Mom’s Broth Ingredients

Role ········· Designer, Photographer
Medium ········· Digital, PrintTools ········· Sketch, Photoshop CC, Fujifilm XE-2

100% of profits from the labels went towards causes fighting AAPI hate, and towards supporting local Chinatowns

_{MOM’S BROTHS}
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One of my personal goals have been to learn the broth recipes that my mom makes. With each broth she makes, she always describes the benefits that it has for the body (ie. this ones good for your eyes, or this one helps heal the liver since you’ve been staying up late...etc), and there is such a rich and deep culture in broths alone.

The last time I went home, I sat down with my mom to learn and to document some of of these recipes, and she was describing some basic ingredients that could be added to any broth. Each of them have their own unique health benefits, and it really goes to show the history, knowledge and care that has been passed down over the generations. A lot of this knowledge though is only available to people who are fluent in Chinese, and given that my reading/writing sucks, I would have a difficult time learning this if it were not for my mom verbally describing this to me.


_{TRANSFERRING CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE}
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I’ve been trying to see how this knowledge could be shared with people who may not be able to read/write Chinese, and so I made these labels for the ingredients and their benefits. My goal is to help people understand what each ingredient is, the long history of it in Chinese herbalism, and the health benefits they provide. I’m hoping that they help demystify Chinese ingredients to those who are less familiar with it. They can look scary if you don’t know what they are, but honestly most of these are just dried root veggies/fruits.

I’m hoping that by making them more familiar and less scary, that more people will stop by to support their local Chinatown herb stores. And if you don’t know what to ask for, then you can simply bring these labels with you (their Chinese name is on the label so the shopkeeper can know what you’re asking for if there’s a language barrier).