Le Zhang 张乐


ABOUT

Le Zhang is an interdisciplinary designer, researcher, and freelance writer. With the matured skills of a designer and the insights of an anthropologist, she is dedicated to exploring material culture that crosses geographical boundaries and conducting investigations in a creative manner. Viewing design as a thought catalyst, her work encompasses multimedia content production.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art, she founded the cultural design studio Earth Buffet, focusing on geospatial food research, design, and investigation. She is also the co-founder of Outland Publishing Fair and the publishing group Aphakia. She now works as a researcher in Innovation Design at CAFA and as staff in the OTBT anthropology field school.


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Shopping Bags: The Moving Territory of Foodscape




Zine
Design Anthropology
2024
How would you see shopping bags move on the street?  They hold a space for the owner, and carry things with them.  It contains food and ingredients bought in nearby stores, which were chosen by owner's eating habits influenced by regional culture.

In the southwest London district of Falcon Road, a typical sub-center, various popular British chain supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl, ASDA, Waitrose, M&S, Poundland are clustered around the train station.  Additionally, there are several supermarkets operated by immigrants.  The demographic composition of this neighborhood is remarkably diverse, with only 40% of the population being of white ethnicity.  Many individuals of African, Asian, and Arab descent reside here.

Interestingly, in such a semi-immigrant community, migrants from different regions choose to shop at these chain supermarkets, even though the products are selected based on British standards.  People who select the same ingredients often use them for entirely different recipes due to their cultural and ethnic differences.  The shopping bag can be seen as a passage from standardized chain supermarkets to the diverse kitchens of individual homes.

Acting as a bridge between the external world and the immigrant's home, the shopping bag can be seen as the moving territory of foodscape, a pathway on the streets.  And this is also what this zine hopes to bring to you—a perspective for reflecting on the localization, migrants, and food.






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