Fufu Workshop with the Minodu Team

The Minodu team took advantage of a visit by three Togolese team members—Victoire Tsamedi, Ousia Foli-Bebe, and Séti Afanou—to Germany to share their project work in a unique and engaging manner. During a workshop at the Berlin Open Lab at the Berlin University of the Arts, they collaborated with participants to prepare fufu, a traditional dish from Togo and many other African countries. This hands-on activity sparked discussions on various topics, including the primary ingredients of fufu and their cultivation challenges due to climate change, the role of women in its production, and the cultural significance of the dish in everyday life.

The workshop not only taught the art of making and enjoying fufu but also provided insights into the potential of technology to address climate change’s impact on agriculture. Additionally, the session highlighted biases in image-generating artificial intelligence by showcasing generated images of fufu that were significantly different from reality. This prompted a discussion on the importance of large language models that represent cultural diversity and input data that also reflects diverse, local and traditional knowledge.