How We Cook Now: United We Eat
Nothing is more visible during election season than the political divide, so Capri S. Cafaro’s United We Eat (Story Farm, Inc.) has not come a moment too soon. The former Ohio Senate Minority Leader, who served her northeastern district for the maximum three terms, has spent the majority of her career in public service, with particular focus on health and eldercare policy.
For Cafaro, food is hobby, passion and political tool. “I learned from a young age from my Italian-American family that food was a way to bring people together, creating fellowship in a more casual manner. So, when I served in the Ohio Senate, I used to bring in baked goods, especially to celebrate bipartisan wins,” she said.
The idea for the cookbook started during her political tenure. It simmered, if you will, until late 2018 when she began reaching out to current and former political leaders to solicit recipes. She was surprised at first by how quickly some legislators replied. “Kathleen Matthews from Maryland was the first to call. I interned with her at Channel 7 News in Washington D.C. and her recipe immediately reminded me of our family vacations on the Eastern Shore.”
More recipes followed, and the book became a balance of Democrats (including three 2020 presidential primary contenders), Republicans and Independents, each of whom provided half of the recipes. The balance are recipes that Cafaro carefully researched for culinary profile, regional agricultural production, and recognition as a branded or official state food. She tried many in her own kitchen and sent those she could not test (she does not own a smoker, for instance, to test recipes such as Alaska Governor Pete Ricketts’ BBQ Rub & Sauce) to her publisher’s test kitchen for validation.
The book is beautifully art-directed and photographed, with down-to-earth, well-written recipes and clear directions. There are options spanning vegan to carnivore. And if you want to try sourdough, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon’s recipe is included. All three recipes I tried were successful and delicious.
The project has opened new doors for Cafaro, who this fall launched a podcast called “Eat Your Heartland Out” on the Heritage Radio Network. Available on all major podcast platforms, it focuses on the foods of the American Midwest, an oft-overlooked area that Cafaro says is “rich in indigenous roots, incredible diversity of immigrant influence and agricultural resources.”
When not cooking, she serves as the Executive in Residence at American University School of Public Affairs, is a Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and in her spare time creates Italian baked goods on a local television station, harkening back to her own familial roots. And she has plans for a second cookbook about the recipes of U.S. territories including American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Her hope for United We Eat is its own important recipe for bringing people together.
“Sharing heirloom recipes is humanizing and can break down barriers of even extreme partisanship,” she said. “You may not like a person’s politics, but when you share food and stories you can find things in common.”
United We Eat: 50 Great American Dishes to Bring Us All Together, by Capri S. Cafaro, Story Farm (July 4, 2020)
A new cookbook, a novice home chef, and a small kitchen all come together to see what happens
While I’d love to say that I cook and bake for family and friends with aplomb, the reality is I have always been an anxious, intimidated kitchen-dweller. I did not grow up cooking, so while I learned (mostly from my husband, a great cook) to make a decent family meal and could get a basic dinner party on the table, I often felt like an imposter.
Then came the pandemic. Without restaurants or initially even takeout, for the first time in my life I had to cook three meals a day. I quickly became bored with old standbys. Being allergic to gluten sidelined me from the sourdough craze, so, instead, I began trying out recipes in my condo’s galley kitchen. And with no one to please but myself, I loved it – the cooking and the eating.
As with many of you, COVID-19 has changed everything about how I cook and eat. So, no more hiding. I am putting down (most) of my anxiety and just trying new things. This column is about my attempts using some wonderful cookbooks, and what I am learning in the process. I hope you enjoy.
