Slow Disasters in Oaxaca: Thinking and Cooking for the Soil
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Launched in Santo Domingo Tomaltepec in Oaxaca, Pensar y Cocinar represents the Mexican chapter of Slow Disasters, a long-term, multi-continental project and methodology by British artist Andrew Merritt. Since August 2025, the project has been applying Merritt's methodology of using art and food to respond to "slow disasters", the gradual, often invisible processes of socio-ecological degradation. In the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, these processes manifest as soil erosion, water stress, and the quiet disappearance of ancestral ingredients and biocultural memory.
The Mexico activation is led by Cocina Colaboratorio under the direction of Emilio Hernández, working in close dialogue with Las Caracolas, a local agroecological learning group. The first phase of Pensar y Cocinar consisted of the creation of the Cocina de Suelo (Soil Kitchen), a mobile, modular structure built with local materials. Functioning as a living platform for dialogue and collective action, the cocina reframes cooking as an act of care directed toward the land itself, a space where knowledge is not extracted, but "cooked" through listening and shared practice.
Through a series of five Círculos de Estudio (Study Circles), participants reconstructed the collective history of their land, diagnosed the health of local plots and examined how market pressures have displaced traditional food systems. These encounters served as the methodological backbone of the project, moving toward a shared inquiry that holds space for technical, ancestral and experiential expertise.
Looking ahead, this phase lays the foundation for a permanent "Field Hospital" in Oaxaca, which will be a modular infrastructure dedicated to soil healing and biocultural restoration. Developed in collaboration with the community and researchers from UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), this next step aims to support long-term experimentation and the intergenerational sharing of tools, ensuring that the relationships and practices generated through the Cocina de Suelo continue to evolve alongside the territory.
