Migration Soup: Beetroot, 2024
At De Fabriek, Eindhoven
Migration soup is a series that weaves together the migration stories of plants and people. The story of the beetroot's migration is deeply intertwined with human innovation and the sugar revolution, native to the Mediterranean region, beetroot was initially valued for its leaves. as it spread through Europe, beet was cultivated in larger roots and it became both a staple food and a valuable medicinal crop. in 1747, sugar beet was first identified as a potential source of sugar. however, it wasn't widely utilized until the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century, when Britain's blockade of sugar imports to continental Europe. by 1880, sugar beet had overtaken sugarcane as Europe's primary source of sugar. this shift reduced dependence on colonial sugarcane, and reshaped global trade networks. We shared beet soup and had a guided meditation to imagine the beetroot's migration narrative together, and explored how a plant evolved with its environment and integrated into new systems. We use beet juice to map the stories of the plants and our own stories.