Which Conflicts Will Be Representated?

I am sure there is no way for me to avoid controversy regardless of which conflicts I pick to be represented in a blog and cookbook about genocide survivors. Every survivor of mass atrocities agaisnt civilians may they be classified as genocide or not deserve their voice to be heard. This project may be the first of many, but in order to connect these six conflicts spanning 3 continents and nearly 100 years, I choose to focus this blog and cookbook on the most widely recognized genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries. Those would be:

1. Armenia
2. Holocaust
3. Cambodia
4. Rwanda
5. Bosnia
6. Darfur

I am very open to feedback on this issue along with everything else. I know there are strong opinions on whether these constitute genocide and that other conflicts deserve to recognized as genocide. I will gladly add other conflicts in order to celebrate those cultures if I have time and someone opens my eyes to why they should be added to this list.

Thanks for your support!

Project Overview

This project has four equally important elements to it: (1) recipes, (2) survivor stories, (3) history and (4) activism.

1. Recipes-- This should be self-explanatory. The cookbook will share recipes from survivors or their descendants that represent their family and their culture. By sharing these recipes with our friends and family we can link our dinner with the tragic history genocide and the beautiful cultures that survived it.
2. Survivor Stories-- While this is a cookbook, this is a celebration of culture. This blog and the eventual book will strive to prominently display that genocide failed not only to physically destroy the people of a community, but to also not destroy the culture of this community. I hope with this project that readers will be connected to survivors and use the cookbook as a platform to celebrate survivor stories in their own community.
3. History-- Though I plan to focus on survivors, their stories and the food, I believe strongly that both those new and those familiar with the history of genocide will be well served to have history mixed in. To introduce the various conflicts I hope to represent in this project, I will include a brief history of each conflict and provide resources to learn more.
4. Activism-- I believe engaging with survivors and celebrating their cultures through food is its own form of activism. Regardless if their genocide happened in the early 20th century or is on-going in the 21st, survivors and their families should know they aren't alone. Those still suffering from the immediate or indirect effects of genocide need our help. Through the book and this blog I hope to use the platform of cooking to bring communities together to properly commemorate past genocides, rebuild societies effected by genocide and to prevent future genocides.

Introduction

Growing up, I had a strong interest in the Holocaust and would read all the young adult books I could get my hands on to learn about survivors and their stories. During trips to Israel, my mom would prepare me by bringing a pile of books with us to read while everyone in the kibbutz would be asleep for the afternoon nap. One of these summers I clearly remember bringing a stack of these books about survivors and spending lazy afternoons in our rented room drinking in these often bone chilling, but also heart warming stories of compassion and resilience during the darkest of times.

While diving into the depths of my family's past through stranger's stories I will always regret never engaging with my own survivor: my grandmother. I hide behind the facts that my Hebrew was never quite that good, her English was non-existent and when I knew her I was a small child scared away by the larger blind women in a wheel-chair with scary tattoo. Regardless of the reason, I shamefully chose to learn about the Holocaust through any pair of eyes than her own.

This project is for her and for all survivors of the terrible crime of genocide. If Hitler had been even more successful my family would not exist and the rich culture European Jewry would have never been part of modern society.

So why food? Genocide is the attempt to destroy in whole or in part a group of people who often share a unique culture. Food is central in most cultures and to celebrate a culture's food is to celebrate that culture. This cookbook aspires to pay homage to those who survived genocide and continue to share their group's culture with their world.

So keep checking this blog for the stories, photos and recipes of survivors. Then break out your skillets and share some delicious meals with your friends while engaging in some delicious cultural activism!