Why Cooking Matters

a persimmon cake to take your mind off of things + a discount code for 20% off tickets to the next MouthBrain event (nov 17th) for paid subscribers only

Please consider joining me at my next MouthBrain event, this Sunday, November 17th at 11am for some much needed togetherness. Don’t delay on connecting with others. It is perhaps our most radical act. Discount code for paid subscribers after the recipe (scroll down)

Beet Kubbeh soup after the first Trump election Berkeley, 2016

This time feels different, right?

Not just because we’ve been here before, though that part is particularly haunting. This time around I feel way more sad than I am shocked, more angry than upset. I feel almost sleepy with exhaustion when I consider the ramifications of how this second term will effect the rest of our lives, the health of the planet, our kids. Not to mention that hearing his voice make me physically sick to my stomach.

Present President dInner 2016

Last time, in 2016, I frantically started hosting dinners to cope with it all. To help swallow my rage by channelling it into something “helpful.” At the very least I could practice my style of care and soothe others with food and good company like our ancestors have been doing for millennium.

At the time, my instinct wasn’t to cook comfort food for people, though. My menus were forced attempts at commentary and conversation instead. I poured blood red bowls of beet broth an Iraqi soup called kubbeh and told people if he was going to grab them by the pussy, we had no choice but to eat the kubbeh. I had folks stabbing flaming hot Cheeto crusted cauliflowers with steak knives, as we passed around Melania-coded desserts with rock candy and sugared herbs. These events had dramatic names like, “Brunch: in the time of Crisis” or “Present President” and they were clear responses to our new reality. Maybe some of you remember being a part of these special events in places like Berkeley, CA or NYC circa 2016/17?

Drama aside, we had really meaningful table wide conversations around those meals. We processed the news of his win in real time together. There were folks who hadn’t left the house before our meal, people who said they no longer felt safe in public spaces or were worried about discrimination and violence in the aftermath of his election. Those events were affirming, reminding us that community would continue to be the safest place for all of us. No matter who was president elect.

What makes my current MouthBrain event series more like actual chicken soup for the teenage soul is that our hands are too busy to scroll and feel doomed. Our brains too occupied by our creative efforts, and our bodies physically engaged with the common goal of creating a meal together. Cooking shoulder to shoulder with strangers around a table is oddly profound. Because, in the club, we all fam. Right?

When it comes to cooking as catharsis I think there is no method to the madness. Just get your booty in the kitchen and make something happen. You might surprise yourself and there is no shame in eating your feelings right now or ever.

I bake when I’m sad so I turned my favorite backpocket banana bread recipe into a persimmon-ed version and it is truly perfect for this time of year. It is a perfect post election persimmon come down cake/bread gift to us all.

Persimmon Bread adapted from my back pocket Banana Bread so basically you could take your own favorite banana bread recipe and sub persimmons and likely have an equally delicious result but here is my version, enjoy!

1 cup (2 large) super duper soft & ripe Hachiya persimmons. these need to be so gloopy and smooshy
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup neutral oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cup white flour or bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (1/2 teaspoon of that is used to thicken the persimmon pulp)
1/2 teaspoon salt
14/ teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 ground ginger
1/4 cup pecans or walnuts chopped or pieces
1/4 raisins
turbinado sugar for garnish

Preheat to 370F

Mix your smooshed persimmons in a bowl until smooth and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and let it sit for a couple of minutes to help thicken up the persimmon mush.

Add in your 2 eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup neutral oil, 3/4 cup white sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until sugar is dissolved.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Mix the dry into the wet until just combined. Fold in the nuts and raisins. Oil a loaf pan generously and pour in you mixture. I like to top breads like this with copious amounts of turbinado sugar for crunch factor and in this case I had a regular fuyu persimmon that I sliced up for on top of the bread just under that crunchy sugar topping. Makes for an incredible texture.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until pretty darkly browned along the edges and a toothpick comes out totally clean. Let cool if you can manage that!