Category: Community

  • Reflections on Open Feast: Potato Potluck

    Many thanks to Irina Zadov and Abraham Epton for making Long Island the final stop on their remarkable cross-country Open Feast journey. It was a pleasure to share stories, potatoes, and conversation with such generous travelers and new friends.

    Special thanks as well to Viviane Le Courtois for helping connect our potato worlds and inspiring another communal potato gathering.

    As Irina taught us, the potato is known in Belarus as бульба (bul’ba), a word that seems particularly fitting after an evening spent celebrating food, friendship, and cultural exchange around a shared table.

    Wishing Irina and Abraham safe travels on their next adventures in Belarus and beyond. Grateful that Open Feast inspired another memorable Occupy Potato event and many new connections.

    Peace, love, and potatoes.

    Explore More:

    → Open Feast: Potato Potluck (2012)

    → Institute Chronicle: Potato Potluck with Open Feast

  • “ARE YA LEARNIN’ SOMETHING?”

    Meyer Segal was the first documented visitor to the TPI Riverhead Temporary Headquarters today.

    A lifelong East End resident, Meyer is 88 years old and seemed to know the entire history of Riverhead—as well as nearly everyone who lived there. During his visit, he shared stories about the local community, the potato industry, and his own experiences selling potato sacks many years earlier, not unlike the historic examples displayed on the walls of TPI.

    Meyer had plenty of enthusiasm, plenty of opinions, and plenty of advice. Throughout our conversation he repeatedly asked:

    “Are ya learnin’ something!?”

    The question was both humorous and sincere. I loved it. I think it captures something essential about the spirit of the Think Potato Institute. TPI has only just now opened its doors, but already the project is doing exactly what it was intended to do—bringing people together to share stories, knowledge, memories, and ideas through the humble potato.

    Thank you, Meyer.

    Related Exhibition:

    → THINK POTATO INSTITUTE (Temporary Headquarters) 2010