When most people want to spark discussion about cultural diversity, they do it with speeches or essays. Sumintra Wood '06 has done it with a giant stack of flannel pancakes now on display in the Barrows Rotunda at the Hopkins Center.
Titled "In Honor of IHOP," this culinary-themed work of art provides a setting for the sampling of various international iterations of the pancake. Wood, an intern in the studio art department, personally prepares and serves the food on site. Her repertoire includes pancakes called "pikelets" from New Zealand, Moroccan "beghrirs," east European pancakes and even American heart-shaped samples that she prepared in honor of Valentine's Day.
She gives her food away for free but encourages donations to Share Our Strength, a food relief organization based in Washington, D.C., that funds national and international projects to combat hunger.
"America is a country that traditionally has an abundance of food," Wood said. While admitting that fighting world hunger is a daunting task, she hopes that drawing attention to international food culture will persuade visitors to share some of their own abundance.
To create her artwork, Wood sewed each pancake ring individually with flannel, then stitched some of them together around a wooden frame to form the stack. The inner pancakes were stuffed with polyfill, but the top and bottom layers contain old newspapers to give the stack more structure. She also painted each layer with a light tempera wash.
"In Honor of IHOP" took about two weeks to complete, and Wood plans to serve pancakes next to her display several more times before it closes Tuesday, Feb. 20.
Why use the humble pancake to spread awareness about world hunger and food customs?
"It's a simple, round, flat object, but it has so many different permutations," Wood said. Though it is difficult to identify precisely what constitutes a pancake -- as opposed to other types of flatbread, for example -- she stresses that variants of the idea are very common.
"They are steeped in a lot of tradition and found in many cultures throughout the world," she said. Wood believes that exploring these foods helps people relate to the equally wide-ranging cultures that created them.
Wood wants to shed light on culinary customs in the United States as well.
"Pancakes are iconic in America. Everyone has a pancake tradition," she said. Yet, Americans often fail to recognize a distinct culinary philosophy that drives those traditions.
"Some people don't think of America as having food culture, but I think it does," Wood said. By contrasting this particular custom to those of other countries, she tries to encourage introspection as well as comparison.
Wood will also be serving soup at the Empty Bowls Project, another food relief effort organized by artist-in-residence Sana Musasama that will take place Feb. 20. The Jaffe-Friede Gallery is currently displaying an exhibit of Musasama's ceramic work to support this project.
Wood's interest in food art began during her senior year at Dartmouth. Her other works include a large piece of cake a la mode that was displayed in the senior majors show, a number of drawings to be shown in the Lebanon Food Co-op gallery this fall and a jelly donut sleeping bag.
Her interest in pancakes was a surprisingly late development.
"I did not like pancakes for a long time because I never had a well-made one until I went to Eaton's Sugar House in Vermont," she said. Now Wood loves them, she said, so long as they are "made with care."
Wood feels that her samples live up to that claim.
"Come get some free pancakes!" she tells those who may be considering a visit to her display. "So far they've been pretty good."
