ABOUT RESILIENT KITCHENS:

Immigrants have left their mark on the great melting pot of American cuisine, and they have continued working hard to keep America’s kitchens running, even during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. For some immigrant cooks, the pandemic brought home the lack of protection for essential workers in the American food system. For others, cooking was a way of reconnecting with homelands they could not visit during periods of lockdown.

Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis is a stimulating collection of essays about the lives of immigrants in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, told through the lens of food. It includes a vibrant mix of perspectives from professional food writers, restaurateurs, scholars, and activists, whose stories range from emotional reflections on hardship, loss, and resilience to journalistic investigations of racism in the American food system. Each contribution is accompanied by a recipe of special importance to the author, giving readers a taste of cuisines from around the world. Every essay is accompanied by gorgeous food photography, the authors’ snapshots of pandemic life, and hand-drawn illustrations by Filipino American artist Angelo Dolojan.

ANTONIO TAHHAN is a Syrian Venezuelan American writer and researcher interested in the intersection of food, culture, and identity. In 2010, he received a Fulbright research grant to study the midday meal in Aleppo. Whether he is chasing the elusive tanginess of clay pot yogurt or mapping the global identity of molokhia, Antonio uses food as a creative lens for exploration and engagement. He recently completed his master’s in Arab studies at Georgetown University.

HARRY ELI KASHDAN is a scholar of food and migration based in Washington, DC. After earning his PhD in comparative literature from University of Michigan, he held fellowships at Harvard University, The Ohio State University, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has published widely on cookbooks as literary texts and on migration in the Mediterranean.

GENEVIEVE VILLAMORA is a writer, activist and the co-owner of the James Beard award-winning restaurant BAD SAINT (now closed).