#black american cookbook

[mimi-0007]

[u-mspcoll]

In 1866, Malinda Russell published "A Domestic Cook Book" in Paw Paw, Michigan. As the oldest known cookbook by an African American woman, this slim volume is a landmark in American culinary history.

Join us on Thursday 27 February at the Downtown Branch of the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) for a reception and panel discussion celebrating a new edition released by the University of Michigan Press. The reception will begin at 5.15p, with the conversation to follow at 5.45p. The panel will be livestreamed on the AADL site.

We hope you can join us!

[bingbopboombam]

It wasn't just the halftime show. Maga is pissed at all the Black Americans celebrating. They've already compared the Black players of the Eagles (the team that Trump didn't want to win) to gorillas cuz Jalen Hurts triggered the racism/anti Black in them.

They are pissed the Black American woman Ledisi sung the Black national anthem Lift Every Voice and Sing. They're pissed the Black American man Jon Batiste sung America the Beautiful. They are pissed at Kendrick for dumbing his message down enough just to ruffle both Drake and Maga's feathers. They're pissed Serena Williams was crip walking after telling her for years to not act ghetto like that on the tennis courts. They're pissed an HBCU marching band Southern Jukebox performed reminding the public Black Americans had to build our own universities cuz anti Black rascists didnt want us. They're pissed Samuel Jackson was trying to police Kendrick's expression while dressed as Uncle Sam, mirroring what's always been going on in our politics.

Maga doesn't see Black Americans as Americans (or as human tbh) despite our spilled blood that built the White House, the Ivy League schools, and so much more the USA wants to erase. They still haven't paid reparations for non-consensually using Henrietta Lacks cells that pioneered modern medicine or for any of the descendants of slaves waiting for 40 acres and a mule.

The USA has hidden Slave Masters' cookbooks on how to eat Black Americans so we can't even bury our ancestors properly and book on how to make furniture out of Black Americans with our skin turned into leather/hair used as filling for pillows.

Edit: books that speak the truth about the cannibalism part since I've been called a liar. Also stop calling Kendrick Lamar a fae god, that is dehumanization/Anti Black/racist as he's stated many times he is a Black human being

[pftones3482]

Being so serious when I say that NOW more than ever, if you live in the US, you NEED to preserve physical media.

- Physical books, ESPECIALLY commonly banned/likely to be banned ones (not just the classics - those are important, but people are much more likely to have those secured. I'm talking children's literature, especially non-white and LGBTQIA stories. I'm talking religious texts, gardening books, crafting books ((sewing especially)), dictionaries/books in other languages, ESPECIALLY native American languages - get em all)

- Physical music - CDs, records, cassettes, whatever you can get your hands on. If you have the ability to get the supplies to burn your own CDs with modern music, even better. Songs about dissent and rebellion, queerness, blackness, a lot of punk/rock/rap, will be the first stuff to be targeted

- Movies - DVDs, VHS, whatever. We've seen with Netflix removing their own original shows that content can disappear off the face of the earth with a snap. I've been collecting my favorite movies from childhood, highly recommend you do the same

- Cookbooks. In a worst case scenario, it is very handy to have recipes in a physical book. Most cookbooks also have sections with information on how to properly and safely cook many foods, which can be helpful. If you don't own a cookbook, start by taking your favorite recipes from online and either print them out and put them in a folder OR do what I do and hand copy them into a notebook (your hand will hurt but you can personalize the recipes easily that way!)

We are entering an age where our media is being controlled by fewer and fewer people, one big monopoly. Preserve it while we can. And while you're at it, read Fahrenheit 451. It is, in my opinion, one of the most important banned books you could ever read to understand WHY the preservation of media is so important

[theafroamericaine]

Soul Food: A Black American Cuisine

Baked macaroni and cheese, candied yams, collard greens, smothered chicken, fried chicken, fried fish, oxtails, ham hocks, okra, jambalaya, dirty rice, gumbo, cornbread, shrimp and grits etc... the possibilities are endless when it comes to down this ethnic cuisine.

Originating in the American South amongst enslaved Africans this cuisine combines West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas. Having to survive off of inadequate provisions and trying to preserve their traditional recipes, enslaved peoples laid the groundwork for soul food. "Soul" is used to describe African-American culture and its' people as a whole, the term gained popularity in the 1960s. Initially soul food was looked down upon and wasn't respected in the North amongst other Black communities it garnered attention due to the Great Migration and has since become a staple in most households. From Sunday church gatherings to backyard barbecues (cookouts) to dinner tables to restaurant menus, this cuisine has become a symbol of cultural pride and perseverance.

Truly food from the soul.

Cornbread, greens, mac and cheese, yams and fried chicken.

Soul food is closely associated with the Southern cuisine of the United States. There are a few different versions of soul food, you can have it Creole, Cajun or Gullah style; just like most dishes it depends on the region.

Jambalaya and Louisiana seafood gumbo

Spaghetti and catfish

"Soul food historian Adrian Miller said the difference between soul food and Southern food is that soul food is intensely seasoned and uses a variety of meats to add flavor to food and adds a variety of spicy and savory sauces. These spicy and savory sauces add robust flavor. This method of preparation was influenced by West African cuisine where West Africans create sauces to add flavor and spice to their food. Black Americans also add sugar to make cornbread, while "white southerners say when you put sugar in corn bread, it becomes cake"[9]. European immigrants seasoned and flavored their food using salt, pepper, and spices. African Americans add more spices, and hot and sweet sauces to increase the spiciness, or heat of their food.[10] Bob Jeffries, the author of Soul Food Cookbook, said the difference between soul food and Southern food is: "While all soul food is Southern food, not all Southern food is soul. Soul food cooking is an example of how really good Southern [African-American] cooks cooked with what they had available to them."[11] - Sourced from Wikipedia

June is National Soul Food Month.

Red Drink aka Liquid Soul

Red drink is derived from West Africa's hibiscus tea called bissap. The plant's flower petals are brewed resulting in a cranberry-red to magenta-purple color, depending upon dried or fresh petals being used. Kola is another one that's brewed using kola nuts. Bissap and red kola nut brew are hospitality drinks that can still be found in West Africa to this day. Jamaicans also have a similar drink called sorrel.

Like with soul food African-Americans created an adaption from their homeland's drink. Red lemonade was popular in the 1870s-1880s, coloring the beverage with fruits like cherries and strawberries; then red soda in the 1890s and finally powdered drinks such as Poly Pop and Kool-Aid in the 1920s. Just like bissap or red kola nut brew, liquid soul is our hospitality drink. Whenever there's a gathering you can almost bet this beverage will be there. It doesn't matter the flavors or drink type just as long as it's red.

"What exactly do I mean by “red drink?” Well, in soul-food culture, red is not just a color, it’s also a flavor. We soul-food aficionados don’t get caught up in describing a drink as “cherry,” “strawberry,” or “tropical punch,” and we don’t say it has “hints of cranberry.” It’s just “red.” Red drinks have such a special cultural resonance that whenever African Americans gather together, there’s usually a red drink in the mix. In short, it’s liquid soul." -Soul Food Scholar, Adrian Miller

Writing this piece has been enlightening and entertaining; my goal is to showcase our ethnic cuisine and give some history behind it for a better understanding for Black History Month. There is so much more to soul food history that I would be here all day if I wrote it out. I also love to find similarities among the diaspora. Our jambalaya rice is similar to West Africa's jollof rice, our gumbo is similar to West Africa's okra soup. Red drink is also referred to as "red drank" in some areas, here in Detroit we prefer Faygo red sodas (pop), but in the South they prefer Big Red. "Red, in many West African cultures, is a symbol of strength, spirituality, and life and death, according to historians."

I would like everyone to list their favorite cultural meal in the comments below and their favorite drink along with it. Thanks for reading!

Source 1. Source 2. Source 3. Source 4. Source 5.

[rotzaprachim]

some smaller bookstores, presses, and museum shops to browse and know about! Most support smaller presses, diverse authors and authors in translation, or fund museums and arts research)

(disclaimer: the only three I’ve personally used are the Yiddish book center, native books, and izzun books! Reccomend all three. Also roughly *U.S. centric & anglophone if people have others from around the world please feel free to add on

birchbark books - Louise Erdrich’s book shop, many indigenous and First Nations books of a wide variety of genres including children’s books, literature, nonfiction, sustainability and foodways, language revitalization, Great Lakes area focus (https://birchbarkbooks.com/)

American Swedish institute museum store - range of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American/midwestern literature, including modern literature in translation, historical documents, knitters guides, cookbooks, children’s books https://shop.asimn.org/collections/books-1

Native books - Hawai’i based bookstore with a focus on native Hawaiian literature, scholarly works about Hawai’i, the pacific, and decolonial theory, ‘ōlelo Hawai’i, and children’s books Collections | Native Books (nativebookshawaii.org)

the Yiddish book center - sales arm of the national Yiddish book center, books on Yiddish learning, books translated from Yiddish, as well as broader selection of books on Jewish history, literature, culture, and coooking https://shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/

ayin press - independent press with a small but growing selection of modern judaica https://shop.ayinpress.org/collections/all?_gl=1kkj2oo_gaMTk4NDI3Mzc1Mi4xNzE1Mzk5ODk3_ga_VSERRBBT6X*MTcxNTM5OTg5Ny4xLjEuMTcxNTM5OTk0NC4wLjAuMA..

Izzun books - printers of modern progressive AND masorti/trad-egal leaning siddurim including a gorgeous egalitarian Sephardic siddur with full Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration

tenement center museum -https://shop.tenement.org/product-category/books/page/11/ range of books on a dizzying range of subjects mostly united by New York City, including the history literature cookbooks and cultures of Black, Jewish, Italian, Puerto Rican, First Nations, and Irish communities

restless books - nonprofit, independent small press focused on books on translation, inter and multicultural exchange, and books by immigrant writers from around the world. Particularly excellent range of translated Latin American literature https://restlessbooks.org/

olniansky press - modern Yiddish language press based in Sweden, translators and publishers esp of modern Yiddish children’s literature https://www.etsy.com/shop/OlnianskyBooks

https://yiddishchildrensbooks.com/ - kinder lokshen, Yiddish children’s books (not so many at the moment but a very cute one about a puffin from faroese!)

inhabit books - Inuit-owned publishing company in Nunavut with an “aim to preserve and promote the stories, knowledge, and talent of Inuit and Northern Canada.” Particularly gorgeous range of children’s books, many available in Inuktitut, English, French, or bilingual editions https://inhabitbooks.com/collections/inhabit-media-books-1

rust belt books - for your Midwest and rust belt bookish needs! Leaning towards academic and progressive political tomes but there are some cookbooks devoted to the art of the Midwest cookie table as well https://beltpublishing.com/

[marzipanandminutiae]

Do you know much about historical cuisine? Saw yet another anime with friends and they went the whole 'modern food always tastes better' bit. I feel tired of the trope and am wondering how different historical cuisine would taste compared to modern times. So anything you happen to know as a historian would be cool to know!

That varies MASSIVELY based on time and location. Like. Much more than fashion does, even, I'd imagine (in a given sub-region- I can talk about Mainstream European and Euro-American Fashion of the 19th CenturyTM but the food was so different in different countries that were dressing the same, if that makes sense? just as an example).

Food is often more globalized in a lot of places nowadays, so the characters might have more diversity of flavors from the regional norm than they're used to. But this could be a good or a bad thing- a woman from 17th-century Japan might love pizza and much sweeter Western pastries, or she might absolutely hate them. Which is not to say regional cuisines haven't evolved, too- a museum here in Boston used to have tastings of 18th-century-style hot chocolate, and it was very different from the modern sort. But that's the largest blanket difference across the globe that I can think of, food-wise.

Not sure what anime this was, so it could have been Japan-specific, but I feel like this gets applied the most to the 19th-mid 20th century UK and United States. The whole Captain America line about "food's better; we used to boil everything," for example, and the general belief that everything was bland mush in those areas until the 1950s and then it was incomprehensible Jell-O mold horrors until approximately the 1980s. And of course, none of that's true- there were plenty of dishes that used spices and different cooking methods, many of which are still popular today. See also: Jonathan Harker, a Normal 1890s Englishman, getting so rhapsodical about paprikahendl that he simply must have the recipe for his fiancee to make. There also WERE bland mushes and fluorescent nightmares, but there's less than ideal food today, as well.

(Note that I'm much less confident talking about the whole English StodgeTM thing as we get into the 20th century. That is outside my history wheelhouse and there's a lot of different stuff embroiled in it relating to class and such that I don't want to talk out my ass about. All I know is that I've seen plenty of recipes from as late as the end of the 19th century, from England and some from urban Scotland if I recall correctly, that made ample use of spices. Nutmeg, mustard, black pepper, rosemary, caraway, and cayenne pepper were especially popular (not all together obviously). There was a belief among the middle and upper classes that strong flavors of garlic and onion were distasteful to ladies, but the fact that cookbooks and such feel the need to mention it implies that those elements WERE being used in cooking generally, in the UK, at that time. So wherever the idea that All British Food Is Beige And Tasteless came from, it wasn't mainstream late Victorian cooking for adults as far as I can tell)

(They gave kids a fair amount of the beige and tasteless because they believed their digestive systems couldn't handle strongly-flavored- okay now I'm getting off topic. Read Ruth Goodman's "How To Be A Victorian." Anyway!)

tl;dr- The answer to "is modern food better?" is "that's literally impossible to answer as a blanket statement, since it's massively dependent on the character's original time, place, social status, and personal taste- and where they end up in the present, of course."

Now, I do agree that the trope is annoying the same way every single princess being totally shocked and appalled when her marriage is arranged gets annoying- not because it can't be true based on history and human behavior, but because fiction treats it as some kind of universal precept. Mix it up a little sometimes! Have a Regency character who comes to the present, finds out that her favorite local cheese isn't being made anymore, and loses her entire mind!

[alexanderwales]

When my wife and I took our trip to South Korea, one of my goals was to try a lot of foods. I had a whole long list, compiled as I'd watched some Korean documentaries and food shows, and I managed to eat almost all of them.

Then, when we came home, I set to work recreating as much as I could, trying to get the flavors how I remembered them, working from a Korean cookbook, and making substitutions where I had to, mostly due to a lack of specific fruits and vegetables. Perilla leaves are virtually impossible to find where I live, and you can get daikon radishes but not Korean radishes, and I would prefer to make things "correctly" before I start doing Americanized versions.

And tonight, two years later, I've finally gotten around to making my second-to-last dish on the list, jajangmyeon (자장면), a relatively simple sauce-and-noodle dish.

It's pork, veggies, and black bean paste that's black as tar. It's amazing, lots of salt and umami, not too tough to make, and I think my recreation is probably as close as I can be expected to get. I do wish it had been more black though, and I didn't have cucumber to garnish, plus the noodles I used weren't quite right, but such is life in the kitchen.

I have two cultural notes about this dish.

First, the spelling is either jjajangmyeon (짜장면) or jajangmyeon (자장면), and this is apparently somewhat contentious. This is actually a Korean Chinese dish that was originally brought over by Chinese immigrants, and has only really been around for something like seventy-five years, having been popularized after the Korean War. Wikipedia lists the difference in IPA as "[tɕa.dʑaŋ.mjʌn]" vs "[t͈ɕa.dʑaŋ.mjʌn]" and for the life of me I cannot tell what's even theoretically supposed to be the difference between the two. Maangchi actually has a video where she writes it both ways and says "see? same!" so whatever. It's the kind of thing that drove me a little nuts, because I wasn't sure which spelling was correct, but it turns out that this is just one of those transliteration issues where both are kind of right and if the letters are supposed to represent sounds, they're nearly indistinguishable.

Second, South Korea has Valentine's Day on February 14th, when women are supposed to give men gifts like chocolate or otherwise profess interest, then has White Day on March 14th, when men are supposed to "pay back" the women for Valentine's Day. But in South Korea they also celebrate Black Day, which is April 14th, and if you didn't get a gift on either of the two previous holidays, you dress up in black and commiserate with the other single people while eating some black food. The staple food is jajangmyeon, which is as black a main dish as you can get without adding squid ink or activated charcoal.

[ashleybenlove]

Here's a collection of interviews with Mason and Nico from UK Sources. Some of them are basically them playing games lol.

And I'm just gonna put them under a read more so it's not a long post.

Do not come onto this post with negativity/criticism/salt of any kind for the live action movie. It is unwelcome, rude, and intrusive. You will be blocked.

Buzzfeed UK

Highlights:

Mason’s favorite fast food spot is Cane’s (presumably Raising Canes? Which interesting take.)

Mason was apparently singing Bet On It from High School Musical 2. Which, fair. I’d love to see that.

Mason gets a bleep for saying “shit” (they were talking about reality tv).

He apparently Googled “What time is it in Texas” recently lol.

Mason’s not a fan of snakes.

Reference to the Britney Spears Snake performance. An event neither of them were alive for.

MTV UK

Highlights

Did not know who Ethan Hawke was until AFTER he filmed The Black Phone.

Spoilers for The Last Of Us season 2.

Mason’s favorite animated movie other than HTTYD: Hercules (he calls it “older” which wow, I guess it is for his age-range)

Nico’s animated crush was on Nick Wilde from Zootopia (or the weird British way they say it). The Lion King gets name dropped. Mason? Mrs. Incredible/Helen Parr. They’re reminded of Mirage, and they both agree, and Mason gets a bleep here lol.

BBC Radio 1

Highlights

Nico tells a story that her older sister (24) saw a bus with Nico and Mason’s pictures on it, chased it down, took a picture of it, and burst into tears.

The “useless reptile” line definitely made it in.

Nico fell over during a tracking shot in a forest lol.

She recounts falling over and Gabriel (Howell, Snotlout) being like “That was really dumb.” Lol.   

VT

Highlights

They’re asked about judging/don’t judging.

One question is about Stoick being attractive, which weird question to ask… “Don’t talk about my dad that way.” – Mason.

Mason brings up being PR trained lol. (And yet, he’s swearing lollll)

Nico: “So the plane can land, the pilot can land the plane, and you can’t clap. But the movie can end, and you have to clap?”

Mason doesn’t judge well-done steak, and uses being from Texas as the reason. He gets rare. “The more juice, the more blood, the better.” Nico stops what she’s saying, says “ew” and continues her train of thought.

Metro

Highlights

Nico does a funny little impression of him lol with like an American accent.

“Side part gives him confidence.”

Journo: I feel like we haven’t seen enough side parts recently. Mason: I think we have.

Mason wants a dragon that can cook.

Nico, listening to Mason talk about that: “That wasn’t the message of this movie at all.”

Mason says Toothless need a cookbook.

Mason brings up the Destiny’s Child thing from a whole other interview.

Mason would invent teleportation.

Nico says time travel but realizes meddling with time is not good.

[mariacallous]

Apples dipped in honey and honey cakes are popular across the Jewish world around Rosh Hashanah. But if you grew up in Israel, you most likely came across a unique variation of honey treats: duvshaniyot. These dense, dark, round honey cookies are a must in many families’ High Holidays nosh rotation.

The modest duvshaniyot (their name derives from the Hebrew word dvash, meaning honey) seem to have been part of the Israeli repertoire forever and you can find them on the cookie shelves in every supermarket in the country. They are cheap, pareve and last forever, so no wonder they have become a regular for Rosh Hashanah afternoon tea, for breaking the fast on Yom Kippur, and for dipping in a cold glass of milk in the sukkah. But these unassuming cookies hold a long history, as most Jewish and Israeli dishes do. 

Duvshaniyot are the Israeli adaptation of a popular Russian cookie called pryaniki. Dating back to medieval Russia, pryaniki were made with honey, rye flour and berry juice, and were known simply as “honey bread.” Starting around the 12th or 13th centuries, when Russia started opening up to imports from the Middle East and India, spices and dried fruit were added to the cookie. In different regions throughout Russia, people experimented with new additions to this cookie, from jam filling to a later invention of sweetened condensed milk. Some versions were imprinted using delicate wooden forms, and some were simply rolled by hand and dipped in sugar glaze — the same version that’s still popular in Israel today.

People sometimes confuse pryaniki with German lebkuchen (aka gingerbread cookies), but it is rare to see ginger added to these classic Russian cookies, and even lebkuchen don’t always have ginger in them. Traditionally, pryaniki were spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, and even black pepper and cumin. In fact, their name, pryaniki, comes from the Russian word for spiced, pryanik.

Different versions of pryaniki can be found around Eastern Europe, like piernik in Poland and lect cookies in Slovenia, which are heart-shaped, painted red and artfully decorated with colorful icing. These Eastern European versions were traditionally served around Christmas, but were adapted by Jews for their own holidays, mainly Rosh Hashanah, for the use of the symbolic honey.

From Eastern Europe, the little honey cookie made its way to Israel and the United States. “The Settlement Cook Book,” a classic 1901 American Jewish cookbook by Lizzie Black Kander, includes two versions of lebkuchen, both with citrus and almonds, but no ginger. Even more interesting, is that neither include honey, but instead call for brown sugar or molasses.

An early Israeli cookbook, “Folklore Cookbook” by Molly Bar-David, has recipes for honey cookies that are similar to pryaniki and for lebkuchen. Bar-David suggests adding ginger to the honey cookies and calls for margarine instead of butter, maybe to keep the cookies pareve.

Today, Israeli manufacturers of duvshaniyot must be doing a good job, as I notice the same Israeli brand cookies at many Russian stores in the United States. But maybe because duvshaniyot are readily available in every supermarket, most Israelis do not prepare them at home. That’s a shame, because as is the case with most baked goods, homemade is better. And when the recipe is as easy as the one below, there’s no reason not to.

You can add any of the classic gingerbread cookie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, clove, and even black pepper and cumin) as well as cocoa powder, strong coffee or chopped chocolate. Candied citrus peel or any tart candied fruit, as well as citrus zest. You can try to replace some of the flour with rye flour to be closer to the original Russian version, or replace some of the flour with almond meal and make it closer to the German lebkuchen. It’s up to you.

Some recipes, including centuries-old recipes, suggest letting the dough rest for a few hours and up to a week before baking the cookies. This will deepen its flavors and will make rolling the dough easier. But even if you bake it right away, the cookies will improve with time, so I suggest baking them at least two days before serving. You can easily prepare them the week before Rosh Hashanah and then serve them for break the fast on Yom Kippur.

Notes:

The cookie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator, or up to overnight.

The cookies will improve with time, so I suggest baking them at least two days before serving, though you can keep them in a sealed container at room temperature up to a month.

[creauxbarre]

A delicious soup made with Rancho Gordo's moro beans! The beans and the recipe were included in the Q1 Bean Club box. I saved a couple ladle-fuls of beans before blending because I think the texture is a little more interesting that way. Topped with queso fresco and served with homemade totopos. Wish I'd had some lime to squeeze on top, but it was still great!

[Text of RG newsletter]

Moro were a long sought-after bean from Mexico. I just loved the way they looked and tasted so much that I knew we had to figure out how to get them into the U.S. Luckily they're produced right in Hidalgo, where our partners at Xoxoc are based, and we have a somewhat steady supply. You can substitute them with black beans but the Moro have a little something extra. A firmer texture and an out-of-this-world bean broth. My friend Denise (https://www.instagram.com/hechovistocomido) studies old Mexican cookbooks and adapts the recipes to contemporary kitchens, without compromising the original intent. I've had some old Mexican books over the years but she's reminded me how valuable they are and they're still useful. This recipe is simple but with our beans and good longaniza, you'll have a feast. A lot of Americans use the word "chorizo" when they really mean longaniza. A simple pork sausage would be an adequate substitute, but avoid Spanish chorizo, which is cured and hard. I'd also avoid Italian sausages with a distinct fennel seed flavor. You could ignore me and make a delicious dish, it just might be off. This recipe is from the Frijoles section of the book Platillos Populares Mexicanos by Josefina Velasquez de Leon.

Sopa de Frijol con Longaniza

2 cups cooked Rancho Gordo Moro beans, drained, plus 6 cups bean broth (or a combination of bean broth and chicken or vegetable stock)

2 roma tomatoes

1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped

5 tablespoons olive oil

3 corn tortillas, cut into strips

Salt to taste

1 pound good-quality Mexican longaniza (see note above), casing removed

Crumbled Mexican cotija cheese for serving

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Heat a nonstick skillet or comal over medium-high heat. Place the tomatoes on the skillet and cook, turning occasionally with tongs, until charred on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the tomatoes from the pan and transfer to a blender or food processor, along with the onion; puree until smooth. Heat a heavy-bottomed pot (such as a Dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat until shimmering. Add the tortilla strips and fry, stirring, until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. In the same pot, add the remaining oil, and heat over medium heat. Add the longaniza and cook, stirring, until cooked through and slightly crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the longaniza using a slotted spoon; set aside. To the pot with the remaining longaniza grease, add the tomato onion mixture. Cook until the mixture reduces to a thicker consistency, about 8 minutes. In the blender, combine the beans and the 6 cups of bean broth and puree until smooth. Add to the pot with the tomato mixture. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer and cook until it reaches a creamy consistency, about 10 minutes. Taste and add salt if needed. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the longaniza and tortilla strips. Serve the soup in bowls topped with cotija cheese.

[bingbopboombam]

I love how Ryan Coogler honors the almost forgotten American trope that vampires are often associated with the Confederacy/plantation slave owners/those that fought to keep Black people enslaved in the deep South. Also see my post that mentions how White American slave owners actually had cannibal cookbooks because they ate the very Black people they treated like farm animals hence why vampire is the synonym in US folklore.

Its why the Klansmen and Remmick are seen as two sides of the same coin wanting to exploit Smoke, Stack, Sammie and the others at the juke joint for personal gains. Hogwood got paid by the twins, but it wasn't enough, he planned on slaughtering everybody at the juke joint because why not - they aren't White they're Black or affiliated with Black people (the Chows and Mary)

Remmick believes that just because he experienced colonization that he can relate to Sammie. What the Irish and Black people went through is similar, but it is not the same. Remmick has the privilege to walk among his oppressors' most likely descendants being the Klan couple and convince them to hear him out and help him. A Black person could never have that opportunity or that grace given to him by Klansmen in the way that Remmick got. Doesn't matter that Remmick played the Klan couple for fools with slick words. If Sammie or anyone else Black would've went to that house, the Klans couple would shoot them dead no questions asked.

And even though Remmick doesn't claim to be racist, he still used racism to his advantage by lying and perpetuating harmful stereotypes on the Choctaw. A common falsehood White American racists use against other non-White people is to claim how violent Black people or "insert anyone else who's other like the Choctaw" are which have caused White mobs to lynch. These normalized racist claims and beliefs is how people like Delta Slim's friend get lynched in the train station with his manhood cut off.

[pagan-stitches]

Moravský Vrabec — Moravian Sparrows

Chunks of pork spiced with caraway, salt, pepper and slices of garlic is roasted on a bed of onions. Water is slowly added during cooking and once the meat is removed the juices are thickened into gravy. It is served with a sweet and sour cabbage dish and potato dumplings. Since I had made hubník earlier in the day and already had a starch I didn’t make the dumplings.

Moravian sparrows is a dish from south Moravia where my great-grandparents are from and is considered a recipe that every family should know.

I made a small side of black eyed peas since I’m in the American south and some yummy, canned, jellied cranberry sauce because it was in the pantry and I hadn’t had any yet this holiday season.

In the American south eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is said to bring good luck. The swelling of the peas signifies prosperity. Cooked with pork, because pigs root forward, and served with greens, symbolizing money.

I considered the cabbage close enough to greens that the meal hit everything.

In Czechia pork was eaten on New Year’s Day because the pig “digs forward” with its snout, which symbolized progress. On the other hand, poultry and fish were taboo because “luck would fly away” or “swim away”.

Czechs traditionally eat lentils on January 1, the New Year. There’s a saying: how many lentils you eat is how much money you’ll have throughout the year. They should bring you luck in monetary dealings, and the lentils symbolize coins. I considered the black eyed peas a reasonable substitute!

The recipe I use is from Czech-American TV:

https://catvusa.com/czech-cookbook/main-dishes/moravian-pork-sparrow-cabbage-dumplings/

Note: I looked at some other recipes for the sparrows just to see what was out there and it reminded me that many recipes mistakenly translate caraway as cumin. If a Czech recipe say cumin it is really caraway!!!

[indecisiveavocado]

my long overdue intro post

I post mostly about Jewish stuff, including antisemitism and Israel. Occasionally other things. Didn't mean to, just sort of spiraled.

Waiting for my Jewish space laser.

Goyim welcome but may be perplexed.

About me (not Judaism/Israel related)

She/they. Autistic. Neurodivergent. Sadly, American. Anxious. Not good at deciding things.

About me (Judaism/Israel related)

Zionist, in the sense of "Jews should have a state roughly where it is now with undefined borders". Ashkenazi. Reform Jew hovering near agnostic/athiest/ignostic. ✡️, obviously. Stands with Israelis; does not stand with Israel's government. Fuck Bibi.

slogans & such

bring them home now. am yisrael chai! we will dance again. we will outlive them.

woman, life, freedom / زن، زندگی، آزادی. biji kurdistan.

nothing about us without us. healthcare is a human right.

childless cat lady. black lives matter. believe women. defund the police. protect trans kids.

We are the 99 percent. (hummed) look for the union label

slava ukraini!

free uyghurs. free rohingya. free everyone.

Other people's good posts

Oh shit, how did I forget to add this one? Crucial context on Israel, Palestine, Judaism, etc.

https://www.tumblr.com/the-library-alcove/768325306084999168/so-a-while-back-a-fairly-left-wing-friend-of-mine: Left-wing Shoah denial

https://www.tumblr.com/greco-roman-jewess/773850159100624896/being-a-jew-studying-preholocaust-european-jewish: We got the bad ending

https://www.tumblr.com/a-very-tired-jew/778463277637304320: Columbia University antisemitism report

https://www.tumblr.com/unsolicited-opinions/777853546362290176: They went to Israel because it's all there was; musings on Zionism, Israel, etc

https://www.tumblr.com/fromchaostocosmos/778198867204325376/could-you-please-explain-to-me-how-and-why-exactly: gender roles in Judaism, particularly for Jewish men

https://www.tumblr.com/pagecommando/783227247604744192: jews as a rorscharch test

https://www.tumblr.com/odakota-rose/738887554804383744/people-with-low-spoons-someone-just-recommended: The -- free! -- "Sad Bastard Cookbook". Despite the name it's also great if you have other reasons for low spoons (or executive dysfunction)

https://www.tumblr.com/self-care-club/757577148611674112/alexithymia-sucks-this-chart-helps: Fun fact: ~10 percent of people have alexithymia! If you're one of them, try this. It's hard to pinpoint the exact thing but it can get you a vague word. Sadly it doesn't do much for poor interoception (or the fact that Google's dictionary apparently doesn't recognize the word interoception), but it's a start!

https://www.tumblr.com/swarm-of-bees-in-a-trenchcoat/758045266151653376/dealing-with-executive-dysfunction-a-masterpost Executive dysfunction masterpost

https://www.tumblr.com/the-library-alcove/785513502869798912: Hamasnik bingo card, with explanations.

https://www.tumblr.com/unsolicited-opinions/785898041533153280/major-armed-conflicts-between-hamas-and-israel: How intersectionality got twisted into something it wasn't supposed to be

Sideblogs:

@zionism-is-antisemitism, @zionism--is--antisemitism, @zionismisantisemitism: to keep antisemites from getting to it, I don't plan on posting much/at all.

@not-at-all-antisemitic: Haven't quite figured this one out yet. Maybe it'll be an archive.

Procedures & clarfications:

Names of antisemites might not be censored. Depends on my mood.

Many posts will be archived on my end (eg with screenshots)

I may direct you to/quote older posts. If you don't want that to happen, maybe be originally antisemitic.

Genuine questions about Judaism, Israel, etc are welcome! I leave it to you to know if it's genuine.

I will try to flag posts with trigger warnings etc but I may miss some.

If you say something where you are clearly using a dogwhistle for Jew, I will reply as if you said Jew.

Common pitfalls in ad hominems

To save you the trouble of embarrassingly referring to me as one thing only to be informed I am another, here are some not-really-negative things you can slander me with and some common pitfalls when you are ad homineming me.

I:

am Zionist

am Jewish

American, unfortunately. (Emigrating is hard for disabled people, most countries with actual healthcare systems won't accept me and for some reason I don't think making aliyah will make them shut up?)

stand with Israel (mostly)

I am not:

Israeli (or other implications, such as being an Israeli citizen, having any extra influence on Israeli politics, etc). I have never been to Israel.

a Khazar

a Nazi (well, I suppose I might be...as usual, I'd like a definition of how I have in any way, shape, or form expressed support or tolerance of the actions or ideology of the Nazis)

In Memory

Update, February 20, 2025: Kfir, Ariel, and Shiri Bibas are dead.

Kfir was nine months when he was kidnapped. Depending on how old he was when he died, he may have spent most of his life in captivity. He was a baby who had an infectious laugh and had just started crawling. He was always smiling. He didn't even have teeth yet.

Ariel was four, maybe five. He was full of energy and liked Batman, toy cars and tractors, and "anything with wheels and a motor".

Shiri was in her thirties. Her name meant "my song". There's something poetic about that, somewhere.

Even-Longer-Overdue Changelog

Watch me fail to update this when I make changes.

June 19, 2025: We will outlive them.

June 9, 2025 (dang I did not realize how often I update this): Added intersectionality thing

June 6, 2025: Deleted international politics; added hamasnik bingo card

May 22, 2025: Added the crucial context post

May 12, 2025: executive dysfunction masterpost added. will forget about it because i have bad executive function; jews as rorscarch test or however the fuck you spell it

May 8, 2025: Added international politics section; moved Kfir/Shiri/Ariel memorial to the end; added slogans; changed introduction.

April 2, 2025: Added Sad Bastard Cookbook and alexithymia chart, minor formatting changes, created this changelog.

(Retroactive) Feb. 20, 2025: Update on Ariel and Kfir.

(Retroactive) Dec. 17, 2024 -- Created this post