Join MOFAD for an enlightening and lively conversation with acclaimed food writers Anna Ansari and Polina Chesnakova as they explore the ways in which disaporic identity, memory, and migration shape modern cooking and kitchens. Drawing on shared dishes like dumplings, kebab, chicken tabaka, scrambled eggs with tomato, kompot, and Salad Olivier, Polina and Anna will discuss how their culinary traditions have overlapped, diverged, and reinvented themselves across time and geography. From immigrant kitchens brimming with both inherited recipes and distinctly American foods—think Capri Suns, hot dogs, Hamburger Helper and Shirley Temples—to questions of authenticity and nostalgia, the conversation will explore what these blended tables reveal about modern American food culture and writing. Together, Ansari and Chesnakova reflect on why these stories are especially compelling now, not just for them as food writers, but in the context of the cultural currents shaping the present moment.

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