AIISF Announces Opening of 2nd Online Exhibition: Tastes of Home

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA – July 29, 2020) The Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) announced today the opening of its second online exhibition Tastes of Home: Celebrating Immigrant Cultures Through Food. Across its eight virtual exhibit rooms, Tastes of Home highlights the important role that food has played in the lives of immigrants across the US and around the world. The exhibition’s various exhibit rooms focus on various themes such as the poor quality of the food served to detainees as the former US Immigration Station at Angel Island; the cultural and economic contributions of immigrant farmers and entrepreneurs; and profiles of nonprofit organizations who are working to ensure that immigrant communities have access to healthy, nutritional food.

The exhibition also includes Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964, a poster exhibition from the Smithsonian that celebrates the journeys and achievements of migrant farm workers as well as an exhibit that draws parallels between the importance and significance of food to immigrant communities and to the civil rights movement. The Immigrant Roots Potluck exhibit features a collection of recipes submitted by AIISF’s friends and family that spans multiple heritages including: Caribbean, Chinese, Italian, Middle Eastern, Pakistani, Puerto Rican, and Thai. 

Stories and videos on loan from some of AIISF’s partner museums in the global Migration Museums Network are also featured. The exhibition is curated by AIISF Operations Manager Russell Nauman and AIISF Executive Director Edward Tepporn.

AIISF Executive Director Edward Tepporn states, “As COVID-19 continues to force us to geographically distance ourselves from loved ones and friends, we wanted to uplift the comfort that food often offers us. Thus, this exhibit could be considered our virtual care package to the community. At the same time, with increasing racial and xenophobic attacks targeted at immigrants, we hope that this exhibit serves as just one reminder of the important contributions that immigrants have brought to this country. Food, and the conversations we have over food, can spark our collective curiosity, understanding, and appreciation for our diverse cultures and our common humanity.” 

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About AIISF

Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) raises awareness of the experience of Immigration into America through the Pacific. As a cooperating association with California State Parks, AIISF collects and preserves the rich stories and personal journeys of thousands of immigrants, and shares them with visitors and everyone living in America through education initiatives and public programs. Angel Island Immigration Station reminds us of the complicated history of immigration in America. It serves as a symbol of our willingness to learn from our past to ensure that our nation keeps its promise of liberty and freedom. To learn more, visit www.aiisf.org.

About the U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island

From 1910 to 1940, a section of Angel Island was used to process, interrogate, and detain immigrants from over 80 countries. While often referred to as the “Ellis Island of the West”, Angel Island’s immigration station was created to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and other immigration policies created to restrict immigration from Asia and the Pacific. For more information about touring the U.S. Immigration at Angel Island, see www.aiisf.org/visit.