'The Immigrant Cookbook' Celebrates Immigrant Chefs And 'Recipes That Make America Great'
Cookbook editor Leyla Moushabeck holds "The Immigrant Cookbook" in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn. Photo: Nina Roberts
Published in Forbes on December 5, 2017
The Immigrant Cookbook is a new cookbook featuring recipes from renowned immigrants—and a sprinkling of second generation—who are chefs, restaurateurs, culinary entrepreneurs and authors. Cooking enthusiasts can easily learn how to make global dishes, from Mourad Lahlou's Moroccan Chicken with Charmoula to classic Irish Beef Stew, a recipe offered by Cathal Armstrong, chef and co-owner of Restaurant Eve in the greater Washington D.C. area.
Daniel Boulud gives his recipe for Salade Lyonnaise aux Lardons. “To me,” he writes, “this salad is just so French.” Boulud has built a mini-empire of French restaurants, including the two Michelin starred Daniel in New York City, since his arrival in 1982.
Top Chef competitor Nina Compton from St. Lucia, is the chef and owner of Compère Lapin in New Orleans and offers her recipe for roasted jerk corn. The steps to make Fenugreek fried bread are proffered by Einat Admony, originally from Israel, who is the chef and co-owner of Balaboosta among other restaurants in New York City.
Traditional and avant-garde recipes by Mexicans have a healthy presence in The Immigrant Cookbook. Ivan Garcia who worked as a busboy when arriving in the U.S. and now runs a trio of Brooklyn restaurants including Guadalupe Inn, offers his Pozole Rojo Estilo recipe. Enrique Olvera of Cosme and Atla gives his recipe for Scallop Aguachile that uses wasabi, fresh root if possible, in place of chilies.
“We wanted the representation of chefs to be diverse, not just in terms of their ethnicity,” says Leyla Moushabeck, the cookbook’s editor, “but also in terms of their professions.”
Maryland-based food writer Laila El-Haddad, currently working on a book about the history of Islam in the U.S. through food, shares her recipe for Gazan hot tomato and dill salad. Martin Yan of PBS’s Yan Can Cook, has a recipe for steamed fish with ginger wine sauce. Even Grammy winning musician Ziggy Marley offers a recipe for Jamaican Coconut Dream Fish, explaining the various stages of “coconutiness“ in its preparation.
Many of the chefs in the book have used their success to be an activist or pursue humanitarian initiatives, which appealed to Moushabeck. José Andrés, for example, recently fed tens of thousands of people in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of hurricane Maria. An immigrant from Spain, Andrés is the chef and owner of multiple restaurants, including the D.C. minibar by José Andrés, which earned two Michelin stars. He offers his gazpacho recipe, named after his wife, Tichi.
Claus Meyer of Noma fame, explains how to make an open-faced green potato sandwich on Danish rye bread. He's is another chef with a social mission. In addition to running Agern and the Great Northern Food Hall in Grand Central Station, Meyer recently launched a culinary school and community center in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
The Immigrant Cookbook took one year to compile, edit and publish. The slightly quicker time frame compared to Moushabeck’s previous cookbooks, such as Soup For Syria, was due to the increased anti-immigrant rhetoric and frightening policies of the Trump administration.
Last year when Moushabeck began querying for recipes, she found immigrant chefs and restaurateurs were eager to collaborate. “We had a lot of chefs come back to us and just say, ‘Yes, absolutely, this is exactly what we want to do,’” recounts Moushabeck. She adds that chefs explicitly wanted to join forces in solidarity with chefs from different kinds of backgrounds.
The Immigrant Cookbook is elegantly designed and photographed; it doesn’t feel didactic, preachy or folksy in terms of multiculturalism. Instead, it’s a celebration of the U.S.’s outstanding chefs. The accompanying bios and personal passages underscore their cultural and economic contributions.
There is an underlying political message, evident in the cheeky subtitle, “Recipes that Make America Great,” a twist on Trump’s favorite slogan. “The subtitle is probably the most directly provocative element of the book,” says Moushabeck.
The Immigrant Cookbook can be pre-ordered online and will arrive in bookshops December 15, 2017. At least $5 from each The Immigrant Cookbook sold will go to the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.
The Immigrant Cookbook is published by Interlink Publishing in Northampton, Massachusetts; founded by Michel Moushabeck in 1987, editor Leyla Moushabeck‘s father. An immigrant entrepreneur from Lebanon of Palestinian decent, his books primarily focus on art, poetry, music, literature, travel and food, originating outside the U.S.
A Q&A With The Immigrant Cookbook publisher, Michel Moushabeck.
Nina Roberts: First, why did you launch Interlink Publishing in 1987?
Michel Moushabeck: Coming to America from war-torn Beirut was an eye-opening and life-changing experience. I immediately embraced American values of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, democracy, etc. But I was dismayed to find out how little people knew about where I came from, even though they had strong one-sided views, which did not accept Arab narrative or history. I decided to become a book publisher.
NR: Being an immigrant from Lebanon, have you experienced acts of racism, xenophobia or anti-immigrant sentiment?
MM: I have experienced numerous episodes of xenophobic sentiment, including hate mail and hate speech. I was once taken off a plane because a passenger felt uncomfortable having an Arab-looking man on the same flight. That took place a month after 9/11.
But such incidents only increase my determination to stand up to bigotry, hatred, racism and do everything I can to promote diversity, dialogue, cross-cultural learning, and a greater understanding between people from different ethnic backgrounds.
NR: Why publish The Immigrant Cookbook now?
MM: While The Immigrant Cookbook is primarily a celebration of the vast contributions of immigrant chefs to American food culture, it is a cookbook for this political moment. It makes an important statement and stands against the destructive anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies of the present administration. We are fighting back the only way we know how—with a book—to show what America really stands for.
NR: How did the book’s title "The Immigrant Cookbook" and subtitle, "Recipes that Make America Great” evolve?
MM: The title was a no brainer for us; we simply could not resist. Immigrants from every corner of the world helped America become the great country it is today.
NR: Why did you choose to donate at least $5 per cookbook purchased to the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project?
MM: I’ve been a card-carrying member of the ACLU since the early 80s. My staff and I are especially impressed with their Immigrants’ Rights Project, which is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and rights of immigrants, as well as combating discrimination against them.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity.