Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

Monrovia The All-Liberian Conference on Dual Citizenship (ALCOD), has welcomed Liberias Bicentennial Celebration also dubbed as Year of the Diaspora Reunion. This is going to be a reunion in Liberia of thousands of blacks from all around the world, including diaspora Liberians, some of whom have never been to the land of their fathers and mothers. These visitors are expected to begin arriving this December 2021 and will continue coming all throughout 2022, marking Liberias 200 years of existence.

The Year of the Diaspora Reunion 2021-2022, which has been organized in collaboration with the Government of Liberias Bicentennial Commemoration, aims to celebrate 200 years of that movement.Agents of the American Colonization Society (ACS), which founded Liberia, purchased parcels of lands from indigenous kings in December of 1821, and freed black men and women, along with their families, began moving across the Atlantic in 1822 to what is today Liberia, formerly Grain Coast.

Welcoming the Reunion, the National President of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas (ULAA), a partner of ALCOD, Mr. J. Shiwoh Kamara, has joined ALCODs Eminent Chairman Emmanuel S. Wettee, to appeal to the Liberian Senate to concord with the House of Representatives on the passage of the Dual Citizenship Bill that was recently passed by the House.

The diasporas appeal to the Senate comes in wake of reports that the Liberian Government, during the Year of the Diaspora Reunion, will be conferring Liberian citizenship on some of its guests.

Restoring Liberian citizenship to natural born Liberians who have dual citizenship or nationality must start the Reunion, said Eminent Chairman Wettee.

One senator mentioned that the Senate needs to concur with the House in repealing the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law as the nation celebrates the bicentennial.

The senator further stated that there is nothing unconstitutional about the 4th Session of 54th Legislature repealing a law enacted through the Fourth Regular Session of the 45th Legislature in 1973. Any law enacted by lawmakers can be repealed by lawmakers, the Senator, who also is a Counsellor at law, said.

Another senator cant understand why the Senate will not concur with the House. For many years now, members of the Senate had introduced bills to repeal the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law and all efforts have failed.

The senator made an interesting point of wanting to see who will award Liberian citizenship to African-Americans during the bicentennial celebration without restoring Liberian citizenship to natural-born Liberians in a pre-election year.

The Bill Before the Senate

The bill that Montserrado Countys District #8 Representative Moses Acarous Gray championed in the HOR, was done under the auspices of ALCOD, comprising ULAA, European Federation of Liberian Associations (EFLA), Liberian Advocacy for Change (LAFC), Federation of Liberia Communities in Australia (FLCA), United Liberian Association of Ghana (ULAG), Liberian Association of Canada (LAC), and Conference of Liberian Organizations in Southwestern United States of America (CLOSUSA). ALCOD represents more than 500,000 Liberians living in the diaspora.

The bill specially seeks to repeal Part III, Chapter 20, Section 20.1; Chapter 21, Sections 21.30, 21.31, 21.51 & 21.52 and Chapter 22, Sections 22.1, 22.1 & 22.4 of the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law of the Liberian Code of Law Revised, Vol. II.

The bill was co-sponsored by 30 of Rep. Grays colleagues, including Deputy House Speaker Jonathan Fonati Koffa.

Further in their appeal to the Senate, both diaspora Liberians leaders called on President George Manneh Weah to support the Houses Bill that was passed and is now in the Senate for concurrence.

In the spirit of Liberia-Bicentennial Celebration, diaspora leaders are appealing to President Weah to support the Houses Bill, repealing some sections of 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law, and ask the Senate to concur with the House. Mr. President, diaspora Liberians are returning home in record numbers for the Bicentennial Celebration and history shall remember you and each lawmaker if the Senate concurs with the House in passing the Dual Citizenship bill: once a Liberian always a Liberian, ULAA President Kamara said.

Few weeks ago, Eminent Wettee had pleaded with members of the Senate to concord with the House on the passage into law of the bill.

Since 2000, some members of the Senate, had on many occasions, introduced amendments to the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law on the Senate floor and those never passed.

The amendments had been submitted by Senators Cletus Wortoson of Grand Kru County, Varney Sherman of Grand Cape Mount County and recently Abraham Darius Dillon of Montserrado County.

While the Senate is yet to take any major action on the ones their members have been submitting, the House has now passed a version and has sent it to the Senate for concurrence.

According to reports from the Senate, some feel that the permanent solution to dual citizenship problem is the amendment of the constitution (Articles 27 and 28) through a national referendum.

We do agree with those who think that amending the Constitution through a national referendum is the permanent solution to resolving the issue of dual citizenship. However, we also encourage the repealing of the 1973 Aliens and Nationality Law that has to do with citizenship and in conflict with the Constitution of Liberia, Eminent Wettee said.

Meanwhile, ALCOD has extended their thanks and appreciation to all the 73 members of the HOR, including the Speaker, Dr. Bhofal Chambers, Deputy Speaker, Mr. Koffa and Rep. Gray for doing all to make some of their fellow Liberians in the diaspora, to still maintain their Liberian citizenship even though they (diaspora Liberians) also carry the passports of other nations.

ALCOD also thanked President Weah for backing their cause for the dual citizenship law to be passed. They appealed to him to lobby the Senate so that its members can concur with the House.

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ALCOD Welcomes 'Year of the Diaspora Reunion' - Front Page Africa

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

The year is 2025. Israel has wrapped a prolonged military conflict against Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies. Casualties on both sides are considerable. As American Jewish communities prepare for Passover, a left-wing group outraged over Israels wartime actions has created a haggadah supplement likening Zionism to the golden calf. The image goes viral, with Jewish groups retweeting it along with the hashtag #LetMyPeopleGo. Protests follow.

This all-too-plausible hypothetical was part of a gaming session one of several narrative scenario exercises during a Dec. 5 conference that examined the relationship between American Jewry and Israel, both now and especially in the future.

A well-played game is a sanctified space, like going to the temple, said James Pigeon Fielder, the gamemaster at Z3: Reimagining Diaspora-Israel Relations, a six-hour gathering organized and hosted by the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto for a seventh year. Unlike last years fully virtual event, this years conference was both online and in person.

Fielder a retired Air Force lieutenant-colonel and Colorado State University instructor who develops organizational wargames ran the simulation of the above-mentioned scenario, which was devised by Z3 Project director Rabbi Amitai Fraiman, with synagogue leaders, philanthropy executives, members of the media, Israeli government officials and college students role-playing how they would respond to such a framework.

During the in-person/virtual hybrid session titled The Next Gen Funding Coalition Team, Israeli political leader Natan Sharansky and Jewish Funders Network President and CEO Andres Spokoiny, who were both in attendance at the JCC, decided they would not provide funding for the left-wing group responsible for publishing the controversial haggadah supplement. Ultimately, any project spreading material demonizing Israel is not a project they would want to get behind, said Sharansky, former chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Sharansky was one of the programs high-profile speakers, as was New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, who provided perspective on how the media would respond to such a situation. When retired Israel Defense Forces Col. Eli Bar-On said he would create a cutting-edge public relations campaign to respond to unfolding events one led not by government officials but by young people Stephens said PR campaigns are often doomed to fail.

Still, the pro-Israel columnist acknowledged there is indeed an image problem plaguing the Jewish state. The fundamental challenge Israel faces here is an industry of outright lies being pumped out, Stephens said.

Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, participating on a team representing major Jewish organizations and their positions vis--vis Israel, argued it was important to make room in the Jewish communal tent for all views, even those that make people uncomfortable.

Lets feel confident we can engage in a broader conversation [and] not be so scared of the fragility of our tent to not let people in as they are, said Koch Epstein, executive director of the Center for Rabbinic Innovation.

Rabbi Shai Held, president and dean at the New Yorkbased Hadar Institute, echoed Koch Epstein, arguing for empathy for all points of view as a way of sustaining peoplehood. He expressed how leaders of American Jewish organizations misunderstand how American Jews under the age of 30 feel about Israel today. To older leaders, liberal group J Street represents the left, but to young people, he said, J Street is the center.

During a virtual breakout session, Re-Minyan, Every Jew Counts/Campus Life Team, the topic was the anti-Israel climate on college campuses.

Aidan Golub, a sophomore at Harvard University and executive director of the student-run, international Israel Summit, spoke of how on-campus events highlighting Israel, unlike those promoting other countries, uniquely attract student-led demonstrations.

Another session, Jewish Peoplehood Coalition Team, put together Israeli organizations dedicated to connecting Israeli society to world Jewry. Barak Sella, deputy CEO of the Reut Group, an Israeli think tank, said the question surrounding the stability of the U.S.-Israel relationship comes with a simple answer: Jewish continuity is extremely important, and am Yisrael chai [the people of Israel live] is something I live by, he said.

More than 700 people tuned into the Z3 conference virtually, organizers said, from Hawaii to Copenhagen to the Bay Area. In-person attendance was capped at 250, with strict Covid-19 protocols observed.

Kicking off the conference, Shlomi Kofman, the S.F.-based Israel consul general, emphasized the health and vitality of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and Zack Bodner, CEO of the OFJCC, highlighted how unique this Z3 conference promised to be compared with those preceding it, including 2015s inaugural Z3 Zionism 3.0.

Bodner stood before those assembled and said he did not know what to expect from this years conference, modeled on gaming. He paraphrased a sentiment expressed by writer Malcolm Gladwell: The best way to make plans for the unexpected may not be to make plans or predictions but to play games.

By doing so, Bodner added, we can change the peoplehood conversations from being a reactionary one to a proactive one.

Read more here:

'Game on' in Palo Alto at Z3 conference on Israel-diaspora relations J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

The past year has seen the release of Rice: A Savor the South Cookbook, by food historian Michael Twitty, Gullah Geechee cookbook Bress n Nyam by Matthew Raiford, and Everyones Table by chef Gregory Gourdet, co-authored by JJ Goode. In September, Life Is What You Bake It, a baking cookbook by Great American Baking Show winner Vallery Lomas was released, and October brought Bryant Terrys book, Black Food, from his new imprint with Ten Speed Press, 4 Color Books. Terry aims to use the imprint to make space for other BIPOC chefs, writers, artists, and activists to publish nonfiction work.

It may seem like a boon, but this steady stream of published cookbooks written by Black authors is really a course correction. Until recently, Black cookbook authors have been largely overlooked by major publishers: During a discussion of Malinda Russell, now regarded as the first Black cookbook author, Jemima Code author Toni Tipton-Martin said of the way white institutions treat Black contributions, We function within a system that knows how to continue to exist the way it always did, by promoting the few [Black people] and continuing the marginalization.

That underrepresentation reflects a lack of diversity within the publishing industry that runs deeper than Tipton-Martin names, extending to those deciding which texts to publish in the first place and editing them. Between 1950 and 2018, 95 percent of the books published by major publishing houses, like Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House, were written by white authors, according to a New York Times op-ed by Richard Jean So and Gus Wezerek. Although its possible to publish a book through other avenues, having the financial backing and support of a major publisher helps to ensure that books land in front of a larger audience. Unsurprisingly, by 2020, the same data shows that only 10 percent of the books on the New York Times best-seller list were authored by people of color.

Last summers Black Lives Matter protests in response to the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor seemed to shift perceptions of people in positions of power, or so they publicly claimed. Throughout the summer, many industries came under fire for their histories of racism and exclusivity, food media and publishing included; many book publishers have since pledged to both diversify their staff and publish more BIPOC authors.

While publishers may now say theyre committed to highlighting the influence of the African diaspora and its foodways, Black folks have long championed and celebrated its food literature. And as the momentum surrounding these books continues to grow, those who have already been doing the work are facing a pivotal moment.

As a cookbook author himself, Terry knows exactly how difficult it can be for Black cookbook authors to get their work published. After the critical success of his first book, 2006s Grub, which was co-authored by his friend and colleague Anna Lapp, he thought he would just walk into a fantastic deal for Vegan Soul Kitchen, his second book, which was ultimately published in 2009.

My agent and I shopped it around to about a dozen publishers and 10 of them said flat-out no, Terry says. Typically, the response to his proposal was incredulousness about whether or not Black vegans really even existed, and skepticism that there would be enough interest among Black folks for the book to sell this despite the fact that, according to Terry, African Americans are the fastest-growing population of vegans in the United States.

Without Black employees among the decision-making ranks of major houses, publishers may struggle to recognize the insights and perspectives that Black authors have to contribute. Were not only clear about what the zeitgeist of the moment is, Terry says of Black cookbook authors, we have an idea of what the emerging zeitgeist is going to be.

Terrys new imprint, 4 Color Books, will demonstrate what it means to stay abreast of the zeitgeist. Imprints operate as a distinct brand within a larger publishing organization, and 4 Color Books draws inspiration from the model of independent hip-hop labels like Def Jam and Tommy Boy, which had the financial backing of major labels and distributors but, as Terry puts it, understood the internal logic of hip-hop and their audience. At 4 Color, BIPOC creators will have creative control to implement their vision with the support of a publishing team, including editors and food stylists, that trusts the authors understanding of their audience, all while having the resources of the largest global publisher, Penguin Random House.

Black folks are playing a prominent role not just in publishing, but also in getting those published works in the hands of readers. [Black food literature] is getting a lot of attention now but really has such deep and important roots, says Danielle Davenport, who launched online bookstore BEM Books & More with her sister Gabrielle Davenport in January 2021. BEM specifically highlights Black-authored cookbooks from around the diaspora, as well as Black-authored literature with significant food references, like Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi.

Food and literature have always been touchstones for the Davenport sisters. Were big fans of bookstores and what they represent and how they operate in their communities, says Gabrielle Davenport. Although there are Black bookstores across the country and bookstores that focus solely on food literature, the sisters hadnt come across a store that was both Black and food-focused. They plan to open a physical store in Brooklyn by the end of 2022 where they will continue to shine a light on more current works, but also on older and lesser-known texts. Theres a list of books that are out of print or arent carried by the distributor that we work with that we hope to carry in the brick-and-mortar space as we excavate the physical copies that do exist, says Gabrielle Davenport.

Bookstores like BEM, whose customers are actively interested in engaging with Black food literature, are vital to the cultural preservation of diasporic food contributions. Theres a lot of juicy conversation to be had about how [historical texts] functioned then and how we might think about them now, says Danielle Davenport.

Ozoz Sokoh, a Nigerian culinary anthropologist and historian, also recognizes the value of curating and celebrating these works. Sokoh, who now lives in Canada, was born and raised in Nigeria for the better part of her childhood. After moving abroad, she says she began to realize the strong connections that existed between Indigenous West African food culture and its diaspora. Last summer she was given a copy of The Jemima Code, a seminal tome on African-American cookbooks written by Tipton-Martin, and when she began to look through the extended bibliography, she realized what a wealth of resources it contained.

In October 2020, Sokoh launched Feast Afrique, an online archive, which she describes as a collection of thoughts, words, and ideas relevant to West African and diasporic food contributions. Feast Afrique includes a digital library where Sokoh has compiled over 240 books, including those referenced in The Jemima Code.

Sokoh, who was surprised to discover that an archive like Feast Afrique did not already exist, felt this was a way that she could use food literature to bring Black folks across the diaspora together. I realized that if I, who had a strong interest in food, was coming to these realizations so late, then those with a cursory interest in food would be hard-pressed to come across this information, she says. I really wanted to put it all together in a space where everyone Nigerians, Brazilians, Black people could access it and see the connections and hopefully to bring a sense of shared history and shared experiences.

As the appetite for cookbooks and food literature from Black authors continues to grow, curators and archivists like Sokoh, bookstores like BEM, and publishing entities like 4 Color Books will be increasingly important. Its invaluable to have Black people curating and stewarding that content. Our sense of preservation and culture has always been important, says Sokoh. Three-hundred years ago we werent allowed to read and write or document and still our culture, history, and recipes were sustained by word-of-mouth. Its important that we tell our own stories and are in control of our own stories.

As Terrys earlier experiences in publishing highlight, Black editors, literary scouts, and publicists provide necessary cultural competency when it comes to the work of Black authors. At BEM, the Davenport sisters feel there are nuances in the works they come across that they as Black women are more attuned to. There are certain things I feel sure that were picking up on that perhaps a non-Black person, whos interested in the work and the food, may miss, says Danielle Davenport. Having context and personal experience with what youre putting forth is invaluable.

One can only hope that after neglecting the culinary contributions of the African diaspora for so long, the current wave of Black-authored cookbooks represents a marked, long-lasting change within the cookbook publishing industry. But regardless of whats to come, Black folks working in the food space will undoubtedly continue to celebrate the contributions to the culinary world that have already been made, and the countless ones to come.

Nicole Rufus is a food writer, recipe developer, and grad student in Food Studies at NYU Steinhardt living and working in Brooklyn, New York.Camilla Sucre is a Caribbean American artist from Trinidad, born in New York and raised in Baltimore.

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The Publishing World Is Finally Embracing Black Cookbooks - Eater

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

When Sunaina Ramisetty was pursuing her masters in chemical engineering from Florida Institute of Technology, she began exhibiting a few sets of jewellery that she had put together to earn some extra pocket money. To her surprise, it turned out to be a huge success.

A decade later today, she is running jewellery brand Tarinika that is getting a lot of love and attention from customers in the US and India. In 2017, she ventured online with just $500 capital where the brand sells contemporary jewellery online in the US and India - where it has opened several stores as well.

Working with 35 odd designers, Sunaina says, Tarinika would not have seen the light of the day if it wasn't for her brother who oversees all the backend work from manufacturing to shipping from their factory in Kolkata.

I didnt expect to do that well in the first year of going online because people dont know who we were as a brand, but we clocked a total revenue of $300,000. We pushed my brother into manufacturing because the scale was huge, she says, adding the brand now has eight manufacturing units that employ around 3,000 workers.

When Sunaina signed for a two-day show in 2009, she was hoping to earn roughly $500 to meet her monthly expenses in the United States. To her surprise, all the products, which were mostly sterling silver, were targeted at western audiences and they got sold out within six hours and she returned with $5,500 on the first day.

She noted that Indian women would make up for 60-70 percent of the audience in most jewellery shows, which means they dont mind spending. She later learnt that most of the NRIs would order jewellery from India but faced unpleasant shopping experiences.

The purchasing options included either smaller brands in India via social media, followed by inefficient communication or established brands that are too expensive.

This prompted Sunaina to launch an online store. She registered the brand in 2017 and started operating commercially in the following year to offer high-quality Indian jewellery at affordable prices.

For the first year and a half, she ran the show with the help of a marketing consultant and her husband who helped set up the ecommerce website.

Ironically, 100,000 out of some 300,000 orders came from India, which opened a whole new market for Tarinika. Today, it has several stores across India and Sunaina plans to move to India soon to scale its retail business. This year, she also launched a new sub-brand called Paksha.

Priced between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000, it offers traditional Indian jewellery like Maang Tikkas and Daminis, bangles and bracelets, and anklets, among others. Sunaina plans on boosting its offerings below Rs 2,000 to further attract customers in the fashion jewellery segment. Other brands operating in the market include Pipa Bella and Sukkhi.

Jewellery has been a part of Sunainas life for as long as she could remember, thanks to her father who sold pearls and other jewellery from a humble retail store in Hyderabad.

A high school graduate, he moved to Kolkata in the 1990s where his jewellery business proliferated and won B2B clients like the Pantaloons from a pool of hundreds who were pitching for the opportunity.

He was always travelling, worked really hard, and is definitely a big inspiration for me. I grew up seeing how the industry worked by visiting shows in Singapore, Malaysia, and China, she tells HerStory.

From her father, she also learnt never to shy away from being ambitious, although that did not sit well with society. She had often been guilt-tripped for continuing to run the business as a young mother and frequently faced questions around how she could leave a six-month-old behind at home and focus on the work. With the vision for Tarinika in sight, Sunaina remained undeterred.

In fact, the first inspiring woman she had come across in person was Mother Teresa when she volunteered at the missionary in Kolkata. It really made a huge impact because it made me realise that women can do all this and be powerful, she says, adding the experience inspired her to launch Tarinika Foundation that supports people from underprivileged backgrounds through mentorship and facilitating various professional opportunities.

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How this woman entrepreneur is winning over the Indian diaspora in the US with her jewellery brand - YourStory

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

From Gndevank Monastery, Armenia (Photo: Flickr/Raffi Youredjian)

One often hears Armenians declare in a playful self-criticism If you gather four Armenians in a room, you will hear at least five opinions or there are two Armenians on an island and they will build two churches. On the positive side, it does speak to the resourcefulness of our people to have passionate views on important issues. It also exposes our penchant for endless debate and often a lack of consensus. As Armenians, we have many admirable attributes, but a moment of candid self-reflection will reveal ample evidence of suboptimal effectiveness due to an inability to work in a truly collaborative manner. The diaspora in America was established with a strong component of commonality. The indiscriminate nature of genocide made survival a unifier. As we are all painfully aware, the history of the diaspora continued on a different path in 1933 with the administrative division of the church. What followed were tragic schisms of families, walls of isolation and institutional redundancy. Ironically for several decades, the pseudo competitiveness did inspire the community to expand and prosper. Thousands of American Armenians from prior generations, however, were victims of artificial barriers despite living in the same community simply because they were born into this unnatural state.

As the expansion leveled off in many communities, a thaw prevailed that opened up new possibilities. Those early days of interaction between divided brothers and sisters in the 70s have evolved into what we call today the pan-Armenian movement. As a new generation experienced the irrelevance of the division and Armenia became an independent nation, the diaspora found common ground and the will to increase collaboration. Old problems faded, and new ones emerged. The traditional query of what church do you go to? has been rhetorically replaced with do you go to church? The vestiges of the division, however, still exist. We still have two dioceses in each North America region, and the organizational alignment has a more traditional affiliation. The Prelacy adherents are generally affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Armenian Relief Society (ARS), Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), Hamazkayin and Homenetmen. The Diocese is traditionally a reflection of ACYOA, Tekeyan and AGBU. Of course, there are thankfully a growing number of exceptions, but the lines are still evident. The good news is the cooperation between these groups has become commonsomething unheard of a generation earlier. There was a time when those associated with the Tashnagtsagan community would generally not be in the Knights of Vartan. Today, thankfully, it is commonplace.

In todays American diaspora, the emerging cooperation from a pan-Armenian culture has replaced the passion for true church unification. Our leaders lack the will for resolution, so institutional cooperation has replaced church unity. Most Armenians associate the disunity of our American diaspora with tragic events of 1933. The seeds of discontent actually reared their ugly head shortly after the fall of the First Republic in 1921. It is quite ironic that the status of the Armenian state has been both a cause of division and also the emergence of pan-Armenian collaboration. The period from the 1920s until the start of the Cold War was filled with unrelenting attacks between Armenian political parties. It was a classic blame game while little changed. During the height of the east/west tensions, an awkward perception grew within the Armenian community as the Soviet Union, a former ally of the US during World War II, was now a bitter adversary. Even in my youth, I remember hearing elders refer to other families as Bolsheviks or fascists. Thankfully, those days seem to be buried deep in the past as a new era of cooperation has emerged with the independence of Armenia. But has the culture of dissension simply been transferred to other vehicles?

One of the current challenges in our communities is finding the balance between our commitment to an organization and the mission itself. At times, our intense loyalty to an organization can overshadow the mission which may be commonly held by the community at large. This has the potential of creating unhealthy intra-competitiveness. A collaborative environment driven by commonality will bring that balance. It is worth a moment of personal reflection. Our affiliation with a certain group is admirable, but the emphasis should always be the missionnot the organization. The lay relations between Apostolic, Protestant and Catholic denominations can range from non-existent to tolerant. Many Apostolic adherents were raised with the perception that our Protestant brethren were converted or assimilated. Apparently, our common faith in the teachings of Jesus Christ has not been enough to truly embrace each other. Judging each other on our ethnic identity was more fashionable. This type of behavior has contributed to undermining our strength. The evolution of the Prelacy and the Diocese reflects the difficulty in unifying our church. While our leaders continue to rationalize their failure to unite our church with rhetoric about our administrative differences but spiritual unity, deep-rooted loyalties have encouraged a happy medium of cooperation.

In its infancy in the 1950s and 60s, loyalty to the Prelacy reflected a respect for organizing the unaffiliated churches. As the infrastructure here matured and migration from Antelias jurisdictions in the Middle East occurred, a genuine loyalty to the See of Cilicia emerged. The Diocese meanwhile was driven by its traditional affiliation with the Mother See, although few had an actual relationship with Holy Etchmiadzin due to the political climate in Soviet Armenia. Different versions of our recent history have become our reality. I remember conversing with several fellow delegates at the diocesan assembly just a few years ago. We were talking about the split of the Diocese in the fall of 1933 and the events that happened. I will never forget the astonishment of one veteran delegate who revealed that he recently became aware that it was the pro-Etchmiadzin delegates who walked out of the Assembly in 1933 to the Hotel Martinique. That gathering was later sanctioned by Holy Etchmiadzin over the delegates who remained in a purely political move. This honorable man looked at me and said, and we have been calling the Prelacy people the separated brethren for years when it was us.

Perceptions become reality in a separated state. When we lose track of the core mission (the teachings of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to the traditions of the Armenian Church), we substitute it with subordinated values. The result is an unnatural state. Our misguided loyalties help confuse our direction.

The existence of the Republic of Armenia has made our common interests more visible which has been applied to our intra-diaspora relations. A sovereign state has been a rare gift in modern Armenian history. It is an opportunity on a world stage to display our core values. Visitors to Armenia marvel at the incredible history, warmth of the people and the very essence of our civilization. Yet many are puzzled why a nation with education, strong values and an active diaspora has struggled to shed the remnants of its Soviet past. The inability to utilize its human capital effectively has been both troubling and frustrating. There are those who believe that our lack of collaboration is as much part of our culture as our faith and language. In my view, this is the downside of a nation run by a series of organizations, parties and other partisan interests. It is similar to the Armenia run by nobles and princes during the centuries of subordination to foreign powers. It builds a survival state that also reflects a subordinated and victim mentality. Our decentralized society prevented extinction but also limited collaboration. Our Armenian world was defined as the organizations and groups we were affiliated with. In Armenia, the citizens were left to the ability of the Soviet carryovers and a motivated but inexperienced infrastructure. With the exception of a few umbrella groups for fundraising, the diaspora relations with Armenia (post 1991) were a free-for-all of countless organizations establishing their presence. They are all well-intended but reflect our disunited culture. After 30 years, we are still talking about how to organize the diaspora more effectively to assist Armenia. Armenia is in desperate need of experienced professionals, yet we continue to underutilize these assets. The causesmistrust, power and fearare all part of this culture of discord.

The stakes havent been this high since those fateful days of 1918-21. In our current reality, the rare gift of a sovereign nation is on the table. Do we have the will to overcome our history of a troubling lack of collaboration? Do we really see the larger picture, or will we continue to view this situation through a cynical lens and business as usual? One hundred years ago, marriages were prevented because they werent from the same region or village. In the diaspora, you didnt talk to someone because they were a Ramgavar or Dashnak. Eventually that evolved into whether you were from the Prelacy or from the Diocese. Now we have transitioned to the homeland or the diaspora. What will it take for us to realize that our survival as an ethnic group and a sovereign state will rely on our ability to capitalize on our collective resources and to accept each other as brethren? It doesnt need to be perfect. Democracy can be a messy process. Diversity of thought is an advantage, but we need to be on the same team. It is time to reduce our dependence on needless power plays, endless squabbles and divisive interaction. It is a drug that offers short-term relief to our egos but has disastrous consequences for our nation. The natural state of a common vision of a prosperous united Armenia is a better alternative. I pray that we have the will to embrace this future.

Stepan was raised in the Armenian community of Indian Orchard, MA at the St. Gregory Parish. A former member of the AYF Central Executive and the Eastern Prelacy Executive Council, he also served many years as a delegate to the Eastern Diocesan Assembly. Currently , he serves as a member of the board and executive committee of the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). He also serves on the board of the Armenian Heritage Foundation. Stepan is a retired executive in the computer storage industry and resides in the Boston area with his wife Susan. He has spent many years as a volunteer teacher of Armenian history and contemporary issues to the young generation and adults at schools, camps and churches. His interests include the Armenian diaspora, Armenia, sports and reading.

Originally posted here:

Breaking the Culture of Discord - Armenian Weekly

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

Of all the things that make us nostalgic for home, food, particularly at Christmas, has the power to transport us to a time and place we love or miss.

The smell of roast turkey, stuffing or mince pies can switch on all the festive feelings and To Be Irish At Christmas has collated a host of nostalgic Christmas recipes from Irish chefs near and far revealing them on ToBeIrish.ie/feastivities over the coming weeks beginning with Eunice Powers family pudding recipe.

Curated by Ali Dunworth, it is the ultimate nostalgic Irish Christmas recipe book (online ) full of classic dishes and some more modern twists including Mark Moriartys kitsch prawn cocktail, Clodagh McKennas fool-proof roast turkey, Anna Haughs favourite seasonal starter, Graham Herterich show-stopping chocolate orange pavlova and many more.

In Ireland, we still love the traditional pudding, booze-soaked dried fruits, with almonds and citrus, and warm spices like nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon. All packed tightly together in a pudding bowl, then steamed low and slow before leaving it aside to mature ahead of Christmas day when it is set alight, with a brandy flame and drizzled with brandy butter.

There are many associated traditions, for some its a family event taking turns to stir the pudding for good luck and making a wish and its a wonderful way to teach children how to bake and to ensure recipes are passed down from generation to generation.

To Be Irish At Christmas celebrates what it means to be Irish and creates meaningful connections with our Irish diaspora around the world. TobeIrish.ie features seasonal traditions, community initiatives, Irish crafts and gift ideas, and more and will run from December 8 - 23 this year.

Targeting the 70 million diaspora around the world, last years initiative generated engagement of people from over 50 countries across the world, from Australia to The Netherlands, from Colombia to Singapore.

The reopening of international travel brings renewed hope for those who have endured long and painful separations from families and friends, but there are still many who will not be able to travel. To Be Irish wants to bring the very best of Ireland to them through this virtual portal.

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Nostalgic festive season recipe book is connecting diaspora around the world - Mayo Advertiser

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

He met with foreign dignitaries and participated in a spiritual cleansing ceremony. He visited infamous sites of the slave trade and toured thriving local businesses. And he celebrated Hanukkah with a fellow Brooklynite, about 5,000 miles from home.

As New York City grappled with a spate of urgent challenges over the past week that will have lasting implications for the incoming mayoral administration, the mayor-elect, Eric Adams, was in Ghana, searching, he has said, for his roots on a spiritual journey.

For many Black Americans, a visit to Ghana a country through whose ports millions of Africans passed on the brutal journey to plantations is a wrenching and moving experience. And Mr. Adams, slated to be New York Citys second Black mayor, has cast his recent trip there as proof of resilience and progress.

My ancestors left Africa with slavery, Mr. Adams declared at one recent event. Im coming home with the mayoralty. And if I do that only for my aspiration, then I failed those ancestors.

But after more than a week away, Mr. Adams has returned to a city that is confronting serious problems of public health and public safety, and a new, sweeping vaccine mandate that he must navigate.

He must also jump-start a transition process that has, so far, lagged the pace set by his predecessor.

Mr. Adams left town having made no appointments to his future administration in contrast to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had announced roles including police commissioner, first deputy mayor and director of intergovernmental affairs by the end of the first week of December 2013.

On Thursday, Mr. Adams officially announced his new choice for schools chancellor, David Banks, a sign his transition is accelerating. He opened the event with a direct rebuke of anyone who would question his trip abroad, including, he said, the tabloids.

People who criticize this, they just didnt get it, Mr. Adams said. They just didnt get what my campaign represented to so many people in this city and in this country.

His team insists that he remained heavily engaged in transition work from Ghana. He also kept tabs on New York City politics as his top lieutenants waded into the City Council speakers race, a contest that has significant implications for Mr. Adamss agenda and has become increasingly contentious.

The mayor-elect worked continually throughout his trip, regularly talking with key advisers about the Omicron threat and other pressing issues, while preparing his new administration and planning for a number of major announcements on his return, said Evan Thies, his spokesman.

Few would begrudge Mr. Adams a postelection vacation or question the meaning of his trip to Ghana. But his visit came less than a month before he is to be sworn in to one of the most consequential jobs in the country, and some questioned the timing.

It is very unusual, said Maya Wiley, a former counsel to Mr. de Blasio and a civil rights lawyer, who ran against Mr. Adams in the June mayoral primary. What I could say is that it surprises me that this was a trip that could not be taken after the primary, and that it is a very intense time for most new administrations coming into office.

The trip was largely closed to the press, which Mr. Thies defended by emphasizing the private nature of the journey but it was hardly a quiet resort retreat. Mr. Adams met with politically and civically prominent people, including a former president of Ghana and the mayor of Accra, the capital city, and delivered speeches of his own.

Interviews with leaders in Ghana and a review of social media postings show that he spent significant time with the Heritage and Cultural Society of Africa Foundation, or HACSA, an organization that is focused on issues including promoting African heritage and building connections with the diaspora.

The group is helmed by Johanna Odonkor Svanikier, a former Ghanaian ambassador to France and Portugal, who accompanied Mr. Adams on parts of his trip.

HACSAs mission is to help members of the African diaspora return to their roots and learn about their history a mission that deeply resonated with the mayor-elect, Mr. Thies said when asked how Mr. Adams was connected to the organization.

Mr. Adams was the guest of honor at a celebration for the group, where he encountered officials like UNESCOs Accra director, Abdourahamane Diallo.

We discussed areas of possible cooperation in education, culture and heritage with the City of New York, from Heritage to the UNESCOs program on cities, Mr. Diallo said in an email, relayed through a spokeswoman.

A news release from HACSA also said Mr. Adams pledged his support for an initiative designed to connect diaspora youth with Africa.

Mr. Thies said Mr. Adams paid for the trip himself, but said that as a matter of policy they would not provide receipts. Gabriella Lourie, a representative for the group, said HACSA did not fund the trip.

Mr. Adams visited a range of sites of significant historical, economic and cultural importance to Ghana, and was joined on the trip by his partner, Tracey Collins. He spent time at the home of the civil rights leader and activist W.E.B. Du Bois and the surrounding complex, where Mr. Thies said the homes caretakers added a tribute to Mr. Adamss mother to a wall honoring Black leaders.

He was deeply moved by that, Mr. Thies said.

Mr. Adams toured businesses that reflect the importance of goods like cocoa to the Ghanaian economy.

And he received a new name Barima Yaw Asamani, a nod to a Black royal warrior as part of a traditional spiritual cleansing ceremony. The practice was undertaken because his ancestors were forced out of the country against their will, according to one of the elders involved.

He is not the first person who has been cleansed and who has been renamed, said Nana Semanhyia Darko, the spokesman for the chief of Akwamu state, who carried out the ceremony. African Americans have been visiting this place, and we have been renaming them.

A central part of Mr. Adamss visit was a trip to the notorious slave forts of Cape Coast and Elmina Castles, and he stopped at the Door of No Return. When President Obama made a similar stop in 2009, he said the experience illustrated pure evil and reminded him of a concentration camp.

That experience was an emotional moment for the mayor-elect that gave him perspective on the importance of the challenges ahead for him as the citys next leader, Mr. Thies said.

Mr. Adams was not made available for an interview to discuss those takeaways and other aspects of his trip.

HACSA, however, offered a steady stream of updates on social media. One Instagram picture showed him standing near a cannon at Cape Coast, wearing sunglasses and gazing at the sea with a somber expression.

Another image showed him wearing colorful, flowing garb as he posed at a memorial site honoring Kwame Nkrumah, saluting the former leader of Ghana who was at the forefront of the nations battle for independence. He toured the site with Nkrumahs daughter, Samia.

I think its good that our mayor is visiting Africa, said Yaw Nyarko, a professor of economics at New York University who heads N.Y.U. Africa House and does work in Ghana. New York is a big city, I think its one of the few cities where the mayor actually has a foreign policy.

The professor noted the Ghanaian governments work in encouraging tourists, in particular African Americans, to visit. Asked about Mr. Adamss claim that the people of Ghana were awaiting his visit as they did Mr. Obamas, he laughed.

Its a little bit unfair, Obama was the president, Adams is yet to be mayor; so without a doubt theres a difference in level of name recognition, he said. But, he added, Everybody is anxious to see more connections between Ghana and New York.

One clear connection was on display early in Mr. Adamss trip, when he showed up at a Hanukkah celebration hosted by Chabad. Rabbi Noach Majesky, the Chabad rabbi in Accra, is from Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

He described Mr. Adamss visit as a Birthright type of trip.

The New York Post first reported on the Hanukkah visit. Mr. Adams was connected to the event by Ms. Svanikiers husband, Thomas Svanikier, Chabad officials said.

Wearing what appeared to be a light yellow dashiki shirt, Mr. Adams posed before a picture of a menorah, spoke of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh grand rebbe of the Lubavitch Hasidic movement whose base is in Crown Heights, and discussed the open wounds of the Holocaust and slavery, according to videos provided by Chabad of Ghana.

I came here to close the open wound of slavery and reconnect with my ancestors, Mr. Adams said, speaking on a stage bathed in red light. Im happy to be here in Ghana with you, showing how great we are as a people.

An electric guitar riffed on the first few notes of The Star-Spangled Banner as another day for a mayor-elect abroad came to a close.

Reporting was contributed by Philip Nii Lartey in Ghana, Ruth Maclean in Dakar, Senegal, and Michael M. Grynbaum in New York. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.

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Eric Adams Returns From Ghana, His Spirit Cleansed and To-Do List Full - The New York Times

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

For the first time in my life, I am struggling with my relationship with Israel.

It has always been rock solid.

I have been unequivocal in my love, support, admiration and pride for my homeland since I can remember. Id go so far as to say it is in my DNA and that imprint has been built over four decades of education and visits to the country I think of my second but also in many ways, psychologically, my first home.

I have always believed that there is a symbiotic relationship between Israel and the diaspora.

That we support each other.

That we need Israel as our homeland, to tether us to our people, to connect us to 4000 years of history, and Israel looks to us for support; not just financial, through business but also through welfare and charity.

We are asked time and again to give money to Israeli causes despite the myriad of causes that need help here in London/UK and we do so with generosity, because we care. Diaspora Jewry certainly in the UK, play an important if not crucial role in advocacy; from the exposing of Jeremy Corbyn and the left wings anti Israel obsession, to the fight against the ever growing BDS movement; lobbying MPs, building trade relations, and constantly defending Israels right to exist which, despite plenty of debate and the counter argument that Jew hating is not the same as Israel hating, I fully subscribe to the notion that they are one and the same thing .

To quote Lord Rabbi Sacks: There is and only ever has been one Jewish state, tiny and vulnerable though it is and always was. That is why Anti-Zionism, denying Jews the right to their one and only collective home by misrepresenting Judaism, is the new antisemitism, every bit as virulent and dangerous as the old.

We send our children to universities, worldly seats of education, hoping that they are prepared to counter the narrative that calls for their non-existence.

We do that knowing that their home is there for them should they need it, and for many ,this results in their choosing to leave their diaspora homes and make aliya.

But Covid is eroding that relationship and I cannot understand the way Israel is behaving.

For the very first time in my life I am angry with Israel.

There I have said it.

I am angry with the country that I have only ever loved and it hurts. Because, the message I am receiving is You dont live here, so you dont quite belong.

This is compounded when I see images of Miss Universe how do they qualify to go to Israel and I dont?

How is it possible that beauty queens should be allowed on a plane and welcomed, but the Jews that constantly support, fight for, advocate, are not.

When Covid started and the world was in lockdown no one flew anywhere and that was ok. I could deal with that. But then the summer of 2021 came around and my family could travel to Greece, Spain, Italy, Dubai how many countries should I list but not Israel. Tour was cancelled for a second year, my 16 year old daughter was due to go on it, and this is relevant.

Tour is deemed a right of passage. For some it is a first taste of independence , their first trip away from their families, for others it is simply a holiday but for many it is the beginning of a life long bond that ties them to the State of Israel. Tour has education and connection at its heart. It is experiential and for many teens it shapes their futures. Tour may lead to a gap year in Israel, to advocacy on campus, possibly to aliya or a diaspora supporter. It is the birthplace for many of our teens of their Jewish and Zionist identity.

So my 16 year old could happily laze by a pool in Mallorca instead a first world problem you might think, but now she is considering whether she goes on a gap year to Israel or travels elsewhere. And when she is challenged on her campus will she be able to fight back with articulate passion and vigour for a country she doesnt actually know . There are unforeseen consequences.

We send our children to Jewish schools where trips to Israel are a part of the curriculum. Yes, they are fun, but like tour they have purpose. When those trips are cancelled, as they have all been, there are ripple effects. We are potentially bringing up a mini generation of children that will have lost their connectivity and in the same way people are not coming back to shul, why should we assume that they will learn or resume their Zionisim.

And the message from Israel has not been one of apology or empathy for us diaspora Jews, which might alleviate some of the hurt and anger we feel. Instead it has almost been one full of superiority and daring. We dare you to try and come to our country here are the hoops we have in place for you to jump through. I have met countless people my parents age in their 70s, who, determined to get to Israel have been reduced to tears as theyve have to provide marriage certificates, death certificates and family trees. They have had to learn to navigate websites and attach documents and perhaps most ridiculous, they have had to find someone at the embassy who somebody else knows that might be able to help them ontop of the pcrs, or vaccine proofs that every other normal country requires. I cannot think of a single other embassy that I have had to contact in order to understand the covid rules and to try and gain some sort of connection or protectzia to gain entry. Israel seems to change its rules like the wind. One minute a group of 18 year olds are off on their gap year, the next, if they are not at the airport within 24 hours, they arent.

I understand that Israel is covid conscious, that it seeks to be a world leader in its vaccination programme but I am struggling to understand why my children can go all over the world but not to Israel. On the Israeli embassy website it states clearly that shivas, funerals and weddings are not reason to gain entry, but we Jews continue to exist precisely because of these rites of passage. We celebrate together and we mourn together and this has bound us to each other since the beginning of time. So when my children miss their cousins barmitzvah this presents a bigger problem than missing a party.

These are our childrens formative years it is where memories and connections are shaped and these connections last well into their adult futures. Perhaps if Israel explained its logic coherently, perhaps if it was apologetic, empathetic or sympathetic I might feel differently. When I spoke to my Israeli friend, she was surprised by the strength of my feelings.

She maintains that Israel has a right to protect its people first and foremost, but I cannot help but feel that by doing this Israel is making a clear distinction between Israelis and Jews. And this perhaps is the crux of the issue. Is Israel only for Israelis or is Israel the Jewish homeland for Jews? And if it is both, as I believe it is then Israel needs a serious change in its thinking and action towards us in the diaspora, because if it doesnt, that symbiosis will be severed and to what unforeseen consequences .

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For the first time in my life, I am struggling with my relationship with Israel - Jewish News

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Posted By admin on December 13, 2021

Provided by Independent Online (IOL)

Cape Town Only 40% of Africans support the idea of mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations. This is according to findings of an online survey among residents in 29 African countries and Africans in the diaspora. These findings were published in a peer-reviewed journal, PLOS One.

The study also found notable vaccine hesitancy among Africans living in Africa as well as in the diaspora.

The findings are worrying as Covid-19 mandatory vaccination could potentially accelerate vaccine uptake and the attainment of herd immunity.

The researchers found a link between risk perception and attitude to the vaccine.

We found that respondents risk perception was related to their attitude to Covid-19 vaccines. The odds of vaccine hesitancy was substantially low if participants perceived risk of infection or sickness was very high, said Dr Shameem Jaumdally, co-author and senior research scientist at the University of Cape Towns Lung Institute.

Most respondents in our study (60%) knew at least one person infected with the coronavirus and believed that they had a medium to very high risk of being infected and developing severe illness. Nonetheless, vaccine hesitancy was high in our population 26% believed the vaccines were unnecessary, and 43% believed alternatives to Covid-19 vaccination exist.

Jaumdally said vaccine hesitancy was more common among young people than older adults and in rural areas compared to urban ones.

The scientist added that the burden of Covid-19 was considerably less among young people due to the lower risk of comorbidities.

The overall self-rated knowledge, perception, and awareness of vaccines were high in our study. Most respondents claimed to understand how vaccines work, the routes of vaccination, and which vaccines are recommended for adults, he said.

Concerns about vaccine safety were common in the study, with the majority of respondents being worried about the vaccines side effects, while others were concerned that they might get infected with the Covid-19 by obtaining the vaccine.

Neverteless, 63% of participants indicated they would receive Covid-19 vaccination as soon as possible and 5% would receive vaccines after considering their safety among earlier vaccinated individuals.

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Only 40% of Africans want Covid-19 jabs to be mandatory - study - msnNOW

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Posted By admin on December 10, 2021

When someone asks a cook if they really need another cookbook, the answer is almost always yes. Why settle for one baking book when there are three more just as worthy?

But cookbooks are more than just a pretty cover; they earn their spots on the shelf. Cookbooks can provide a sense of adventure, feed our curiosity and educate us, no matter how long we've been in the kitchen. They introduce us to new cuisines, encourage us to shop at unfamiliar markets and support local farmers all while helping to satisfy our sweet tooth, teaching us how to use the hot new appliance, adapt to a meatless diet or make an exquisite cocktail.

And, if we're lucky, we find one that speaks to us, nourishing both our soul and our families.

There is a stunning number of cookbooks published each year, and shelf space both at bookstores and in our homes is at a premium. Each year, the Taste team culls through the new releases, earmarking our favorites and cooking with abandon. There are some we turn to time and time again; others we politely donate.

This year our top picks run the gamut from quick-hit dinners to cocktails and an authoritative guide to pasta. Plus, we take a peek at the new offerings from the talented pool of local cookbook authors. We hope there's room on your shelves for one (or several) of them. Happy reading.

Nicole Hvidsten

When selecting reading material, we tend to gravitate toward books that not only fit our interests, but also our lifestyle. The same holds true for cookbooks.

Enter America's Test Kitchen's "Five Ingredient Dinners" ($30), which will quickly become a busy cook's best friend. The juggernaut that is ATK churns out an extraordinary number of books, all featuring fail-proof recipes and detailed techniques that can teach even the most experienced cooks a thing or two. This book is no exception. More than 100 recipes do indeed feature five ingredients (plus pantry staples), along with serving suggestions. There are chapters on chicken, meat and seafood as well as noodles, meatless meals and grilling, and a handy table points you to recipes that use up the open jars of rice vinegar, soy sauce and capers, to name a few.

Recipes may be on the simpler side, but the flavors aren't. Gnocchi with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Ricotta and Spinach comes together in less than 30 minutes, and the Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Hazelnut Browned Butter and Broccolini was lick-the-plate good. But the best part? Those who love to cook but struggle with finding the time or energy to plan meals can feel good about what they're putting on the table.

Following the frenzied-cook theme, "Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean" by Christopher Kimball (Voracious, $35) aims to make one of the world's healthiest (and flavorful) cuisines attainable for weeknight meals. A follow-up to 2018's "Tuesday Nights," Kimball categorizes the Mediterranean meals by fast (45 minutes or less) faster (30 minutes) and fastest (25 minutes), with additional chapters on supper-worthy soups and salads, vegetarian meals and flatbreads and sandwiches.

But food that's fast doesn't mean it's fast food. The recipes are filled with flavor and, despite the name Tuesday Night, there are plenty of options suitable for a nicer family meal or entertaining. (The recipes also include origins and details.) Make a from-scratch Chicken Shawarma sandwich, classic Green Shakshuka or get a taste of Sicilian flavors with Shrimp and Couscous with Tomatoes and Toasted Almonds. The world, or at least the Mediterranean coast, is all yours.

Many cooks need a creative challenge, too, and thanks to the new "Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple" by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $35) they have one. This book marks Greenspan's 14th, and her 30th year as a cookbook author.

Included are both savory and sweet recipes, twists on old favorites (chocolate chip cookies) and inventive quick breads (Goat Cheese-Black Pepper Quick Bread), and too many can't-wait-to-try recipes (Double-Chocolate Rhubarb Tart). It also oozes with charm. An example: Greenspan designates a handful of recipes in each chapter as her "sweetheart" recipes, ones that she kept coming back to while writing the cookbook, that are marked with a heart.

She also dispenses this pearl of wisdom, perfect for this time of year: "Bake something and share it. It might change your life. It changed mine." And if you need a suggestion, she provides 150 of them.

With the national spotlight shining bright on Sean Sherman's restaurant Owamni and Indigenous cuisine, the timing of the "New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian" by Freddie Bitsoie and James O. Fraioli(Abrams, $40) couldn't be better. The book celebrates the food of Native cultures across North America and the Pacific islands, so in addition to bison and wild rice, you'll find recipes that include prickly pear paddles and coconut milk. Bitsoie, a Navajo cook who is the former executive chef at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, modernizes the recipes without taking away the basic fundamentals of Indigenous cooking, and gives mini history lessons of tribes along the way. It's a fascinating and very clean way of cooking and eating that is worth every bit of attention it's getting.

It wouldn't be the holidays without a wish list, and Modernist Cuisine's "Modernist Pizza" by Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya is definitely a splurge with its $425 price tag. Modernist Cuisine goes beyond recipes to explore the science, history, techniques, equipment and just about everything else about pizza in this four-volume tome, and it's exquisite. Thanks to the Modernist Cuisine Lab's army of chefs, scientists, researchers, engineers and photographers, no pizza stone is left unturned. From more than 1,000 recipes, dozens of dough styles, must-have equipment and ingredients and recommendations for the best places to travel for pizza (in the U.S. it's Portland, Ore.), this is the gift that will keep on giving for the pizza lover on your very nice list.

Sharyn Jackson

Every year, I find myself surprised that another cookbook dares to take on the wide world of Jewish cuisine. Is there really any improving on matzo ball soup at this point? Yet, here we are once again, with another great entry into the canon of Jewish cooking. "Jew-Ish: Reinvented Recipes From a Modern Mensch" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $30) is author Jake Cohen's playful take on Ashkenazi Jewish mainstays for the Instagram age, with recipes such as a delightful galette filled not with fruit, but cream cheese and lox, everything bagel seasoning sprinkled around the edges. Or a panzanella salad with challah bread cubes. Or a Passover-friendly tiramisu that substitutes matzo for ladyfingers. Interspersed with whimsical re-creations of Shabbat and holiday classics are a number of fragrant and sophisticated Middle Eastern recipes that acknowledge flavors from Cohen's husband's Persian-Iraqi heritage. And yes, there is a recipe for matzo ball soup, which Cohen somehow manages to make cheekily suggestive. Guess you can improve on the age-old hits after all.

The proprietors of Don Angie, a Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in New York's Greenwich Village, also find a way to cast a new light on a cuisine everyone thinks they already know. In this case it's the comfort food of Italian-American immigrants, with some liberties. "Italian-American: Red Sauce Classics & New Essentials" (Clarkson Potter, $35) by Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli is brimming with mouthwatering reimaginings of the stuff on "The Sopranos" dinner table: shrimp parm meatballs; pinwheel lasagna; pepperoni rice; Campari ribs. The recipes, far more labor-intensive than opening a jar of sauce, are best saved for project cooking days, and enjoyed for Sunday supper.

Keeping true to the old-meets-new trend, Abigail Johnson Dodge updates a tried-and-true cafeteria heavyweight the sheet cake. In "Sheet Cake: Easy One-Pan Recipes for Every Day & Every Occasion" (Clarkson Potter, $23), she puts the workhorse half-sheet pan to exceptional use, with dozens of recipes for easy sheet cakes that she spiffs up with a variety of fillings, frostings, sauces and soaks. Turn out an extravagantly decorated cake without any unusual kitchen tools, such as a stacked-up Boston cream or a rolled-up matcha cake. Or, simply do as I did, and snack on a better-than-the-box cake right out of the pan.

There are recipe cooks (raises hand) and pantry cooks who can improvise their way around whatever they have in the house. If you fancy yourself somewhere between the two or wish you were "Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love" (Clarkson Potter, $32) might be the only guide you need. Recipe followers can use it like a regular cookbook and browse the Middle Eastern-inflected recipes from famed chef and cookbook author Yotam Ottolenghi (with Noor Murad). But the real utility lies in a kind of reverse table of contents at the front of the book, which sorts recipes by what's in your cabinet/fridge/spice drawer. I had to use up extra chicken stock before it turned, which led me to a recipe for an amped-up tomato soup with pasta and caramelized onions that is going to be my go-to.

Serious home bartenders of which there are now many, thanks to the pandemic have a new training manual from the cocktail experts behind New York City's Death & Co. and the James Beard Award-winning "Cocktail Codex." Alex Day and David Kaplan, with Minnesota-based author Nick Fauchald, have assembled a luxe coffee table book that doubles as the definitive textbook for at-home libation experimentations, called "Death & Co.: Welcome Home" (Ten Speed Press, $40). With their guidance, you can train your palate to detect a balanced cocktail, find a shopping list to stock your home bar, take the fear out of making your own cordials and, of course, make the perfect cocktail with hundreds of recipes.

Rick Nelson

It's probably safe to say that New York City chef Missy Robbins has written the book on pasta. "Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy's Greatest Food, With Recipes" (Ten Speed Press, $40) is the summation of a career immersed in the craft of pasta making. Robbins, collaborating with her partner Talia Baiocchi, channels her priceless professional experience into this master class of a cookbook, breaking down the process into home cooks' terms and then offering concise, vastly appealing recipes. Other reasons to love? The beautiful photographs, practical how-to illustrations and deep-dive attention to detail. And like so many in her profession, Robbins is an engaging storyteller.

Another gifted wordsmith is Cheryl Day. The Savannah, Ga., bakery owner has a pair of previously published cookbooks both co-written by her husband and business partner (and Minneapolis native), Griffith Day and baking from them is a total treat. In a new solo act, "Cheryl Day's Treasury of Southern Baking" (Artisan, $40), Day celebrates her baking-rich heritage, reaching back to the legacy of her great-great-grandmother, Hannah Queen Grubbs, a prolific baker who was born enslaved in 1838 in Alabama. Day's easy-to-follow recipes Golden Buttermilk Chess Pie, Apple Brown Betty, Old Fashioned Caramel Cake, cheese straws are equal parts culinary travelogue and history guide.

Thanks to the gorgeous "World Food" series, we can get a taste of Mexico City (last year's introductory title) and now the City of Light. In the engaging page-turner that is "World Food: Paris" (Ten Speed Press, $26), author James Oseland he was Saveur magazine's well traveled editor for nearly a decade vividly whets the appetite for All Things Paris by breezily encapsulating a parade of markets, restaurants, shops and home kitchens. Fifty evocative recipes, quick-hit rosters of Parisian essentials (cheeses, wines, breads) and photographer James Roper's scene-setting images are icing on the gteau.

The path-breaking "Black Food: Stories, Art and Recipes From Across the African Diaspora" (4 Color Books, $40) is the kind of conversating-sparking title that will be continually carried from kitchen to nightstand and vice versa. Editor Bryant Terry the California chef and educator behind a number of excellent plant-based cookbooks has curated a riveting collection of essays, poetry, recipes and imagery from 100 leading Black cultural figures.

Even in this age of Google, an encyclopedic cookbook (think, "Joy of Cooking" or "How to Cook Everything") remains a handy kitchen resource, and "The Essential New York Times Cookbook" (W.W. Norton & Co., $55) nicely fits into this fraternity. Editor Amanda Hesser wisely takes a global approach when exploring the newspaper's vast, well tested recipe archive, tapping the knowledge and passion of top chefs and food writers and adding helpful commentary. File the book's hundreds of user-friendly recipes under "T" for "timeless."

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Our 15 top cookbooks of the year cover everything from easy dinners to baking challenges - Minneapolis Star Tribune

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