I'm hosting a virtual food writing workshop

with the acclaimed Hawa Hassan

Hi all. An exciting announcement: I’m teaming up acclaimed chef, entrepreneur, and James Beard award-winning cookbook author Hawa Hassan for a virtual food writing workshop

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Over the years, many of you have slid into my inbox asking me for advice. How does one respectfully tell the story of a culture or region? How did I go about gathering and adapting recipes? What was my research process? How did I connect with and interview the people whose voices are featured? How did I get started?

Turns out, Hawa, who wrote the award-winning In Bibi’s Kitchen—a tome about grandmothers across eight African countries— had been getting similar queries from her followers.

So we put our heads together and put together a curriculum for a four part online workshop. It’s $250 USD for four two-hour long classes, where we’ll explain our writing process, give concrete examples on how to source stories and credit people, and hold your hand through the recipe development process.

Both Hawa and I are big believers in giving credit where credit is due, and I think that shared ethos shows through our respective cookbooks. Her debut, In Bibi’s Kitchen, was actually one of the titles I was inspired by when I was structuring the book proposal for Made in Taiwan. I adored how the recipes are windows into these grandmother’s lives, and how the book isn’t just a cookbook or a travelogue—it is a cultural anthology.

This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in food writing—you don’t have to be an established writer to sign up.

In a world where quick-and-easy and culturally vague recipes have become the prevailing norm, I like to think we’re offering a different approach to recipe writing. What if, instead of viewing recipes as just instructions for convenience, we began to see them as acts of cultural preservation?

Each dish carries within it the history, traditions, and stories of the people who created it. By treating recipes as a form of storytelling, we’re honoring the roots of the dishes we cook. Cooking becomes a way to keep traditions alive for future generations.

Spots are limited, so sign up while you still can. See you guys in class.