engAGE Student Speak Series – Cassandra Marsillo and Noah Solomons – second edition

1. Dalla valigia alla tavola: Recipes and oral histories from Montreal’s molisani

Recipes hold memories. The preparation of ingredients, repetitive actions - stirring, kneading, chopping -, familiar tastes and smells, are a performance of acts past and passed on through the generations. They remember and recall a way of being in the world, like primary sources that we are constantly reshaping and re-engaging. Like all traditions, by existing in the present, they tell us as much about who we are today, as who we were before. This paper is about a project that I have collaborated on with the Federazione delle associazioni molisane del Quebec. Culminating in a cookbook, bringing together 35 different home cooks from the community and over 40 traditional recipes from their ancestral hometowns in Molise, which I collected through oral history interviews in 2020 and 2021. The recipes and stories come together to work as partners in storytelling, evoking the places, people, and emotions behind them. What histories do our recipes tell? How do they function as vehicles of memory and transmission of knowledge? What more can we learn from these recipes and community members, beyond the kitchen and the plate?

About the speaker:

Cassandra Marsillo (she/her) is an oral and public historian, artist, and writer based in Tiohti:áke (Montreal), telling and listening to stories about immigration, identity, collective memory, food, and folklore, particularly in relation to the Italian-Canadian experience and traditions from her family's region, Molise. She is in the second year of her PhD in History at Concordia University. She is also a teacher in the department of History and Classics at Dawson College and the author of Dalla valigia alla tavola: A journey through Molisan culinary heritage (2023), published by the Federazione delle associazioni molisane del Quebec.

2. Memento boxes: harnessing the power of collaborative gift-giving in a transitional housing setting

The ‘memento box’ concept is a structured, participant-driven initiative intended to facilitate gift-giving between participants as a mechanism to promote social integration in transitional housing settings (e.g. Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal) through collaborative gift-giving activities. Research suggests that normative object attachment (i.e. sentimental value) can increase with age, and has an important impact of life transitions; moreover, object attachment may become more acute when social and environmental outlets seem unstable. At Hôtel-Dieu, I have seen many residents struggle with the socio-environmental aspects of transitional housing, but have also observed the transformative impact of sharing, collaboration and socialization through facilitated activities. Drawing from research and personal experience, the memento box concept hopes to elevate the level of social engagement and integration of residents in transitional housing settings. The memento boxes themselves will essentially be customizable gift-boxes comprised of objects tailored to the recipients’ preferences—e.g. socks, chocolate, postcards, books, music CDs, etc. The content of each memento box will be determined through a collaborative process between any residents, volunteers and staff who wish to participate.

About the speaker

Noah Solomons is an MA thesis student, graduate research assistant, and teaching assistant in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University. Originally from Victoria, his current research and education focuses on the intersecting areas of housing insecurity, and population aging. In 2023, he received his BA in Political Science from the University of Victoria, before working for two-and-a-half years in hotel hospitality and healthcare settings. His experience working in hospitality engendered an interest in sociology (i.e. third spaces, social reproduction), whereas his experience working in long-term care and hospital settings helped introduce him to the field of environmental gerontology and health policy. For the last six months, he has worked as a social volunteer at Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, where he developed the concept of ‘memento boxes’ to promote social integration in transitional housing settings.