Roots to Fruit

BIO: Designer, gastronome, honey enthusiast & founder of A de abeja, a small scale honey project based in Mexico promoting bees and beekeepers' own ability to thrive by creatively increasing local consumption of honey. She studied design and visual communication at UNAM –Mexico– and a master in Creativity, Ecology & Education at UNISG –Italy–.

ROOTS: Mexico

FRUIT: Arlette fights for fair production, wages, and trade, by reviving the taste memory for floral, aromatic, real honey through thoughtful design. Keeping in mind that the solution should always be placed close to the source.

INFO: https://www.arlettego.com/ https://www.adeabeja.com/ https://www.instagram.com/arlettego/ https://www.instagram.com/miel.adeabeja/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Alice is a researcher, cultural organizer, publisher, and host working across food, culture, and design.

She is the co-founder and editorial director of Deem Journal a bi-annual print publication exploring design as social practice.

Her food expressions are Earthseed Provisions where she is working on an archive of Haitian cuisine and Tombo where she reflects on the transformative power of unconditional hospitality.

ROOTS: Haiti, New York

FRUIT: Alice traces the sensorial memories of her grandparents and takes those hints toward further discussion and discovery, and designs her latest sense of home in Copenhagen.

INFO: https://www.deemjournal.com/ https://www.instagram.com/deemjournal/ https://www.instagram.com/earthseedprovisions/ https://www.instagram.com/tombo.cph/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Elli is a natural dyer, weaver, and textile researcher currently based in Los Angeles. After studying Anthropology at Brown University, she moved to Kyoto to learn the process of making kimonos. She nurtures her roots by weaving across the Pacific discovering lost threads, gathering colors, and finding her own sense of home.

ROOTS: Japan

FRUIT: Elli weaves together her expertise in anthropological discovery, her experience apprenticing under Master natural dyer and kimono weaver, and her ancestral heritage in farming, to color her own curation of self and home.

INFO https://eys.myportfolio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/eys_textiles/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is an artist whose work has been called a “joyous political critique.” She sparks connection and tells the stories of migration and belonging through collaborative projects such as building a border wall out of piñatas. South Asian and Japanese Latin American, Sita was born and raised in Los Angeles, Tongva Land, and based in Oakland, Ohlone Land. She holds degrees from Scripps College and California College of the Arts where she has taught in Critical Ethnic Studies. Sita is also a co-founder of People’s Kitchen Collective, an organization working at the intersection of art, food, and justice. She has been the Scholar in Residence at the Center for Art and Public Life at California College of the Arts, an artist in residence at the Lucas Artist Program at Montalvo and Denniston Hill. She has been an Art Matters Fellow, a Fleishhacker Eureka program fellow, and the recipient of a 2021 Creative Capital Award. She has contributed to many publications including Multiple Elementary and Self Representation in an Expanded Field. We Make Constellations of the Stars is her first book forthcoming from Kaya Press. 

ROOTS: Colombia, India, Japan 

FRUIT: Sita writes to her 15 year old self, healing trauma by revisiting her youth in LA, celebrating the constellations of all of the people in her life, and examining her parent's stories and photos that make up their personal and ancestral past. 

INFO: http://peopleskitchencollective.com/ http://www.sitabhaumik.com/ 

--- 

About the Host: 

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Born in Porto, Portugal, Carlos Carneiro is a Portuguese director based in Brooklyn, NY. Graduated in Film Production at UCA, UK in 2005. Focused early documentary work on food and culture through the project On Plate Still Hungry. Produced and directed several short-documentaries such as Norwegian Nostalgia, The Last Supper and The Forge. In 2017, after 20 years in London, Carlos moves to NY joining Vacationland where the focus on development and creation of feature documentaries and episodic series. A Wonderful Kingdom is his feature documentary.

ROOTS: Portugal

FRUIT: Through A Wonderful Kingdom, Carlos’s scrumptious love letter home, we are invited to take a meditative journey into the daily lives of workers during harvest season in the Douro Valley. The film is best paired with a glass of Port, of course.

INFO: https://www.instagram.com/iam.carlosfilipe/ https://www.instagram.com/awonderfulkingdom/ https://awonderfulkingdom.com

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Adrian is a cook, food writer and proud 3rd-generation Southern Chinese-American. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Adrian left an international career in fashion to pursue the thing that makes him happiest: cooking and sharing the recipes of his heritage, family and community via MORIHOUSE. He also teaches Asian heritage cooking classes and develops recipes for small Asian-owned businesses.

MORIHOUSE is a multidisciplinary and regenerative lifestyle concept created by Adrian and his husband Chris. Based in the redwoods of Northern California, they have dedicated their lives to reclaiming their roots, honoring the Earth, and celebrating the folk traditions of their heritages and communities.

ROOTS: Southern China, Guangdong & Szechuan Provinces

FRUIT: At MORIHOUSE, his sort of living laboratory, Adrian tests cooking techniques from his ancestral lineage with hyper-local flora from his backyard, and shares what he calls "humble everyday home folk cooking" as a conduit for conversation and community-building.

INFO: https://www.mori.house https://www.instagram.com/mori.house/ https://www.instagram.com/mykitsunecafe/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Chitra is the co-founder of Brooklyn Delhi, an Indian-American food brand inspired by her heritage. She is the author of Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn. Chitra's work has been featured in the New York Times, Saveur, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit.

ROOTS: India

FRUIT: Chitra invites us to into her kitchen to share in how the taste memories of her childhood have birthed prose, product, and community.

INFO: https://www.instagram.com/chitra/ https://brooklyndelhi.com/ https://www.instagram.com/brooklyndelhi/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Akiko is a culture writer, journalist, and author contributing in-depth features, essays, and profiles that showcase how she observes the world and human moments around her. Through her work, she highlights and uplifts women, BIPOC, and underrepresented creative communities around the world. Leveraging her multicultural and multilingual upbringing between Japan, Philippines, U.S., Canada, and her career in New York, Tokyo, and London; she appears on television, radio, podcasts, and online content to share global stories and to comment on cultural discussions. Mother Tongue, Akiko's first book, is inspired by her mother's cookbook of her grandmother's recipes. This self-publishing project includes nostalgic stories from her childhood, as well as 50 Japanese homecooking recipes. Akiko lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband and son.

ROOTS: Japan

FRUIT: Akiko explores her place in history, community, and global culture by cooking through her mother’s recipes and revisiting deeply personal childhood memories.

INFO: https://akikokurematsu.com/ https://www.instagram.com/mothertonguebook/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Shoda Kanai Shonin has been a Japanese Buddhist priest from the Nichiren Shu Order for over 25 years. He is the only American to complete the rigorous “100 Days Aragyo Ascetic Training” twice. This training consists of chanting for many hours, performing water purification seven times a day, eating two daily meals of only okayu and miso soup, and sleeping for two hours. From this arduous practice, he can conduct a special blessing ceremony. His goal is to spread the Teaching of the Buddha to many new people.

ROOTS: Japan

FRUIT: Shoda’s ancestral role in Japanese Buddhist teachings, fosters inner balance that serves as the ultimate foundation for greater peace in the United States and beyond.

INFO: https://www.kannon-temple-nevada.org https://www.facebook.com/kannontemplenv https://www.nichiren.or.jp/english/ https://www.instagram.com/kannontemplenv/

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/

BIO: Clarissa is a freelance journalist currently based in Taipei. She's currently writing her first cookbook.

ROOTS: Taiwan

FRUIT: By way of Made in Taiwan, Clarissa dives into Taiwanese recipes by examining the intersection of food, politics, and terroir.

INFO: https://www.clarissawei.com/ https://www.instagram.com/dearclarissa/ https://twitter.com/dearclarissa

---

About the Host:

https://momokonakamura.com/