University of Coimbra challenges Portuguese people to share family recipes for museum exhibition

Family Jewels: the Edible Beautythis is the name of the project by the Center for Classical and Humanistic Studies (CECH) at the University of Coimbra, which invites people from all over the country to share their recipes, stories and culinary memories until April 25th through this form.

“Family recipes, saved in old notebooks, transmitted orally or recreated over generations, will be treated as living cultural heritage”, says the institution in a statement.

The selected recipes will be executed by hotel management schools in Coimbra and Lisbon and will be displayed and “tasted at the end” in an unprecedented exhibition at the Machado de Castro National Museum, in Coimbraamong the May 20th and June 19thand no Belém Cultural Center, in Lisbon, on May 21st.

“Family recipes are living archives of memory, identity and belonging. By bringing them to the museum space, we are not only valuing them as cultural heritage, but also to democratize the very concept of heritage, directly involving people in its construction and recognition”says Carmen Soares, Researcher and Scientific Coordinator of CECH at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra, cited in the statement.

In addition to the prepared dishes, the exhibition will display handwritten recipe notebooks sent by people who wish to participate, tableware and food-themed paintings from the museum’s collection. The recipes that are submitted but not selected “will integrate the exhibition through visual supports, ensuring the representativeness and diversity of the contributions”.

At the Machado de Castro National Museum, the “jewels” will be consumed on May 20th, at the inauguration, and then replaced by photographs.

This project fits into the European project CONVIVIUM: New European Bauhaus Solutions in Food, Living Heritage, and Conviviality and in the research carried out in this area by CECH at the University of Coimbra, whose doctorate in “Food Heritage: Cultures and Identities” celebrates ten years. To mark the decade of existence, the center promotes the colloquium “Thinking about Food. Food Heritage – 10 Years of Research & Teaching”, on May 20th and 21st, at the Machado de Castro National Museum and the CCB.