Last weekend I went to the Slavs and Tatars Pickle Bar in Moabit for a foot-soaking performance by dear friends and creatives Hana Ćurak and Bojan Stojčić. Hana is a writer and sociologist, and is the mind behind the pioneering feminist memes on the platform Sve su to vještice (It’s all witches). Bojan is a contemporary artist who explores language, graphics, body, and humor via photography, drawing, and performance, among others. Both hail from Sarajevo.

This performance marked the end of Hana’s residency with Slavs and Tatars, and it was my first cultural event since the lockdown started at the end of October 2020 in Berlin. Socializing is weird! But fun!

Why pickles and feet? We learned in a lecture and interactive demonstration by Hana and Bojan that in Bosnian, kiseljenje nogu, literally “foot pickling,” has a lot of tradition and associated connotations, especially with regards to gender roles, labor, and time.

In the Bosnian context, foot pickling has been typically seen as an activity for men that is often facilitated by their wives. But growing up, Hana and Bojan had strong impressions of their mothers taking the time to soak their own feet. For twenty minutes or so, foot soaking was, in a way, a reclamation of time for themselves, time away from their busy schedules and tasks; unable to move for this period of time, they called on their children to bring them whatever they needed—in Bojan’s words, ”An oasis in a desert.”

Curiously and coincidentally, the words for foot soaking in Chinese could have the same literal translation: 泡脚 (pào jiǎo). 泡, depending on context, could mean “soak” or “pickle” or “bubble.” If you think about it, all meanings actually make an appearance in the pickling process itself, too.

I don’t know much about Chinese foot reflexology or why taking care of your feet is important in traditional Chinese medicine (something to Google later), but I do know from personal experience when visiting my grandparents in China that daily hot water foot baths, especially on wintry evenings, are quite common.

When I’d visit, every night we’d take turns soaking our feet in a basin filled with a mixture of almost-boiling water and Chinese medicinal herbs as we all watched the evening news or some cheesy soap opera together. I was always allowed to soak my feet first.

Hana says that in Bosnia you would use salt for foot pickling, and not vinegar, which surprised me because I believe vinegar is surely a common ingredient in Chinese foot baths.

Thank you to Bojan and Hana for making me stop and actually think about the cross-cultural practice of foot soaking, as well as a particularly beautiful memory with my grandparents!