The ingredients were both used in traditional lumpia, but there were other ingredients not traditionally used but were provided to allow the participants some creativity.
Lessons
Roll with It began with a few challenges:
- People don’t read instructions in a live, in-person experience: I provided a recipe ‘zine and tucked it into their aprons, but while people were excited about the ‘zine and asked if they could keep it, they didn’t refer to it during the experience. Next time, I’ll stick with verbal and visual cues instead.
- Fryers take up a lot of electricity: my dual-tank fryer kept blowing out the power for both my experience and another colleague’s, which was mortifying and embarrassing. It interrupted my first session and I had to cancel my second session (I passed out ‘zines to participants who showed up to show my apologies), but once they hooked me up to another power source (separate breakers for each of my frying tanks), my sessions ran smoothly after that.
- Not enough time: I planned a closing ritual, but at the end of the allotted 45 minutes, people were still eating and chatting and I didn’t feel comfortable interrupting them. Next time, I would plan for more time so people can go on tangents and I’d plan a closing that allows for that extra conversation and eating.
- Hire a photographer and take lots of documentation: The organizers had hired a photographer but the person didn’t show up. I didn’t learn about that until the end of my day, so I quickly snapped some photos of the final experience.