CONVERGENT CUISINES: COMMONALITIES ACROSS DIASPORIC TRADITIONS

Anna Ansari

Anna Ansari is an Iranian-American food writer and former international trade attorney whose writing explores the intersections of food, history, migration, and the everyday act of cooking. Her acclaimed debut cookbook, Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey from Baku to Beijing, blends recipes with travel, family stories, and cultural history, exploring how ingredients move, settle, and transform across borders. With academic training in Asian and Middle Eastern studies, Anna lives in London, England with her husband and son, and believes deeply in the power of the home kitchen to tell global as well as personal stories.

Anna Ansari

Anna Ansari is an Iranian-American food writer and former international trade attorney whose writing explores the intersections of food, history, migration, and the everyday act of cooking. Her acclaimed debut cookbook, Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey from Baku to Beijing, blends recipes with travel, family stories, and cultural history, exploring how ingredients move, settle, and transform across borders. With academic training in Asian and Middle Eastern studies, Anna lives in London, England with her husband and son, and believes deeply in the power of the home kitchen to tell global as well as personal stories.

Anna Ansari

Anna Ansari is an Iranian-American food writer and former international trade attorney whose writing explores the intersections of food, history, migration, and the everyday act of cooking. Her acclaimed debut cookbook, Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey from Baku to Beijing, blends recipes with travel, family stories, and cultural history, exploring how ingredients move, settle, and transform across borders. With academic training in Asian and Middle Eastern studies, Anna lives in London, England with her husband and son, and believes deeply in the power of the home kitchen to tell global as well as personal stories.

Polina Chesnakova

Polina Chesnakova was born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from the country of Georgia. She was raised in a tight-knit Rhode Island community of refugees from all over the former Soviet Union, and has cooked and baked in a handful of professional kitchens. She’s had her blog (now newsletter) Chesnok since 2015, and her work has been published in Saveur, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and more. She has written two cookbooks—Hot Cheese and Everyday Cake— in addition to her latest, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. She lives in Providence with her husband, Lee, and two children.

Polina Chesnakova

Polina Chesnakova was born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from the country of Georgia. She was raised in a tight-knit Rhode Island community of refugees from all over the former Soviet Union, and has cooked and baked in a handful of professional kitchens. She’s had her blog (now newsletter) Chesnok since 2015, and her work has been published in Saveur, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and more. She has written two cookbooks—Hot Cheese and Everyday Cake— in addition to her latest, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. She lives in Providence with her husband, Lee, and two children.

Polina Chesnakova

Polina Chesnakova was born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from the country of Georgia. She was raised in a tight-knit Rhode Island community of refugees from all over the former Soviet Union, and has cooked and baked in a handful of professional kitchens. She’s had her blog (now newsletter) Chesnok since 2015, and her work has been published in Saveur, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and more. She has written two cookbooks—Hot Cheese and Everyday Cake— in addition to her latest, Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. She lives in Providence with her husband, Lee, and two children.

Lisbeth Pacheco

Lisbeth Pacheco is the co-founder of Ethos Coffee Roasters, a craft roastery based in Lakeland, FL, on a mission to champion the best coffees from small farmers since 2016. Every coffee is sourced intentionally, and features world-class quality and long-term relationships that change lives. Every single order is lovingly packed and shipped within hours of roasting, always seeking to offer unrivaled quality, freshness, impact, and value for those who want to brew both a better cup, and a better world. Learn more at ethosroasters.com and follow them on IG @ethosroasters

Lisbeth Pacheco

Lisbeth Pacheco is the co-founder of Ethos Coffee Roasters, a craft roastery based in Lakeland, FL, on a mission to champion the best coffees from small farmers since 2016. Every coffee is sourced intentionally, and features world-class quality and long-term relationships that change lives. Every single order is lovingly packed and shipped within hours of roasting, always seeking to offer unrivaled quality, freshness, impact, and value for those who want to brew both a better cup, and a better world. Learn more at ethosroasters.com and follow them on IG @ethosroasters

Lisbeth Pacheco

Lisbeth Pacheco is the co-founder of Ethos Coffee Roasters, a craft roastery based in Lakeland, FL, on a mission to champion the best coffees from small farmers since 2016. Every coffee is sourced intentionally, and features world-class quality and long-term relationships that change lives. Every single order is lovingly packed and shipped within hours of roasting, always seeking to offer unrivaled quality, freshness, impact, and value for those who want to brew both a better cup, and a better world. Learn more at ethosroasters.com and follow them on IG @ethosroasters

Sam Garwin

GreenWave works to replicate and scale regenerative ocean farming – a zero-input kelp farming model that breathes life back into our oceans. Through farmer-forward training and support, climate subsidies, and infrastructure and market development, GreenWave partners with coastal communities across North America to create a thriving blue economy. GreenWave has been featured in 60 Minutes, CNN, the BBC, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine, and is the winner of the 2021 Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize.

Sam Garwin

GreenWave works to replicate and scale regenerative ocean farming – a zero-input kelp farming model that breathes life back into our oceans. Through farmer-forward training and support, climate subsidies, and infrastructure and market development, GreenWave partners with coastal communities across North America to create a thriving blue economy. GreenWave has been featured in 60 Minutes, CNN, the BBC, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine, and is the winner of the 2021 Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize.

Sam Garwin

GreenWave works to replicate and scale regenerative ocean farming – a zero-input kelp farming model that breathes life back into our oceans. Through farmer-forward training and support, climate subsidies, and infrastructure and market development, GreenWave partners with coastal communities across North America to create a thriving blue economy. GreenWave has been featured in 60 Minutes, CNN, the BBC, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine, and is the winner of the 2021 Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize.

June Russell

June Russell is the Director of the Grains and Staples program at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. June has acted as a value chain coordinator and strategist for the revival of grains, beans and other crops in the Northeast for more than two decades.

June previously spent 17 years with GrowNYC where she spearheaded GrowNYC Grains, an initiative begun in 2007 that utilized a multi-sector strategy to develop a market for regional grains. The initiative has supported the development of dozens of regionally adapted small grain varieties, including dry beans and other staple crops that have come to the consumer market in the Northeast. The initiative has helped to provide farmers with opportunities to diversify crops, rural economies to invest in infrastructure and jobs, and to strengthen our regional food system.

In her role at Glynwood, she continues to work with stakeholders to build markets for emerging crops in tandem with climate adaptation strategies that improve our soils, our health and our communities.

June Russell

June Russell is the Director of the Grains and Staples program at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. June has acted as a value chain coordinator and strategist for the revival of grains, beans and other crops in the Northeast for more than two decades.

June previously spent 17 years with GrowNYC where she spearheaded GrowNYC Grains, an initiative begun in 2007 that utilized a multi-sector strategy to develop a market for regional grains. The initiative has supported the development of dozens of regionally adapted small grain varieties, including dry beans and other staple crops that have come to the consumer market in the Northeast. The initiative has helped to provide farmers with opportunities to diversify crops, rural economies to invest in infrastructure and jobs, and to strengthen our regional food system.

In her role at Glynwood, she continues to work with stakeholders to build markets for emerging crops in tandem with climate adaptation strategies that improve our soils, our health and our communities.

June Russell

June Russell is the Director of the Grains and Staples program at the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. June has acted as a value chain coordinator and strategist for the revival of grains, beans and other crops in the Northeast for more than two decades.

June previously spent 17 years with GrowNYC where she spearheaded GrowNYC Grains, an initiative begun in 2007 that utilized a multi-sector strategy to develop a market for regional grains. The initiative has supported the development of dozens of regionally adapted small grain varieties, including dry beans and other staple crops that have come to the consumer market in the Northeast. The initiative has helped to provide farmers with opportunities to diversify crops, rural economies to invest in infrastructure and jobs, and to strengthen our regional food system.

In her role at Glynwood, she continues to work with stakeholders to build markets for emerging crops in tandem with climate adaptation strategies that improve our soils, our health and our communities.

CONVERGENT CUISINES: COMMONALITIES ACROSS DIASPORIC TRADITIONS