Food for Thought
Writing and Reflections from the Team
The kitchen is closed
July 31, 2020
Stacey Zembrzycki, with Margo Shea, Cassandra Marsillo, and Erin Jessee
The idea for Historians Cooking the Past was born in my [Stacey’s] kitchen, as I hovered over my dining room table looking for a traditional cinnamon bun recipe that would be comparable to the one my late maternal grandmother used to make when I was young. Funny enough, I was a picky eater and never ate those buns but everyone around me did and her home always smelt divine. I guess I was searching for familiarity and comfort in March, as we all locked into quarantine mode and made the best of what was an incredibly anxious and scary time. I wondered how others were coping, and given that everyone was cooking from home, what their experiences could offer in terms of moving forward, day by day, meal by meal.
As someone who has spent nearly twenty years listening to people’s diverse stories, I’ve always been moved by the amount of knowledge and understanding that they offer, and particularly the ways in which we, as humans, struggle, cope, and somehow always manage to navigate difficult times.
Signing Off Amid Continued COVID Uncertainty
July 27, 2020
Erin Jessee, Cassandra Marsillo, Margo Shea, and Stacey Zembrzycki
During one of our Zoom meetings, as we planned the schedule of posts for the coming week and found comfort in each other’s presence talking about food, work, and the current moment, Erin pulled out a ball of dough. We laughed as we watched her pound it out, understanding that under the comical nature of it all, was bubbling frustration, boiling over. For all of us. We know you don’t need a laundry list of what those frustrations might have been, because you all have been living it as well.
In that moment, we knew that we wanted to join her. We knew that there would be power in seeing the four of us, each in our little Zoom squares, pounding away at the same time, venting, laughing, and baking. We knew that this could be a virtual space of solidarity, and we wanted to invite you, our readers and collaborators, into both our literal and figurative kitchens. We planned to organize an interactive event, which was in line with community and mutual aid traditions, so as to enable interaction between our blog’s purpose and the current, pressing moment.
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A Week of Loss: Life Stories for Remembering and Mourning
June 8, 2020
Two weeks ago, on May 24, the New York Times dedicated its front page to commemorating the nearly 100,000 American lives lost thus far to COVID-19; that number has continued to climb, albeit more slowly, since publication. The headline declared that these deaths amount to an “incalculable loss,” and the piece proceeded to offer an abbreviated obituary of sorts to show the diversity behind the headlines we’ve been watching, with horror, for nearly four months.
This was a monumental effort, and an important first step in acknowledging not only the immense losses the country with the world’s greatest caseload and death toll has faced, but also the intricacies and importance of each life. Shining a light on the large and small contributions each person, no longer just a number, made to society was both moving and powerful, even if it offered just a small glimpse into the lives they lived and addressed just a fraction of the people who have died in the pandemic internationally.
Silence isn't an option
June 3, 2020
We’ll be honest with you. We had a whole week planned on loss, responding to last week’s New York Times piece commemorating the 100,000 American lives lost to COVID-19. But the police brutality currently tearing through US streets - an indefensible response to civilians’ peaceful protests against the white supremacy that underpins the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, among so many other African American civilians - must take priority. North of the border, the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet has also revealed the racialized undertones and deep systemic failures embedded in front-line responses in Canada. Indeed, these issues occur in predominantly white societies beyond North America as well. The only appropriate response was to take a whole different trajectory then, beginning this week with Deidre Cuffee-Gray’s poetic articulation of the pain and discomfort she feels and others may also be feeling, along with a cry to protest, and to be prepared for the consequences by exchanging recipes for tear gas removal. The following day, we joined the international #BlackOutTuesday movement to express our solidarity.