Culinary Intervention
by Siim Preiman and Haeminhae

Culinary Intervention
by Siim Preiman and Haeminhae

Dining Performance
Artist / Performer: Haeminhae, Siim Preiman

MMCA Changdong
Seoul, Korea
2025

People often say that home is where the heart is, but perhaps the quickest way to the heart is through the stomach.
The menu for this event at the Changdong Residency of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art has been developed collaboratively by two artists, Haemin Hae and Sim Preiman, who are currently living in different countries. Over the past several months, they have exchanged recipes and stories, searching for flavors that evoke memories of home.
At the heart of the menu lies a meeting point between Korea’s tradition of fermentation and Estonia’s tradition of breadmaking. Techniques, ingredients, textures, and flavors from the two cultures intersect and intermingle. Some combinations coming together seamlessly, while others remain intentionally unresolved. Rather than a finished product, this meal is an ongoing process, an act of making together. With curiosity and an openness to unfamiliar tastes, we may find ourselves moving one step closer to the warm, shared feeling we call home..

The ingredients are placed into jars and move toward the opposite side.

In Korea, fermentation techniques developed as a way to preserve leftover ingredients, shaped by a history that was not particularly affluent. In Estonia, from the 13th to the 19th century, during a time of poverty under German landowners, people could not obtain fine white flour, so they made rye bread from coarse grains left behind. It was also baked in large quantities at once so it could be stored for a long time.

When we decided to begin this project, Siim was moving from Estonia to Korea, and I was moving from Korea to Australia, each of us traveling in opposite directions and settling in different places. As we communicated through Zoom and email, we spoke about what each of us carried, our histories and our food. Through these conversations, we came to realize that although we come from different places, we share similar histories reflected in foods that are different yet alike. Foraging and fermentation, and the knowledge of carefully selecting what is found in nature and preserving it over time.
With this perspective, we decided to create fermented jars and bread made with rye.

In Melbourne, I visited farmers’ markets, layering vegetables I gathered and simmering fruits to create fermenting jars. Using ingredients that are also easily found in Korea, we aimed to make jars that share similar qualities, yet differ slightly in taste and aroma depending on where they were grown, following the same recipe but holding different durations of time within them.

Returning to Korea with these filled jars, I met Siim, and together we began making rye bread in earnest using rye grown in Korea and a starter that had been kept for a long time.

Because the rye grown in Korea was significantly different from that of Estonia, we went through repeated failures before finally completing the bread. At the same time, ingredients grown in Korea were also prepared in the same way, either boiled or placed into jars.

As we prepared the table for the performance, we decided to use the remaining rye flour mixed with water, spreading it as unbaked dough across the surface. We left openings for the ingredients to be placed.

The event began with a reading of a passage about respect for rye bread and for the table, and we completed the table by adding warmth with a soup made from turnips.

Our stage gradually disappeared through the hands of those who ate from it, and some of the remaining jars were taken by others, beginning another journey.