Hidden Recipes From My Ancestral Home
By local artist Caroline Streatfield
17 May 2021-31 Aug 2021
In her new project 'Hidden Recipes From My Ancestral Home’, local artist Caroline Streatfield encourages you to shop local and explore the vast array of food shops along Reading's Oxford Road where you can purchase ingredients to cook fantastic dishes from around the world.
Caroline has been working as part of the High Street Heritage Action Zone pilot project on Oxford Road 'Re-imagining the high street through your stories', in which she and two other local artists were commissioned to create exciting new art responses to the Oxford Road Stories research project, which is now available to view on the Reading Museum's website as an online exhibition. Commissioned artists were asked to create proposals for art projects that would celebrate the history, heritage and vibrancy of culture of Reading's Oxford Road, and were selected by a local community panel.
Through her project Caroline has produced a set of 17 recipe cards showcasing family recipes which can all be cooked using local ingredients from the Oxford Road, these recipe cards include stories and memories from the contributors as well as illustrations created by local school children and artists.
‘My mother came to the UK as an immigrant from Eastern Europe and I grew up eating dishes from her childhood, but my memories are of her not being able to find the products in the shops to cook with. So, through this project I aimed to show how much easier it is to integrate cultures through the sharing of recipes and how the Oxford Road does it so well. This model needs to be highlighted and celebrated and that is what I wanted to show in my work.’
Where to collect a recipe card
Bestfood Supermarket, 129-131 Oxford Road
Turkish Halal Food Center, 135 Oxford Road
Dailyz, 167 Oxford Road
EuroDeli, 185 Oxford Road
Roman, 160 Oxford Road
Zam-Zam Halal Superstore, 162 - 164 Oxford Road
Al Medina, 168 Oxford Road
Ens Continental Food & Wine, 181 Oxford Road
Oxford Road Supermarket, 267-271 Oxford Road
A pdf download of all Caroline's recipe cards will be made available soon
Zenna at Dailyz Cafe where you can pick up a recipe card
Share with us & Tell us what you thought
When you've had a go at one of the recipes we'd love to hear from you!
Share you cooking creations with us on social media by using the hashtags #HSHAZReading #OxfordRoadStories #HistoricHighStreets
Please take the time to fill in a quick evaluation survey too - we'd really appreciate it!
About Caroline Streatfield
Caroline Streatfield is a local Reading artist. She currently works from her studio at Open Hand Open Space Studios, 571 Oxford Rd. Reading . Caroline has strong links with Reading, having gained a BA (Hons) Art in the Community, from Reading College (2002). Caroline taught at Reading College after graduating, as well as in other Colleges in the Reading area. She has recently completed a Masters in painting at The University of the Arts, London (2019)
Acknowledgements
This project is part of Reading's High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ), a four-year heritage regeneration programme co-led and funded by Historic England and Reading Borough Council.
The team would like to thank everyone who submitted recipes and art work to the project, as well as the community panel that helped to support and guide the project.
Thank you to Big Noise Media for their design and printing support which has seen these fantastic recipe cards come to life.
