Thomas Talawa Prestø

Thomas Talawa Prestø hvor han forteller om jobben sin som kunstnerisk leder og hvordan den henger tett sammen med den kulturelle betydningen av å forberede og lage mat på den måten som ble lært han av hans karibiske og norske familie. Thomas snakker om hvordan det å lage mat er en metode for overlevelse som har passertgjennom generasjoner av afrikanske diaspora grupper som har overlevd kolonialismensgrusomheter. Thomas forklarer også hvordan det å lage mat er en taktil kroppslig opplevelse som krever at man bruker både kroppen og sjelen og respekterer hver ingrediens 

Intervjuer er Jessica Taylor.

00:00: Introduction, Thomas Issac Michael Prestø, Thomas Talawa Prestø

01:11: Born in Lørenskog, moved to Spain, back to Norway, then Trinidad and Tobago, USA

02:46: Mother put spices in his hand as a small child while she cooked Caribbean dishes,food is a tactile experience, Grandfather has 19 children

05:40: Sweden was more racist than Norway, uncles came to Norway from Sweden andlived with him and cooked. grew up with Black culture because of the uncle

08:00: Garlic was exotic, you have to get in a car for ginger, how immigration haschanged and enriched cooking, a lot of Norwegian food is imported and colonial

09:53: My grandmother liked to cook whale, fried and slightly raw in the middle, laterlearned that it was controversial to eat it, cooked from scratch traditionalNorwegian foods

12:57: My grandmother, great-grandmother and great-uncle cooked Norwegian cooking,whole family lived on the same street. Because grandmother was cooking for somany, her pork chops were dry. Mother's pork chops were wet: grated apple,cheese, curry powder on top, fusion of cuisines

06:20: Alf Prøysen rented ground floor from great-grandmother, she made the tastiestmeatballs. made pasta and butter for dinner or pancakes and bacon

17: 43: There were uncles who didn't speak but would come over for Uncle's food and eattogether. Thomas has taken over that role of cooking for people. Cooking unitesthe Caribbean family.

19:15: Grandmother was untraditional in the sense that she kept an open house andcooked way more food than she needed. Thomas cooks lots of food and thentexts his dancers to come pick up the extra. Cooking is a huge part of theTabanka dance company.

25:04: "I learned to gnaw the bone, eat the tendons, not waste anything. I had toslaughter a chicken. What it instilled in me was a respect for what I am eating."

28:00: How to make butter: churn by hand until water comes out

29:40: orders hand-reared goat from Hemsedal to make curry goat and uses the entiregoat to avoid waste and appreciate the life of the animal

32:32: Due to being terrorized in Nittedal by Neo-Nazis as a young child, grandfathermoved him to Spain and was taught to balance water bottles on head.Grandfather taught him to respect elders by preparing food for them, peelingpotatoes, chopping onions and also training in knife control.

35:30: Grandfather reconstructed him with PTSD treatment. They fought over Thomas'internalized racism that he was "stupid." "We cook survival." The bottle on thehead was used to be made aware of the body as you are cooking and moving.Taken on a ritual with Grandfather "water walk" to carry water as he learned thehistory of his ancestors