Challenging Racism & Anti-Immigrationism One Sweet Granny At a Time
Do you love your grandma? What about her cooking? I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “My grandma’s the best cook in the world.” That got me thinking: At a time when ethnic dishes get a quick spotlight on Instagram, can we extend that gaze longer to preserve our grandmother’s recipes and capture the immigrant stories behind the food? And in an era where we glorify male celebrity chefs, is there a space to celebrate the women who often inspired their cuisine?
I’m a Tow-Knight Entrepreneurial Journalism fellow, former New York magazine video journalist, and a native New Yorker from Queens. I’m currently applying all my experiences to produce Cooking with Granny, a web series where grandmothers of different cultures in New York share family recipes and poignant life stories in 10-minute cooking-show-meets-documentary episodes. As part of the show, I also film the grandmothers grocery shopping, usually in ethnic enclaves, and thus educate my viewers on unique ingredients from different cultures so that they, too, can cook these dishes. (But in this transient business model development phase, I may change the format or cut down the length.)
My project aims to show a different, apolitical, Trump-less angle on immigration and a deeper look at ethnic food. It breaks the “immigrant” stereotype, not limiting it to just people of color, and introduces new faces, voices, accents and stories that usually go overlooked.
The show was inspired by my own Grandma. As a kid, I would watch my grandma cook. Comfortable in her element — the kitchen — she would tell stories. How she used to make kimchi in her North Korean village of Oongi. How she escaped to South Korea during the Cold War. And how she eventually made it to New York to fill in the gaps that my parents’ hard immigrant work ethic had created.
In the immigrant capital of New York City, stories like these abound. My project unpacks the living history that our grandmothers embody and repackages it into engaging, educational, emotional stories for my viewers. Remember: our grandparents have lived through some tremendous historic moments (WWII, Cold War) and have brought those experiences to enrich the melting pot that is New York City.
So far, I’ve featured:
- My own Korean grandma’s kimchi and pork belly and her North Korean escape story,
- Russian-Jewish grandma Nina’s stuffed peppers, which her Cold War nuclear physicist husband’s mother had taught her to make
- Puerto Rican grandma Maria’s pernil and arroz con gandules, which she picked up on her grandma’s farm
- Greek grandma Barbara’s octopus stew, her deceased husband’s favorite dish
- Indian grandma Sahni’s mattar paneer, shared by her 6 grandkids at the shoot
- Trinidadian grandma Louisa’s hot sauce and a grocery tour of Caribbean Brooklyn
- Filipino grandma Lumen’s purple yam pudding and a grocery shopping expedition in Chinatown
Two grandmas have yet to be announced so stay tuned, and here’s the episode premiere of the first official Kickstarter-funded season:
And obviously, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t love eating. Soup dumplings? Count me in! Handmade fusilli? Invite me! Spanakopita? (Spinach pie.) It’s in my fridge!
My show celebrates the deliciousness of food while recognizing that our palates don’t have borders. And neither does our love for Grandma.
