Dining in Refugee Camps, The Art of Sahrawi Cooking / Cenando en los Campamentos de Refugiados, un libro de cocina Saharaui

As a guest artist selected to represent ARTifariti in 2009, Robin Kahn spent a month living and cooking with Sahrawi women inside refugee camps in Algeria and in The Free Territories of the Western Sahara. There, she compiled this artist’s book using the sparse materials she either carried with her or found in the desert. Comprised of collaged photographs and text (both English and Spanish), it is a journal of recipes, histories, and drawings documenting how the Sahrawis blend tradition with innovation in preparing and serving food mostly supplied through foreign aid to their community. A testament to the daily struggles of a people who have lived in exile for 35 years, Kahn’s book uses the meal as a reflection of the women’s complex role in providing sustenance, fortitude, and a sense of tradition inside a compromised society.