Memory Chips

Send us a text

Where do I start?  How about with this episode's bags, which were collected by me in China in 2014:

*Lay's Sichuan Pepper and Chicken Flavor
*Lay's Spicy Green Peppercorn Fish
*Lay's Numb and Spicy Hot Pot
*Lay's Cheese Lobster
*Lay's French Chicken
*Lay's Kyushu Seaweed
*Ridge Barbeque Skewer

I met with Dr. John Flower--a friend of mine, who together with his wife , Dr. Pam Leonard, spearheaded the giant project of moving a traditionally-built folk house from Yunnan Province in China to Jefferson County, West Virginia.   You can read all about and watch video of the disassemblage and moving of the house here:  https://www.chinafolkhouse.org/

Weirdly enough--my family, my husband, myself, and various friends in this area of West Virginia all have ties to China.  Some of us have studied there, some have run businesses there, others have toured and played music there.  John Flower has done all of those things in addition to being the Director of the Chinese Studies Program at Sidwell Friends School. 

Because some of my bags are only in Chinese characters and I am illiterate in Chinese, John looked through my collection and helped me translate.  Not that is made much sense anyway!  He also reflected on the role of regional ideas of flavor and connecting people through food.

Glossary:

la:  hot/spicy

Yunnan:  region of China that borders Tibet, Laos, and Myanmar. The region is known for its   
                      large number of ethnic minorities such as Bai, Naxi, and Lisu  people.  Along with
                      the Chinese Han majority and Tibetans,
Sichuan:  A region of china known for its distinctive cuisine involving hot peppers and
                     numbing peppercorns.

Thank you to bluegrass band, Magraw Gap, and John Flower for singing "Kangding" so beautifully.

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

On December 30, 2011 my husband Árni Guðmundsson and I were married in Round Hill, Virginia.  On the occasion of our 10th anniversary, we recorded ourselves telling the story of the night we met in 2009!

This story features three bags of potato chips from Turkey, but you won't find out which ones until the end of the story.

For up-to-date relationship status, listen to our Valentine's Day episode:


Trigger warning:  This episode includes descriptions of graphic physical violence and injury.

This episode is dedicated to our departed friend, Cristian Rieloff .  Cristian played a large part in this story as well as in our lives.  He was Árni's dear friend and artistic collaborator whose presence is sorely missed.

We would also like to thank the painter, Mehmet Ekiz for kindly helping us out when we needed him the day after we met!

Links:

Artist Árni Guðmundsson
http://www.artandvikingvax.com

Stina Pehrsdotter
https://www.pehrsdotter.se/Stina_Pehrsdotter/home.html

A Description of the Tarlabaşı Neighborhood
https://balkanstories.net/import-export/tarlabasi-a-slum-quarter-in-istanbul/

Historic German Hospital
http://www.intmedtourism.com/en/companies/german-hospital-istanbul/

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

Julie Upmeyer and I are artistic collaborators who ran an art space together in Istanbul, Turkey (Caravansarai).  We also both had jobs collecting data for a market research company called Datamonitor.

Sound boring?

Well, does a Turkish-Swedish Meatball Eating Competition sound boring?  Or a fake charity supplying much (not really) needed black hair dye to Swedish artists?  How about a photo display of empty shampoo bottles for the Tehran Biennial?  All of these art works, and more, would not have existed had it not been for our Datamonitor jobs.

In today's episode, Julie and I discuss these things over a bag of Migros (store-brand) Sucuk Flavored potato chips.

Julie Upmeyer:  https://www.julieupmeyer.com/

Plas Bodfa:  https://www.plasbodfa.com/

Anne Weshinskey:  https://v4larts.com/

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

Danish "hygge" (coziness) is sooo pre-pandemic!  A new cozy marketing trend making is its way to the U.S.  from Sweden and it's called, "Fredagsmys"-- The Friday Cuddle . . .   and it involves lots of potato chips.

I spent a Fredagsmys with my "plastic sons", Oskar, Adriaan, and Julius -- who grew up and live in Sweden -- and made them explain to me what it is all about . . . 

Thank you to ethnologist, Charlotte Hagström at Lund University, for providing me her research into Fredagsmys!

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

Happy Thanksgiving!

Richard Bartle is a fantastic artist and exquisite host who stuffed us full of heavy British delicacies when we went to visit him in Sheffield, England--where he runs Bloc Studios.   During that trip, I acquired the following crisps bags:

Mackie's Turkey and Stuffing
Walkers Turkey and Stuffing
ASDA    Turkey and Stuffing
Marks and Spencer Turkey, Stuffing, and Cranberry
ASDA    Pigs in Blankets
Tesco's   Succulent Pigs in Blankets
Walker's Prawn Cocktail
REAL Handcooked Ham and English Mustard
Tyrrell's Black Angus and Mustard
Yorkshire Crisps Roast Lamb and Mint

I caught up with Richard while he is living and working in Istanbul (where we originally met),  and we ended up making up meals  out of other bags collected during other trips to the UK:

Walkers Sprout Lovers Pack:  Brussels Sprouts, Turkey and Stuffing, Cheese and Cranberry
Walker Sprout Haters Pack:     Turkey and Stuffing, Roast Ham, Cheese and Cranberry
Taste of Game Wild Duck and Plum Sauce--Smoked Pheasant and Wild Mushroom-- Grouse and Whinberry--Wild Boar and Apple

I'm full . . . 

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

If anything good comes from this podcast, it is that it gives me an excuse to meet and chip out with one of my personal talent crushes--Sarah Cohen of Route 11!

In this episode, Sarah unleashes the roundabout origin story of my favorite local potato chips, and we go off on how chips companies develop their flavors and how large snack companies are so good at distracting your from the chips you would really rather be eating!

www.rt11.com

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

"Xi" (Dr. Jessica Kendall, PhD) and "Nan" (me) together again!  The first ever bag  of chips in what ended up being a collection of chips bags gathered from shops, grocery stores, gas stations and (in this case) an abandoned gift shop in a train station in the small town of Wuqiao in Hebei Province,  PRC.

Wuqiao is known as the Birthplace of Chinese Acrobatics and home to Wuqiao Acrobatics World Theme Park.

Xi is an acrobatic trainer and director,  anthropologist/academic, and single mother of 3 gorgeous and amazing humans in Montréal, Canada.

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

My college roommate, Erica Heilman (Rumble Strip Vermont) joins me to reenact the potato chip's supposed "invention"  by George Speck (or Crum) at the Moon Lake House in Saratoga Springs, NY.   And to discuss other things we know nothing about.  Which is almost everything.

Special thanks to Route 11 Potato Chips in Mt. Jackson, VA for their support!

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708

Send us a text

My name is Anne (or Anika, or Nan) Weshinskey, and this my attempt to make sense of a senseless collection of hundreds of used potato chip bags from around the world.  Who would do such a thing?  And why? 

This is not a podcast about hoarding, or about the potato chips themselves.  It is a hopefully humorous and sometimes enlightening look into the memories, ideas, places, and people that inspired me to collect chips bags in the first place. 

Memory Chips is one part of a multi-part art project which tries to process and justify the "why" of collecting this garbage and hauling it around the world  in the first place!   The project includes visual art, installation, performance, and this podcast!   For more about me:

www.loverofprojects.com
www.v4larts.com
www.caravansarai.info
www.wondercabinetwellness.com

Special thanks to Route 11 Potato Chips for helping me with the podcast hosting fees!

Subscribe to Memory Chips podcast on any of your podcast platforms! https://pod.link/1588265708