The Island Mountain Arts Gallery has been transformed into a Chinese restaurant to help set the scene for Joni Cheung's Soba's Corner exhibit. People can come in, have a cup of tea and watch the cooking videos Cheung created to share unique Chinese-Canadian dishes.
"There's two circular tables and plants that you might see when you go to a local Chinese-Canadian restaurant in Canada. The premise of the exhibition is around Soba's Corner which is the video series I've been creating since 2020," Cheung explained. Due to the pandemic and being in grad school, Cheung had to find a way to make work. "The only places I could really go were the grocery store and then mentally to escape the realities of the world, was YouTube."
Soba's Corner is named for Cheung's cat, Soba.
While talking to a friend, Cheung heard of a dish called ginger beef that her friend told her about. The dish, while having variants across the country is unique in Alberta.
"What they were describing was like nothing I've eaten in Vancouver so that led me to an online research panel of this 'oh is there specific Chinese dishes from certain provinces' and short answer, yes," she said. She started exploring how immigration to different provinces and the ingredients available to people.
She explained how food and culture interact, with different cultures not only having different flavour profiles and cooking styles, but also the way people share food. She highlighted the difference between ordering individual meals and eating family-style meals as part of how different cultures share food.
So far Cheung has only done two episodes and is planning to continue exploring the series and.
"One thing I didn't expect was how long it would take to just make one episode," she said. The episodes can take over a month for her to create. "There's the recording of the contents, but then also all the research I'm doing beforehand, can take a month to a few months depending on how much knowledge I already have of the dish."
While making episodes, Cheung also works with guests for each episode from the different provinces she'll be working on.
"This series has also been a really interesting way to learn more about the people I care about or who are really important in my life," she said.
Cheung is still struggling to come up with a dish for B.C., she thinks it's because she's from the province so all of the dishes seem normal to her.
She was initially supposed to go to Wells for ArtsWells in summer, but couldn't due to the Antler Creek fire.
One of the things Cheung is hoping people take away from Soba's Corner is to slow down and spend time connecting with people in their life.
"This work is so involved with other people and wouldn't exist if I wasn't taking the time to just relax and also chat and make food with friends," Cheung said. "And I'm hoping that can encourage a slowing down in other people's routines so that they can also make time to just have a cup of tea with someone they love."
She's also hoping to shine a spotlight on Chinese-Canadian dishes rather than focusing on purely authentic or traditional dishes.
"It's really important to think about and talk about food among other things, but I think there is something really beautiful about giving food like Chinese-Canadian dishes, the same respect that others might think are more traditional," she said. She added that people from different parts of China, coming to different parts of Canada and interacting with their new communities in different ways has influenced the unique Chinese-Canadian dishes.
One of the things Cheung is researching now is a foot-long egg roll she heard about being in the Yukon, which she heard about from a colleague in Nova Scotia.
"They were telling me about somewhere they read that there used to be a foot-long egg roll that was like a dollar or something in the Yukon that miners would buy because it was cheap and filling. But I have not found the article for this and I'm really hoping that I can find more information about it, I'm hoping I can go on a little trip up there to see if maybe there's stuff in the archives."
On the topic of food, Cheung said she was extremely impressed with Diggy's Diner and the Jack O' Clubs in Wells and hopes that people who come to see the exhibit stop in to have something to eat at one of the local restaurants.
While in Wells, Cheung also hosted an event making Montreal peanut butter dumplings, which are featured in one of the Soba's Corner episodes. Episodes of Soba's Corner also feature transcripts of conversations with her episode's guest in the description and a hidden message in the closed captions.
Soba's Corner will be running at the Island Mountain Arts Gallery at 2323 Pooley Street in Wells from now until Feb. 23. It's open Thursday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.