This month's interview features Grace Stevick and Huda Karo, longtime friends both born in Haifa, on the topic of kousa squash — a staple of Palestinian cuisine that means home to them both. The conversation took place in Huda's sunroom, over a spread of nuts, dried fruit, and sweets, with the easy warmth of two people who know each other well. The piece explores their friendship, their shared roots, and whether they see eye to eye on how to cook the perfect kousa squash.
Seeds of Our Ancestors
Chinese Food in Costa Rica, with Maya Faulstich-Hon
Grace Pernecky
Maya grew up in a "restaurant family" in Costa Rica, raised on a fusion of cuisines from her Chinese mother and her father's Boston roots. Across three generations of the Faulstich-Hon family, food was shaped less by fixed recipes and more by a spirit of experimentation, play, and curiosity. Their true inheritance wasn't a specific dish, but a seed of nonconformity and creative problem-solving passed down through the family.
Ancestral Ferments: A Living Rainbow with Darich Peréz-Reyes
Grace Pernecky
Born in Puerto Rico, Darich Peréz-Reyes learned at a very early age to appreciate ancestral food. For him, experiencing different food traditions, especially those of his ancestors, helps him get closer to his true identity. “My identity through food becomes more rainbow the more I look at it. It only makes me feel closer to other traditions and cultures. I understand now that we are really just one family that has been separated into different cultures around the world, creating a beautiful quilt of traditions.”
Sylvia's Story: A Labor of Love
Grace Pernecky
This month, Grace speaks with Sylvia of Pilar's Tamales about her journey from El Salvador to Ann Arbor. Food and community have played an integral role in Sylvia’s journey, from small child in Central America, all the way to successful entrepreneur and passionate philanthropist serving up everything she does with love and care.