Book Reviews & Lists, Mission & Values

You’re Invited! Edelweiss Presents: Dig In—A Celebration of Food and Stories

October 6, 2022 | by

We are thrilled to invite you to pull up a seat and dig into the season's most exciting cookbooks with us!

Edelweiss Presents: Dig In is a free virtual event that celebrates the power and delight of cooking and eating delicious food through conversations with popular chefs and authors, plus a special presentation of our popular Editors' Picks series. 

 

This event will take place on November 3, 2022, and you can learn more and register here! Check out our author panelists and their featured books below:

Session 1:
12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST

Join Andrea Pons (Mamacita: Recipes Celebrating Life as a Mexican Immigrant in America), Cynthia Shanmugalingam (Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka), and Toya Boudy (Cooking for the Culture: Recipes and Stories from the New Orleans Streets to the Table) in a conversation about food, community, resilience, and cooking to find your way home.

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Andrea Pons

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Cynthia Shanmugalingam

Toya Boudy

Mamacita: Recipes Celebrating Life as a Mexican Immigrant in America

By Andrea Pons

In this inspiring and creative Mexican cookbook, Andrea Pons takes you on a journey through flavor, family, and her immigration story. With 78 easy and delicious recipes from three generations of women in her family, this cookbook offers you a taste of authentic Mexican cuisine.

Mamacita began as a celebration of the authentic Mexican recipes Andrea Pons loved growing up, but it quickly became a way for her to return to her roots and reconnect with her Mexican heritage. In her journey through food, she shares not only her experiences with cooking but also her family's immigration story.

When Pons was faced with the possibility of deportation, and she and her family struggled to navigate the US immigration system—in the country that had been their home for 16 years— she looked to these recipes for help. To fund her family's significant legal fees, she sold self-published copies of Mamacita, and the cookbook became both a symbol of their journey and a rallying cry.

This new edition of Mamacita offers 30 more photos and 11 additional recipes, allowing you to taste even more of the love in Pons's dishes.

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Rambutan: Recipes from Sri Lanka

By Cynthia Shanmugalingam

Since Cynthia Shanmugalingam was a young girl, she has worked to piece together her sense of Sri Lanka, her ancestral homeland that she experienced through the wondrous flavors of her immigrant parents’ kitchen in London. In Rambutan, these ingredients, methods, and tastes—combining Javanese, Malay, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch and British influences—come together to create an irresistible portrait of modern Sri Lankan cuisine.

In more than 80 recipes, Shanmugalingam takes her favorite parts of the island's culinary tradition and adapts them to be accessible and fun for the home cook: with dinners of sticky chicken buriani and crunchy fried potatoes with turmeric, desserts of mango fluff pie and milk toffee, and drinks of lemongrass lime soda and boozy tea cocktails, Rambutan is designed to deliver as much edible Sri Lankan joy as possible. Combining luscious recipe photography and stunning candids from the island, this exuberant guide is perfect for home cooks looking to explore the exciting Sri Lankan tradition in South Asian cuisine.

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Cooking for the Culture : Recipes and Stories from the New Orleans Streets to the Table

By Toya Boudy
An intimate celebration of New Orleans food and its Black culture from a born-and-raised local chef.
Toya Boudy’s father grew up in the Magnolia projects of New Orleans; her mother shared a tight space with five siblings uptown. They worked hard, rotated shifts, and found time to make meals from scratch for the family. In Cooking for the Culture, Boudy shares these recipes, many of which are deeply rooted in the proud Black traditions that shaped her hometown. Driving the cookbook are her personal stories: from struggling in school to having a baby at sixteen, from her growing confidence in the kitchen to her appearances on Food Network. The cookbook opens with Sweet Cream Farina, prepared at the crack of dawn for girls in freshly ironed clothes—being neat and pressed was important. Boudy recounts making cookies from her commodity box peanut butter; explains the know-how behind Smothered Chicken, Jambalaya, and Red Gravy; and shares her original television competition recipes. The result is a deeply personal and unique cookbook.
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Session 2:
1:15-2:15 EST

Anna Voloshyna (BUDMO!: Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen), Chris Scott (Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen), and Luladey Moges (Enebla: Recipes from an Ethiopian Kitchen) discuss savoring your roots, cooking to preserve memories, and the power of gathering around the table.

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Anna Voloshyna

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Chris Scott

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Luladey Moges

BUDMO!: Recipes from a Ukrainian Kitchen

By Anna Voloshyna

Celebrate the rich culture of Ukrainian cuisine with these traditional Eastern European recipes infused with a fresh, contemporary approach for today’s home kitchen, from one of today’s most exciting young chefs of Ukrainian cuisine.

With its emphasis on fresh ingredients, time-honored heritage, and warm hospitality, Eastern European cuisine is having a culinary moment, in addition to Ukraine being of great current interest.

Meaning “cheers!” in Ukrainian, Budmo! is the first cookbook to celebrate classic Eastern European recipes with a modern, creative twist. Presented by Ukrainian-born, California-based chef, blogger, and culinary instructor Anna Voloshyna, bright flavors and vibrant ingredients sing from each plate. A gorgeous magenta pkhali comes alive with roasted beets and a tangy pomegranate molasses. Borscht is reinvented with green sorrels and semi-soft eggs. And Voloshyna even shares a personal recipe for her Ukrainian grandmother’s duck—roasted to a delicious crispy-brown perfection. These are the dishes that are perfect for gathering your favorite people with, and each one is bound to uncover the mouthwatering flavors and traditions of this endlessly fascinating part of the world.

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Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen

By Chris Scott

From renowned chef Chris Scott comes a first-of-its-kind, richly narrative cookbook that celebrates an under-explored foodway in the African diaspora: Amish soul food.

In Homage, Chris Scott tells the remarkable story of his family over seven generations via comforting dishes and vivid narratives: From his enslaved ancestors to his great-grandfather, who migrated to Pennsylvania after the Emancipation Proclamation, to his own childhood in Amish country, and, ultimately, his successful restaurant career in Philadelphia and New York City.

In this tribute to those who came before him, Chris Scott shares 100 dishes born of a unique blend of Southern, German, and Dutch cuisines, including Chicken Fried Steak with Sassafras Country Gravy, Charred Radicchio Salad with Roasted Grapes and Shaved Amish Cheddar, and the ultimate Whoopie Pies.

Stunning photography evokes the rich history of these distinct cultures. Homage is a must-have for home cooks who love Jubilee and Carla Hall, who enjoy soul flavors or Midwestern food, or who are drawn to cookbooks with vivid storytelling, a sense of place, and a new point of view.

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Enebla: Recipes from an Ethiopian Kitchen

By Luladey Moges

Growing up, first in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and then in the United States, Luladey Moges learned the art of traditional Ethiopian cuisine from her grandmother, mother, and aunts. She has long been an enthusiastic home cook, introducing the tastes of Ethiopian cuisine to her friends in North America. At the same time, her career in hospitality and fine dining management has taught her what it takes to build a balanced menu and impress discerning gourmands.

People love Ethiopian cuisine for its unique combination of spices, aromas, and sociability. Dishes are served to be shared with family and friends, and unlike many cuisines, Ethiopian food has traditions of vegetarianism that make it particularly popular among meat-free cooks and diners. However, it can seem baffling to the outsider. Where can you get spicy berbere? How do you make injera? And doesn’t it all take hours to prepare?

In Enebla (which means let’s eat!) you’ll learn how to prepare aromatic wot stews, a hearty tibs, breakfast scrambles, colourful salads of pulses and fresh vegetables, authentic injera sourdough flatbread, and even how to enjoy a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. The recipes are accompanied by lush food styling alongside family photos and ephemera. An extensive glossary invites curious cooks learn more about the Amharic language and Ethiopian ingredients.

As Lula’s parents used to say, “We might live in America but once you come home, this is Ethiopia.” With her accessible recipes and inviting anecdotes, Lula invites you to make your kitchen Ethiopia no matter where you live. Let’s eat!

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Click here to register for Edelweiss Presents: Dig In!
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