PROJECT UPDATE
For those who are looking to join us and contribute towards meeting our second stage goal...please visit the link below!
What an amazing 31 days we've had. From July 1st to August 1st, We raised $13,772! Woowhoo! When I was doing the campaign, many people asked me, why only 31 days? I think it's important we START things. Not just talk about them. The 31 days allowed us the ability to garner some of the resources we needed to get going. Now we can get to the actual DOING of the project while simultaneously fundraising. This project will not happen over night, but must be worked on continuously on all fronts from the fundraising, to the research, to the writing to the editing.
With your initial contributions( minus the indiegogo fees and credit card fees) the plan is to build the website, start initial recipe and regional research, schedule initial trip to Haiti, secure lodging and accomodations, hire a photographer, hire a guide, and keep pushing for this project to come to light as beautifully as you and I envision. This will be a journey for us all. Myself included. I look to you all for guidance, support and information.
Still want to contribute and found out about this too late? VISIT Our new campaign page and keep up with whats new, and developing.Also encourage you to join our facebook page Haiti Uncovered.
This next is to help us secure the remaining part of the funding we sought out for on indiegogo. Many individuals have called and texted about how they can contribute. This provides a good platform. You still have a chance to participate and be part of history. How amazing is it to open a book anywhere in the world, to know you ARE the reason that it is here.
Part of Proceeds from this book will go to benefit two amazing organizations: Haiti Cultural Exchange and Community2Community, check out the phenomenal work they do.
My goal is not to innovate, it is simply to contribute. It is to bring the missing piece to a puzzle in construction.
Greetings friends, I am Nadege Fleurimond, owner and operator of Fleurimond Catering Inc. an off-premise catering company operating in NY.
THE PROJECT: HAITI UNCOVERED
Today, I consider myself privileged to invite you to be part of a beautiful and worthwhile project that is vital to maintaning our heritage and culture. I have worked on a lot of projects, many of them my own, but I have never felt the need, nor the desire to ask for assistance outside of my small circle of friends and collaborators. This time, this project is too important to undertake alone. I need you to be part of it.
Rarely have I been as excited about a project as I am about this one. In partnership with you, I want to create, a Culinary Coffee Table Book that embraces every region and tradition of Haiti. Haiti Uncovered: A Regional Adventure into the Art of Haitian Cuisine will bring into focus the beauty of Haiti through its diverse culinary traditions. The beautifully bound and illustrated, hard cover book, slated to be released in early 2014, will present and represent the dishes and cooking traditions from the major geographical Departments.
The book will have an English as well as a French Version making it accessible to individuals all over the globe.
Author Edwidge Danticat is excited about this project and will be writing the forward for the book.
Why This Book Needs to be Created?
In my opinion, Food is perhaps one of the most important things within a culture. As Regine Roumain, Executive Director of Haiti Cultural Exchange states, "It is an important and vital aspect of our cultural heritage and one I think should be preserved. Everything having to do with food from the preparation to the cultivation to the way we eat altogether is a cultural act. Food is culture"
Fan Fan TiBot, Founding member and Manager of Tabou Combo, also states, "Haitians are known for music and mostly painting. But not for our cuisine. Based on our different colinization, I think Haiti has the most culturally diversified cuisine in the Caribbean. I like the project because it promotes our culture"
Showcasing Haiti has been at the forefront of everything that I have done to this point in my life and my career. I want to use the skills that I have been blessed with to leave behind something that is needed.
Haiti Uncovered will be a book that Haitians born in Haiti can reference to learn about other parts of the country.
Haitians and Haitian-Americans in the Diaspora can learn the real breadth and scope of Haitian cuisine . Not just Du riz ak pwa. This sense that Haitian food is limited, is a fallacy.
When Non-Haitians are interested in learning about Haiti, Haitian culture, and what the culinary culture of Haiti is really about, they can google, and find Haiti Uncovered, that gives a true depiction of the reality.
I read on an internet blog once, about someone who had moved to Haiti and they wrote, "Haitians put ketchup and sugar in their spaghetti. Haitians really like sweet foods. They put sugar in everything."
That statement really bothered me because, while I may not know our full culinary tradition, one I am very clear about is, we do not like sweet and savory flavors for the most part, yet, the people reading this woman's blog would use her thoughts as a reference, and there is nothing out there to counter that.
We need to change that. We need to ensure that we have a complete and well presented piece of writing that will serve as a culinary, cultural and historical reference for Haiti.
Haiti Uncovered can serve people all over the world who are interested in a creating a sort of cultural exchange.
However, I can’t do this alone. Only a true and complete collaborative effort on many fronts can make that possible. Therefore, I need you. I need your backing and encouragement. Together, we will produce something that we can all be proud of. This book, with your participation, will become the culinary reference for Haitians and non-Haitians alike who are interested in Haitian Cuisine.
Why Do I Need You on this Journey?
I want you to love this project as much as I do. I want you to travel the course with me. Such an undertaking will require extensive travelling and research throughout the country to speak with the people, discover and study the recipes, so that they can be reported as accurately as possible to you and the world. It will feature not only beautiful photographs of dishes and recipes, but will also include photographs of the people and will reveal in detail their food traditions, as well as locally grown ingredients. Haiti Uncovered: A Regional Adventure into the Art of Haitian Cuisine is a book that will present an accurate depiction of Haiti's culinary art. In essence, this is your chance to rediscover Haiti and to present her in a different light.
What Your Financial Support Will Mean:
27,500 is the minimum needed to get this project going in the right direction. However the project costs are well over $40,000. Proper research and travelling will be necessary to capture the rich culinary heritage of Haiti.
What does a day look like in Jacmel when looked through a food inspired lens?
What do the people of Jeremie eat on Sundays?
What is the festival or street food culture in Cap-Haitien?
Wedding foods of Miragoane?
From religion to other societal components, what role does food play in the lives of Haitian.
By contributing financially to the realization of this Book Project, you will permit the hiring of knowledgable and competent professionals in all relams. From videographers, copy editors, researches, historians to the photographers that wil capture the people, the dishes and the agricultural back drop of the country.
Even in presenting this video to you and bringing this project to your attention, we wanted to do our best to bring something of quality. We want to continue on this path. Research has to be done and we need to go to Haiti. Numerous times. We need to visit various regions to perform adequate researchproperly document data. We will need to print this book and more importantly, we will need to ensure that the marketing and publicity campaigns are well developed and carried out. Your contribution will make all that possible.
We also have some great perks available for your generosity. Check them out!
What the Book Means
For many Haitian descents and foreigners, Haitian food means Rice and Beans, Fried chicken, Tasso (seasoned fried goat), Griot (seasoned fried pork), fried fish with the occasional fried plantain.
But Haitian Food, well Haitian Cuisine is much more than those common dishes. It is also Tom tom, bouyon tèt kabrit, tchaka, and ragou pyé bèf. It is pitimi ak pwa, soup joumou, pwason gwo sèl, lalo, blé, labouyi banana, doukounou, mousa, koukoush, and much more.
It is also dessert items like dous kokoyé, chanmchanm, konparèt, dous makòs, tablèt nwa, tablet pistach, pain patate, gato manyok, bon bon sirop, beignet, and a lot more.
Think of learning about Cachiman, Corossol, kenep, mango, sapoti, lam veritab, labapen, acajou, and Djon djon, among others.
We want to represent the daily culinary experience of those in Jeremie, Gonaives, Les Cayes, Cap-Haitien, Jacmel, Port-de-Paix and others. We want to know the people. We want to know their food traditions, so we can perhaps pass down to our children.
With this book, we have a chance to represent our cuisine and traditions the right way and in context of our history and reality.
How much will all of this Project Cost us?
The project cost ranges from $40,000.00 to $60,000 depending on how extensive we want to make this. I have thought of adding a DVD Guide along with the book. However, all of that depends on how much we are able to raise. I have already secured $8,000.00 in commitment towards the printing of the Book. I have committed $11,000 of my own funds towards this endeavor, however, I cannot do it alone. I am coming to you and the Indiegogo community for atleast $27, 500.00 as I continue to search for the money to make this project as amazing as it deserves to be. If we are able to raise more, the better the project will be.
Author Edwidge Dandicat has landed her support to the project by agreeing to write the forward of the book. Others have already promised support of other kind. We need your support. Contribute to this project and help us create something which truly represents the country that we know and love.
Part of proceeds from this book will benefit Haiti Cultural Exchange and Community2Community. The work these two organizations do here and in Haiti is beyond phenomenal.
How Can you Help?
Donate!!! Donate today, then come back another day and donate again. It is important that this project spreads, and the only way that will happen is if you contribute and ask others to do the same.
It is imperative that we keep the donations constant and consistent. This project has the ability to get great backing and support if the initial support is there.
So please keep encouraging your friends, family and colleagues to support this and help us bring this project to fruition.
Tweet, Facebook, email, call and share!
BOOK HOST COMMITTEE
- Marie Wiggins
- Catherine Dauphin
- Zazou Pierre
- Chef Landdy Antoine
Partners Who Support this Project (In Formation)
- Edwidge Danticat
- Yves "Fanfan" Joseph
- The Haitian Times
- The Haitian Round Table
- www.Haitianbeatz.com
- Community2Community
- Haiti Cultural Exchange
- Kitoko Insurance
- Le Boudoire
- UniMix Films
- RedRooster Graphix
- Power 102.1 FM
- New Jerusalem Church of Nazarene- Church Ave/Bedford
- Corn Bread & Cremasse
- www.Rockmasters.com
- Fabulous Events by Fab
-
www.lovepeople22.com
Thank You For Being Part of the Journey!