Feast of the Feminine

Feast of the Feminine started in 2018 and is an ongoing project that uses food to create a dialogue about menstruation. As the artist, I collaborate with a chef to create a seasonal, locally sourced menu representing the main nutritional components of menstrual blood: protein, iron, calcium, phosphate, chloride, sodium and nitrogen. Every element in the dishes of the five courses contains a nutrient found in menstrual blood – without having any animal ‘blood’ on the plate. For example, an entree like roasted striped bass, fennel, tomatoes, and oil-cured olives would be a dish high in protein, nitrogen, sodium, chloride, and iron.

I encourage the chefs I work with to be creative within the framework, and we host a dinner party for 8-15 guests. This event is a performative art dinner that creates a safe environment to share personal stories about life with menstruation and coming of age in a menstruating body through prompts like storytelling, verse reciting, and other social interactions. This performance celebrates the ceremonies of menstruation by intersecting them with rituals of hospitality. The dinner conversation that takes place in this intimate dining environment humanizes this biological process which is still so heavily stigmatized.