From the new public garden behind the Phillip Johnson designed landmark 550 Madison Avenue in the middle of Manhattan, host Clark Wolf speaks with Wissam Kahi, co-founder of Eat Offbeat, a group that trains, employs and learns foodways with refugees and immigrants from all over the world. They sell those foods from a kiosk in that garden and a stall in Chelsea Market further downtown and have authored a collection of recipes in their book The Kitchen Without Borders. It’s a timely and powerful conversation.
Then it’s a Zoom call with award winning author Anya von Bremzen about her new book National Dish: Around the World In Search Of Food , History and the Meaning of Home, a day after her return from across the world, as she continues her deep and thoughtful search for personal identity. From Paris to Naples, Tokyo, Seville, Oaxaca, Istanbul and her early life in Moscow, she takes us through how special foods become symbols, social forces and intrinsic to our identities.
Rounding out our episode, we revisit a conversation with Betsy Fischer, SRJC Culinary Department Chair, who guides and builds careers for students of all ages, backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic levels, helping them to achieve the next step in their lives through food. It's an inspiration.