Thank you to everyone who noticed that Dinner: A Love Story was down all day Friday. It was frustrating, but the sheer number of โI canโt log on!โ messages I received through social media channels warmed my heart. (They read me! They really do!) In addition to the nightmarishly long phone conversations I had to have with my web host, I was forced to scrap my weekly round-up (โthe reading & eatingโ series) even though it was all ready to go. I would just run that round-up today, but given the events of the weekend, I think you probably know that I canโt bring myself to head straight into cheese graters and Super Bowl menus. Like many of you, Iโm disgusted by the Muslim Ban, an executive order that has diminished this country and all we stand for with the stroke of a pen. The outpouring of action โ spontaneous rallies, heroicย judgesย and volunteer lawyers,ย boycotts, marches, postcard-writing mania โ has been inspiring, but I fear we have a long road ahead of us. So before I get back to regularly scheduled programming, Iโd like to follow the lead of two of my favorite food writers,ย Luisa Weissย and Julia Turshenย byย giving away free books*ย to the first ten people who donateย $100 or more to the ACLU. (Forward your receipt to jenny AT dinneralovestory DOT com and tell me which book youโd like. *You can choose not justย mine, butย Luisaโs,ย Juliaโsย or the book ofย any other author or bloggerย who would like to join forces with us.)
Iโll post the weekly round-up in the next few days, but please take a minute to read this storyย โA Clarifying Moment in American History,โย written by a prominent conservative, paying careful attention to the line about educating our children.
UPDATE: You guys are amazing. The ten books (fourteen actually, it was too close to call) are spoken for. But please continue to donate and forward me your ACLU receipts, if only so my faith in the goodness of this country stays strong. Thank you Katharine, Rachael, Rebecca O, Jay, Victoria, Margaret, Suzette, Jennifer, Rebecca C., Erica, Marian, Elise, Kim, and Tiffany.
NOTE
I want to acknowledge the readers who have told me in no uncertain terms that they come to this blog for recipes and dinner strategies and resent the fact that from time to time I use Dinner: A Love Story as a political platform. I hear you on that, and I understand the frustration. But Iโd like to point out that if you click on the โAboutโ section on the top of my home page, itโs been clear from the beginning that I envisioned this space as not only a forum to discuss whatโs for dinner, but also as a place to discuss whatโs happening around the dinner table. In the past seven years, Iโve posted too many chicken recipes to count, but Iโve also written about how to have meaningful conversations over a shared meal; how to raise compassionate kids; how to raise girls with healthy body images; how technology affects our childrensโ development; how to teach them about empathy and gratitude; where we are traveling; what music we are listening to; and close to a hundred posts about what books we are loving โ fiction, nonfiction, kids, YA, adult โ which, you might be surprised to hear, are perennially the most popular/most shared/most visited posts on DALS. (More popular than even Pork Ragu!) Do politics fit in with this list? You might not think so. A year ago, I wouldnโt have thought so. But I hope you understand, given the extraordinary circumstances of this administration, that it has started to feel disingenuous, almost irresponsibleย to write only about pork chops and apple pies without acknowledging a conversation that started 18 months ago at our dinner table (overlapping with many of the topics I hit on above) and shows no sign of stopping.
Lastly, I hope Iโm not naive in believing that we are in a unique position on this blog. I think itโs fair to assume every person reading Dinner: A Love Story wants what is best for their families and their childrensโ futures. Letโs remember that we have more in common than we donโt, and try to prove my tagline correct as we head into the next few tumultuous years: It all begins at the family table.
Reminder: I welcome reactions from every side here, but the same rule applies as always: If you strongly disagree with me, know that I strongly respect your right to disagree, but you must pretend you are at my dinner table sitting across from me when you post your comment. This corner of the Internet is not the Wild West. I will not approve comments that are flagrantly mean-spirited or that do not advance the conversation in a constructive way.
I wanted to let you know that I have been reading your blog for several years now and love the recipes, and your weekly roundup. Your recent political posts make me like you more. Possibly because I agree with you but also I think because I donโt have children yet and have always been heart warmed at how well it seems you are raising 2 strong young ladies. I also think itโs important to use your platform for good, which you are. I donโt even see this issue as political; itโs simple human rights and decency. thank you for speaking out, and know that you are appreciated. I canโt imagine itโs easy to speak your mind on a public platform with varying beliefs.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. As a secular muslim immigrant who chose to adopt this country, I have never felt in my 13 years in the US but pride, love and gratitude for this new land I now call home. It was not until this past week with the actions of this administration that I felt for the first time like an outsider, like someone does not want me to belong. And I refuse to feel so! When my 7 year old boy cried when Hillary lost, I told him DJT is now your President and we need to be open-minded and give him a chance to unite and lead. Well, i am so sorry that this has not been the case. I applaud you and others for your stance and position. On my side, I will continue to face hatred with love, bigotry with inclusion, ignorance with knowledge hoping that the arc of history quickly bends towards justice for all.
Yes, yes, and yes. I canโt imagine pretending that none of this (gestures toward the White House) is happening. Itโs certainly a topic around our table and I appreciate your voice. Thank you.
Tremendous gratitudeโฆ Thank you Jenny
Loved this! Thank you. Too many of my favorite blogs have been silent on whatโs happening and itโs just frustrating. I just canโt pretend that everything is normal and not acknowledge the anxiety that so many of us are feeling. Thank you for not ignoring it.
Jenny, Iโve loved your blog for years! Thank you for all you do and how you inspire us to keep at it in the kitchen day after day, year after year. And while I generally enjoy hearing your take on everything, and I too am very disappointed in our countryโs choice of president (and Iโm a Republican!), sometimes the political stuff is just hard, on every levelโฆto talk about, to listen to, to think about. Iโve been trying for my whole adult life to understand the pro-choice position and it continues to break my heart and feel so wrong, so when I see you and your beautiful girls holding a march sign that heralds that choice, it hurts. Of course, I fully know that you are entitled to your beliefs, and your right to post themโฆbut yet it hurts. Just like I know that all those who voted for Trump are totally within their rights to do soโฆbut yet it hurts. I guess what Iโm trying to say is that so many of these things are so raw for so many of us. Some of us cry for the innocent unborn, some of us cry for the plight of the immigrants, some of us cry for the criminals on death row. And itโs hard to know that someone we โvisitโ over and over again (you!) and we start to think of as a friend, could have views that we find so deeply disturbing.
Linda, I appreciated your comment. I have felt similar despair, although I see the issue you care about very differently. I agree that it hurts not to be understood, and also to see that someone you know does not value something you find obvious and important. I do not understand how many other Americans do not see the threat we are currently facing with our president. My only thought is that the answer is in turning towards one another even when you might want to turn away, and making an effort to see where there are underlying areas of commonality. Sometimes it seems insurmountable, but it also seems like the only real possibility.
I already love you, your family, and this blog. This just cements it further. Keep on being you and posting whatever is on your heart, whether thatโs food, raising children, or the craziness that is politics right now. I feel like itโs all-encompassing right now and not speaking to it would just be inauthentic. <3 <3 <3
I love you, I love this site, and love that you take true ownership of your little piece of the Internet.
Jenny, thank you so much for this. Iโm a regular reader for the dinner inspiration, but also (especially!) for the beyond-dinner inspiration.
I appreciate your addressing this. I am actually unsubscribing from a few lifestyle blogs which are first-person voice that seem tone deaf on these issues and go cheerfully on without acknowledging the tremendous upheaval of the last 10 days. We need both: Food for the belly as well as food for the soul.
Thank you.
Once again, Jenny โ we follow you because you are so much more than โjust another food bloggerโ. You help us clarify our own thoughts, as we watch you and your family make sense of what is happening in your country and beyond. It troubles me that this is referred to, by some of your readers, as a โplatformโ โ a term which makes this difficult and honest process seem cynical and calculated. It is surely a forum, rather than a platform โ and I am glad that you are more confidently, and assertively, stepping into it as a public blogger, even if it costs you some readers.
You go, girl. All are accepted at this dinner table.
Thanks for speaking out! I love that so many bloggers that I follow are not normalizing what is going on. It affects families and it affects all of us.
Hi Jenny. I love your website and your culinary creations โ but I love more how youโre sticking to your guns and continuing to voice your fears and opposition to the administrationโs terrible, racist choices. Chicken and politics are not mutually exclusive! We need every kind, smart, reasonable American weโve got now, and as a semi-public figure you have a terrific platform to remind us of our democratic, inclusive roots whilst we slice and dice our suppers. Keep on keeping on! โ Rebecca
Love DALS. I work as a therapist & my clients are all having a difficult time managing fears in response to this administration. These topics are everywhere, I am heartened that you donโt ignore them. #riseup
If not at the dinner table where we gather with the family and friends we cherish, then where? I think the poem by Joy Harjo, Perhaps the World Ends Here, certainly supports your point, Jenny, of the dinner table as the place where we come to find sustenance for both body and soul. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/49622
beautiful poem, thank you for sharing.
Thanks for all you do! You may enjoy this Facebook post from author Jennifer Weiner, who shares the sentiment in not being silent anymore when such big issues are at stake.
https://www.facebook.com/JenniferWeiner/?fref=ts
Thanks for posting the link to Eliot A. Cohenโs eloquently written editorial. We need reminders of the big picture, the arc of history as we get mired in the details on the day to day flood of new developments and new information. Please keep doing what you are doing. Stay engaged!!
I couldnโt not love this post any more.
Your note nearly brought me to tears. These conversations are so important. Itโs not just about nourishing our bodies, but our hearts and minds (CHEESE!) I so appreciate knowing that the people whose food and writing inspires me are feeling similar to how Iโm feelingโwhich is to say very heartbroken. And still we march (or write, or call, or speak, or aid). Thank you.
Thank you for using your platform and voice. It is so needed, particularly for those, like you, who have the visibility to do so. Thank you!
One of the many, many reasons I keep returning to your site is BECAUSE you continue to raise these topics of discussion and share insights into how you handle these issues as a family. I, too, was lucky enough to grow up in a family who discussed โ and continues to discuss โ difficult topics over the dinner table, and I will forever be grateful for that space and the opportunity to ask questions and share my thoughts and feelings. I look forward to these posts as much as I do your recipes, and I am so happy to read that you will continue to share them. Thank you.
Veena
Thank you. And thank you to the dissenting voices show ere brave enough to explain why they will leave the readership and why they found your pro-choice signs difficult. We may disagree, but by talking to each other and trying to work together, I am confident we will get through this. You, as always, continue to help us stay nourished, nourish our loved ones, and know we are among informed citizens who want to keep talking and figuring it all out. Peace
How do you talk to your daughters about those pink kitty cat hats without talking about politics? Cโmon, what better place than at the dinner table!