Shellie Zhang
Exhibition Dates: September 4 - 24, 2017
Guided Tasting Tour: September 24 12:45 - 4 PM
Closing Reception: September 24 @ 4:30PM
[The] Chinese restaurant syndrome was, at its core, a product of a racialised discourse that framed much of the scientific, medical and popular discussion surrounding the condition. This particular debate brought to the surface a number of widely held assumptions about the strangely ‘exotic’, ‘bizarre’ and ‘excessive’ practices associated with Chinese cooking which, ultimately, meant that few of those studying the Chinese restaurant syndrome would question the ethnic origins of the condition.
– Ian Mosby, That Won-Ton Soup Headache’:The Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, MSG and the Making of American Food, 1968–198Social History of Medicine Vol. 22, No. 1 pp. 133–151
In 1968, the New England Journal of Medicine published a letter to the editor from one reader describing radiating pain in his arms, weakness and heart palpitations after eating at Chinese restaurants. The reader mused that a combination of cooking wine, monosodium glutamate (MSG) or excessive sodium might have spurred these reactions. Reader responses poured in with similar complaints, and scientists jumped to research the phenomenon, centering on the glutamic salt, MSG. Not long after, the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” was born.
Visceral and often communal, food is one of the most accessible ways to engage with a culture. Through its consumption, creation, and interpretation, food possesses the unique capability to extend beyond its corporeal restrictions to reflect individual and shared stories and historical and political climates.
Combining a history of product marketing alongside archival materials from the Toronto Star, Accent chronicles MSG from its early embracement within Canada and the Western world to its present day antagonization. Accent is a case study of the nuanced and racialized undertones within the everyday.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a guided tasting tour of neighbouring food establishments (maximum 15 participants – registration required).
Accent is the second project to be presented as part of PEERS PROJECTS.
