THE PAN HAG
2014-16
An artist’s exploration into the recipes, community, and traditions of East Durham which culminated in the Pan Hag Field Kitchen held in Easington and publication of ‘The Pan Hag’ book.
The Pan Hag Field Kitchen, hosted by artist Gayle Chong Kwan, included traditional craft activities, guided walks of the area and a vote for the region’s favourite pan haggerty recipe, in the first ever Pan Hag Championship. The work was a culmination of Chong Pan haggerty, also known as panaculty or panack, is a traditional regional dish made with potatoes, meat and cheese. It was a favourite amongst miners and there are many variations on the recipe.
Local residents voted for their favourite pan haggerty recipe at this event celebrating the North East’s traditional food and crafts which took place on the former Easington Colliery pit site on Saturday 1 October 2016.
A traditional recipe of meat, potatoes, carrots and stock as their favourite, proved to be the winning dish, based on a taste test.
As part of the project a publication called ‘The Pan Hag’ was created, a book about the place, people and processes that created a diverse project at the interstices between art and life.
It is part-documentation, part-archive, and part-recipe book, for readers who are interested in art, cooking, history, community, and East Durham. The Pan Hag Field Kitchen is a ‘Do-It-Yourself’ (DIY) method for individuals and communities to engage materials and skills to produce, transform, re-construct, and re-imagine.
Photo Credit: Richard Kenworthy 2016, The Pan Hag Field Kitchen
Photo credit: The Pan Hag Field Kitchen, Richard Kenworthy 2016
The process: Chong Kwan was commissioned in 2024 to develop an artwork with the communities of East Durham and combined practice and research to co-produce a participatory installation work that exists in between the personal and collective. Between 2014 and 2016, Chong Kwan created The Pan Hag; a project that centre around panackelty - a classic Northumberland dish, part communal history and personal nostalgia. The dish brings together the local, everyday, and leftover, to be shared and remembered.
Chong Kwan developed a series of meals, walks, workshops, and events to explore, celebrate, and share the cooking, growing, making, skills, and crafts of East Durham. These activities were designed to make connections between the area’s varied landscapes, which include stunning coastlines, nature reserves, and areas that still bear witness to the legacy of the area’s mining and industrial past.
During the project, Chong Kwan took on the role of ‘The Pan Hag’, a character who - like panackelty - collects, records and shares East Durham’s cultures, customs and myths, growing, and cooking in its diverse landscape over the seasons. Through conversations, meetings, creative activities, walks, interviews and meals, this character celebrated the cooking pot of localities, and created future memories, walks, paths and possible signposts in the landscape itself. The project reflected the particularities and difficulties of movement in East Durham, due to the issue of limited public transport and low car ownership in East Durham.
The project culminated in The Pan Hag Field Kitchen, which brought together the collected recipes, community and traditions in a celebration set against East Durham’s stunning coastline. Easington Colliery Nature Reserve was transformed into a field kitchen, including refrigerator, cooking hob, and prep area, which provided the setting for a range of activities which explored the themes of the project.
The focus of the event was a large formal banqueting table and chairs in the centre of the space, at which visitors could participate in drawing and sculptural activities, related to the ingredients of panaculty. Around the edges were tables and workbenches at which local people ran craft demonstrations, skill workshops, and creative activities. The look and feel of the event was that of a field kitchen combined with a local museum, where objects, writing, and images, were displayed. The event ran scheduled activities throughout the day, including craft workshops and sensory walks. The day culminated in The Pan Hag Championships for the best dish cooked on the day. Invited guests and drop-in visitors had the opportunity to contribute to The Pan Hag Map - a drawing together of the journey that became the book.
“It’s been a hugely symbolic event for myself and the other local craftspeople who’ve played a part in delivering it. Held on the former pit sit, this land was once the heart and soul of the area – and to see the community coming together again directly above where the men of Easington worked below ground, has struck a chord with many of us.”
Photo credit: Horden Walk with Gayle Kwong Chan by Colin Davison, 2014
Project partners:
— Commissioned by No More Nowt during the first phase of their funding
— Produced by Forma Arts
— Artist Gayle Kwong Chan
— All of the local participants, craftspeople and panaculty chefs!
— Easington Colliery Nature Reserve
— Cafe Together at Easington and Easington Social Welfare
— Easington Parish Council
— Easington Brass Band