In response to COVID halting our community dinners program “Cincinnati’s Table,” we responded by finding a way to bring stories and food to you! In 2020, Wave Pool teamed up with Dean’s Mediterranean to create a new way for immigrant chefs to share their talents and stories with Cincinnati. Featured chefs are cooking pre-made, ready to heat and eat meals that share a global menu of cultures and histories through food. The artist group Collective Action Studio (CAS) designed personal and interactive wrappings for these meal kits that tell us about the chef as well as encourage those who purchase the meals to participate by contributing their own meal and story to their growing collection of oral histories and recipes. CAS creates art that is social, challenging, and personal; designing tools, objects, and situations that blur the line between artist and audience. 

“This project is a way to encourage connection and understanding during a time when we can’t host the large community dinners that we typically do,” says Cal Cullen, Executive Director of Wave Pool. These meals, containing 4-6 servings each, were for sale for $20 starting mid-May, available at both Dean’s Mediterranean in Findlay Market as well as at The Welcome Project in Camp Washington. This project comes from the Welcome Project, a subsidiary project of Wave Pool that aims to empower refugee and immigrant artists and chefs in our region through classes, programming, and entrepreneurial support.