Refectory

Refectory, a collaboration between Elise Schloff and Meera Chauhan, stages an areligious, ecological, and queer intervention through a culinary performance series and zine project that reconfigure feminine monastic culinary traditions for contemporary rural Maine communities. Named after the room in which cloistered Catholic nuns gathered for eating, Refectory’s feasts will take place at South Solon Meeting House, a former church with stunning interior frescoes. Refectory's menu references Catholic food traditions — such as eucharistic devotion, feasting, and fasting — and strange food behaviors both actual and mythical, such as food multiplication, virgin lactation, and consuming spoiled or ash-adulterated foods. All ingredients will be sourced through gathering wild foods or from Maine farms. A zine will document the feasts through photographs, recipes, essays, and marginal illustrations modeled after medieval manuscripts.

Artist bios

Elise Schloff is a culinary artist, food writer, and domestic worker. She is a co-creator of Nutritional Yeast Infection, a zine about lesbian food and friendship. In her work as a baker for her pop-up venture Soymilkmaid, Elise draws inspiration from foraged foods, feminist traditions, and her background in art history. She lives in Portland, Maine.

Meera Chauhan is a visual artist and university gallery worker based in Boston, Massachusetts. Chauhan is the co-creator of Nutritional Yeast Infection, a zine that addresses themes of lesbian food and friendship. In her own work, Chauhan explores the lesbian domestic and bodily interior through painting and drawing.

Social media
Elise Schloff | Instagram

Cover image: Candied wild rose brutti ma buoni cookies made by the artist for a Venetian food pop-up at the Waldoboro Inn in Waldoboro, Maine. August 2023. Photo by Nola Logan.