Resident Artist, Ruoyi Shi and Chef/Owner of Yee Mama, Dora Cheng will guide you through an evening of Food Envelopes. This dinner has a keen sense of whimsy and an educational component about the Lunar New Year. Come take a seat at the table and engage with us as we talk about the historical hidden messages passed down through food.
*Cincinnati’s Table is a series of dinners held at neighborhood community centers around the city. The series aims to bridge relationships within neighborhoods helping communities connect with each other and their neighbors through shared meals. Each of these meals revolves around a theme, which are introduced by a local artist through an interactive artwork or installation and are strengthened by food cooked by a local chef, often an immigrant to the area, in order to best start conversations across many groups and bridge divides within our city.
More about Ruoyi
Welcome (M)Art resident artist Ruoyi Shi, Food Envelopes
Gallery open from January 15th – March 26th, 2022
In many cultures, people insert letters or objects in food and use food as an envelope for secrets, or transform a regular message into a revolution: moon cakes, fortune cookies, king cake, or new year dumplings. In Food Envelopes, Ruoyi Shi will use food to deliver messages. By presenting video installations, edible objects that contain letters inside she will retell the "fish story" in Cincinnati. Ruoyi Shi is an interdisciplinary artist working with objects, writings, performances, and video installations. Shi was born and raised in Nanjing, China. She is a recent MFA graduate from the California Institute of the Arts.
More about Dora
Dora Cheng is owner of Yee Mama dumplings
An excerpt from her recent Cincinnati Magazine article, "I was born and raised in Hong Kong, so I grew up eating Cantonese food. I moved to America when I was 17 and I have lived in different cities. Two years ago I moved to Cincinnati for my day job. I have always loved to cook but it’s really hard to find Cantonese food [in Cincinnati]. There are a lot of good Chinese restaurants, but they’re more Sichuan style, the northern style, but not really Cantonese style. Cantonese food is sweet and savory and it’s a balance of flavor—not too spicy. I felt that there was a gap in the market and I wanted to see if I could build a small business out of it. Right now it’s just wonton—I don’t know what’s going to happen next."
Cincinnati’s Table dinners are generously funded by the Johnson Foundation. Welcome (M)ART is generously funded by the Carol Ann and. Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation. The space for the event is donated by Somerset OTR.