The Seed Archive, conceived by Mónica de Miranda as part of the broader Institution(ing)s project, is a living archive dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and sharing the agricultural knowledge, food practices, and cultural memory of African and Afro-descendant communities. Rooted in urban gardens, ancestral knowledge systems, and diasporic resilience, the Seed Archive connects seeds not only to cultivation but also to histories of migration, identity, and collective care.
As part of this initiative, we are creating an online cookbook that gathers recipes from across the African diaspora, tracing the journeys of seeds through generations, geographies, and kitchens.
We invite individuals, families, cooks, storytellers, and communities to contribute recipes that use at least one seed, fruit, vegetable, or plant from the Seed Archive.
Editors: Alyse Kaweng Fan; Anika Borko; Roxana-Andreea David (PhD and MA students of Culture Studies / The Lisbon Consortium)
Editorial coordination: Luísa Santos
Eligible Seed Archive ingredients include:
banana, broad bean, tomato, lemon, chayote, common bean, corn, green bean, loquat, mint, okra, orange, pine tree, piri-piri, chili pepper, pumpkin, sugar cane, sweet potato
Submission Guidelines:
Each recipe submission must include:
- Recipe title
- List of ingredients
- Step-by-step cooking method, including preparation techniques and any traditional methods used
- The name of the person who shared the recipe with you, or where you found it
- The seed from the Seed Archive to which the recipe relates
- The original location/geography of the recipe (for example: Cabo Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, or other diasporic geographies)
- Optional personal story, memory, or cultural significance connected to the recipe (up to 150 words)
- Optional traditional serving style, including serving vessels, cultural contexts, or any dining customs associated with the recipe
- Optional photos of the dish or the ingredients in home garden, or family photos relating to the dish (up to 3 JPGs, 150 dpi each)
- Name of the author(s) of the submission
- A little bit about you or your collective (maximum 200 words)
- The following contact details: your name(s), where you are based, and an email address
Criteria:
- Recipes must use at least one ingredient from the Seed Archive.
- Recipes should reflect culinary traditions, adaptations, or memories from African and Afro-descendant communities.
- Both traditional and contemporary interpretations are welcome.
Why Participate?
This cookbook aims to preserve and amplify the food knowledge embedded in diasporic communities, highlighting how seeds carry histories of survival, adaptation, and cultural continuity. Your contribution will become part of a collective archive of taste, memory, and resistance.
Through food, we map migrations, honor ancestral knowledge, and cultivate new futures. Join us in growing this living archive.
Submission process and acknowledging the contributors:
We allow for up to 3 submissions per person or collective to the open call.
All contributors will be fully credited next to the submitted recipe and in the list of contributors.
Please indicate the following information for credits:
- Who is the author(s) of the submission
- A little bit about you or your collective (maximum 200 words)
- The following contact details: your name(s), where you are based, and an email address
Please send your submissions to: info@institutionings.eu and cookbookseedarchive@gmail.com
The submissions don’t include any fee.
Key dates and selection process:
Launch of the Open Call: 1 June 2026
Deadline for submission: until October 2026
We will include all recipes submitted as long as they follow the criteria (listed under “criteria”) and include all required information (listed under “submission guidelines”).
Mónica de Miranda is a visual artist, filmmaker, and researcher known for her interdisciplinary approach. Her work explores the intersections of politics, gender, memory, space, and history, employing drawing, installation, photography, film, and sound. Blurring the boundaries between documentary and fiction, she investigates strategies of resistance, geographies of affection, storytelling, and ecologies of care. Mónica represented the Portugal Pavilion at the 2024 60th Venice Biennale, with the project Greenhouse.
Her art has been showcased at renowned international events, including the 16th Sharjah Biennial, the Lubumbashi Biennale, Berlin Biennale, Dakar Biennial, Casablanca Biennale, Bamako Encounters, Venice Architecture Biennale, BIENALSUR, and Houston FotoFest. Notable exhibitions have taken place at esteemed venues such as CAIXA Cultural, Bildmuseet, Kadist Art Foundation, Gulbenkian, MUCEM; AfricaMusem, MAAT, Barbican, Autograph, MNAC, and the Camões Cultural Institute. Monica’s work features in public and private collections worldwide.
Photo credit @ Mónica Miranda
The Lisbon Consortium 