See What’s Out There

I saw a really great article in the Times by the cookbook author Joan Nathan. Nathan writes about Jewish cooking and in this article, in preparation for the Hanukkah holiday that starts tonight, she writes about cooking with the Satmars in Kiryas Joel, New York. The story of the Satmars and of the founding of Kiryas Joel and its issues is fascinating. Her article brings you in and gives you a glimpse of these folk and how they live and their values. All of this in a story that is supposed to be about food.

Reading it, I thought about two things. First, (of course) wishing she had video of this experience. Second, I was thinking, what a great way for organizations (international ones in particular) to introduce us to the people they work with. Obviously, this would not be appropriate in every case, but I can imagine meeting Indian tsunami survivors or African village teachers through the lens of their cooking. And then seeing a published cookbook or other collateral material created around the cooking idea - as a fundraiser. We feel so different and distant from these people. And we often feel judgmental toward people who are different than us. What a dignified way cooking would be to connect!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 15th, 2006 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Nonprofits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.