What is Operasi Cassava?
- This is a participatory project in which we invited the participants to contribute stories related to the tapioca plant or 'Ubi Kayu'.
- Operasi Cassava is a wiki project which examine our cultural identity through this symbolic food/ plant that has very little known facts but many subjective memories and information of this little appreciated plant.
- In Operasi Cassava, we looking at the social and cultural significance of tapioca and respond to the evolution of the plant in its migratory process, and further on to contribute their subjective narratives in the context. All in all, Operasi Cassava asks how we can use this symbolic food as a tool for rethinking our past, present and future. Let its smells, its tastes, its sounds intoxicating all your senses, infusing you with its past, embracing you with its present and interlocking you with its future.
- Operasi Cassava has no particular interest to bring out the cultural distinctiveness but to celebrate and embrace our cultural identity that co-exist with each other.
Why Cassava?
- Tapioca or Ubi Kayu in Malay language, is a very common and inconspicuous plant but once served as a major source of carbohydrates for the nation during the Japanese occupation in Malaysia (then Malaya) during WWII. Tapioca plant originates from South America and it was brought into South East Asia by the Portugese and Spanish traders. After so many decades, this foreign crops has been very much localized and assimilated into the local food culture. So it has a very rich cultural history.
- The history of Tapioca integrated into the Malaysia's delicacies, metaphorically symbolized the amalgamations of different race groups that formed the nation. Malaysia has a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. The demographics of Malaysia are represented by these multiple ethic groups: the Malay, Chinese, Indian, Bajau, Kadazan, Iban, the indigenous and others. These multiple ethnic group are thrown together by a colorful past, forming a heterogeneous society, a beautiful hub of diversity of culture. The diverse ways to savor tapioca in the local delicacies simply reflects the multi-ethnic make-up of its society. Furthermore, food is a common factor that unites the Malaysian.
- Through crowd sourcing, we are collecting stories related to Tapioca at the grass root level, be it a home recipe, personal experiences, information of the ethnomedical effects of the plant etc. The online museum is a repository that archives social memory of 'ubi kayu' and it will means a celebration of co-existence of diverse culture in Malaysia.