CONFLICT KITCHEN

Team: Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski (lead artists), Brett Yasko (graphic designer), Robert Sayre (culinary director) (United States); Collaborators: Afghan, Black and African American, Cuban, Haudenosaunee, Iranian, North Korean, Palestinian, and Venezuelan communities in Pittsburgh and their worldwide diasporas; Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Years: 2010–17

Conflict Kitchen, a takeout restaurant in Pittsburgh, served food from countries in conflict with the United States. From Afghanistan to Cuba, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (an alliance of six Indigenous nations—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora), Iran, North Korea, Palestine, and Venezuela, the restaurant’s rotating identities included not only changes in menu, but events and performances, which offered further engagement with the cultures and issues at stake in those regions. Using food to bring people together, the kitchen encouraged learning and exchange, and ultimately confronted the limited and often biased understanding among people for the “other’s” culture.

Image: Cuban, Iranian, Venezuelan, and Afghan iterations of Conflict Kitchen in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, 2010–12; Credit: © Conflict Kitchen