Co-presented with SSI YA GI and Second Generation Seeds
Hosted by Nonhuman Teachers

At this program, which took place at the Cactus Store Studio and Greenhouse, farmer Kristyn Leach and writer Victor M. Valle presented on the complex histories, epigenetics, and mythologies of the chile, and efforts to protect heirloom varietals of chiles that are close to being wiped out by corporations seeking more uniform and controllable qualities. Their presentations were followed by a preview screening of The Yearning Table, a documentary by Saehee Cho which explores the Korean diaspora living in Mexico. During a conversation moderated by Saehee Cho, the participants discussed how the migration and adaptability of the chile pepper offer us tools of resistance, illuminating stories of colonization, Indigenous poetics, histories of agriculture, borderlands ecology, and genetics. This conversation about peppers transcended notions of nationalism and cultural identity politics, and invited the audience to contemplate the magic of plants that retain so much genetic diversity no matter where they are planted by whomever. They beget new worlds of taste and can only ever be “owned through repeated acts of love and care.” The evening also included a special poetry reading by poet Mary Lau Valle on her Chinese-Mexican ancestry, and a tasting of Gohyang Farm kkaennip (perilla), Saehee Cho’s ssamjang, and a lacto-fermented hot sauce flight made with local peppers, including Second Generation Seeds’ GYOPO Gochu.