"Most archaeologists are foodies," says Yin Cao, who trained in the field at Harvard and universities.
"At one of the digs I worked at in the '80s, when I was still a student, was stamped cups…There was pottery for eating and drinking, for storing food."
When excavating ancient sites, you often unearth old bowls, utensils, shards of vessels – items that are part of everyday consumption, restored and given new-found magic after years of being hidden by grit. Seeing these ancient objects only amplified Cao's lifelong interest in food.
"[At] a Neolithic site in Israel, we found some knives," Cao says. "Food is the foundation for civilisation."
It's an experience that's deeply relevant to her current role as curator of Chinese art at Sydney's Art Gallery of NSW. Her latest exhibition, The Way We Eat, features historic Asian artefacts and contemporary artworks with a food focus.
The wide-ranging display includes a 4,000-year-old Neolithic jar from the Qinghai province near Tibet – a reflection of China's 20,000-year-old history of producing ceramics (the earliest examples of pottery on the planet were discovered in the country's south: cooking vessels found in Xianrendong Cave).
There are contemporary artworks, too, like Yamamoto Tarō's 2011 painting, which draws on classic Japanese motifs to critique beer brands like Kirin and Ebisu.
Cao, who grew up in northern China, has always been aware of the importance of food. "Chinese people when they greet each other, they say, 'have you eaten?' instead of 'how do you do, how are you.'"
Yamamoto Tarō. 'Cans decorated with scenes of chapters' 'YoungMurasaki' & 'Beneath the autumn leaves' from 'The Tale of Genji' on blue carpet' 2011. Japanese Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins
Her region, Shanxi province, is famous for maoerduo, a 300-year-old style of noodle. The dough is pressed and given feline features. "We use our thumbs to make a little shape – because the shape looks like a cat's ear, that's why we call it cat's ear [noodles]," she says of the local speciality.
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The north of China is known for its noodles, made from local grains – which can create a big social divide.
"When we grew up, a lot of my friends, especially during the difficult times in the '60s, they couldn't have rice, because only the southerners could have rice. My father, luckily, grew up in the south, so he was able to get a few kilos a month," she says. "My friends used to be very envious: 'You can eat rice, but the others could only eat sorghum or millet or corn'."
It's a sentiment that's covered in the exhibition, which touches on food scarcity and excess. The Way We Eat also covers food rituals and ceremonies, the functional nature of food and tableware, food as cultural exchange, as well as the importance of symbolism.
Food is the foundation for civilisation.
Whether it's a Tenmoku cup stand used in tea ceremonies or a floral-patterned 17th-century ginger jar from the Kangxi period, "each object has multiple stories it can tell," says Cao.
Look at the exhibition's 2,000-year-old model of a granary, which reflects Chinese ideas about the afterlife. This scaled-down version of the grain-storage unit is an example of mingqi, an object that should be placed in your tomb, in case you need it in the next life. "You make copies of everything you’re using when you're still alive," she says. "It all belongs to the belief that the dead have to be looked after."
There's a lot to digest from the food symbols seen throughout the exhibits, too. Featured pumpkins represent prosperity because their vines grow quickly and thrive. "Pumpkins also symbolise harvest," says Cao. You'll see fish in artworks because the Chinese word for 'fish' (yu) sounds like the term for 'abundance'. "That's a prosperous meaning," she says. (If you've ever celebrated Lunar New Year by feasting on a banquet with large fish, you're essentially savouring the same associations about wealth and success.)
"You see chicken used in a lot of paintings and decorations," Cao adds. That's because 'ji', the pronunciation of 'chicken', resembles the word for 'luck'.
And sometimes the role that food plays in an artwork doesn't need much explanation, like Liu Shuyong'sfrom 2017. The inked illustration is filled with words that spell out a very colourful poem, which Cao sums up succinctly: "I don't care what’s happening. I'm going to bed with my fish, I'm happy, I want to forget everything."
And that, as the exhibition shows, is the power of food.
The Way We Eat is currently on show at the Art Gallery of NSW in The Domain, Sydney, until 14 June 2022.
