Title: Pancitan á la dansk 2022
Location: Skovhuset, Værløse
Video: 7 minutes by Christian Brems
Photo: Bastian Birk Thuesen
Documentation video: Olivia Brix
Outdoors food ritual in Skovhuset with Boa Niels Rasmussen, Teresita & Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen. LCR and her parents cooked and served pancit in the green fields of Skovhuset’s, for the guests at the exhibition opening.
Pancit is a traditional Philippine dish, which is served at any Philippine food gathering. The food ritual Pancitan (to eat pancit as a social event) took hold in the video Pancitan á la dansk. In the video you see LCR and her parents with a local schoolclass (6.B) from Søndersø school, gather ingredients in the area around Søndersø. Hereafter they sort and prepare their harvest for the chef Teresita’s (the mother’s) pancit dish. In the end you watch everyone dine together.
(English translation)
Nature is a buffet
unfamiliar with the plants or where they grow
walking carefree in nature – tramping unknowingly on food
From early spring
to late autumn
until the frost settles in
we can fill our pockets
pick only what you can eat: follow the foraging rules
foreign foods travel long distances, forage!
Forage romance is anti-baroque
it helps nature stay in balance
foreign foods are exciting, an attraction to explore
we forget that local foods are delicious
if you pick and eat these invasive species
you help protect rare plants from natures’ own cannibalism foraging is food nihilism
Foraging is a treasure hunt
a holistic walk in natures’ wonders
in the fine earth
you can find gold
Think outside the box
when you cook and change your diet
dandelion, stinging nettle, weeds are a resource
squatter ground elder is my special muse
eat plenty, it’s good for you
you’ll never get to the bottom of it all
Tessies Pancit is Filipino
it requires a new discipline
to change up the ingredients
so that it swings with the spirit of the times
replace meat with nettle and clover
you’ll barely ever need a supermarket
Pancit is made for foraging
even when you use ramps it keeps its Filipino flavor upright and proud
and like a Filipino, Pancit retains its Filipino character, adaptable and tolerant of change
No matter where it is, it stays grounded