Thank you to everyone who noticed that Dinner: A Love Story was down all day Friday. It was frustrating, but the sheer number of “I can’t log on!” 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 (“the reading & eating” 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 can’t bring myself to head straight into cheese graters and Super Bowl menus. Like many of you, I’m 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 — spontaneous rallies, heroic judges and volunteer lawyers, boycotts, marches, postcard-writing mania — has been inspiring, but I fear we have a long road ahead of us. So before I get back to regularly scheduled programming, I’d like to follow the lead of two of my favorite food writers, Luisa Weiss and Julia Turshen by giving away free books* to the first ten people who donate $100 or more to the ACLU. (Forward your receipt to jenny AT dinneralovestory DOT com and tell me which book you’d like. *You can choose not just mine, but Luisa’s, Julia’s or the book of any other author or blogger who would like to join forces with us.)
I’ll post the weekly round-up in the next few days, but please take a minute to read this story “A Clarifying Moment in American History,” 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 I’d like to point out that if you click on the “About” section on the top of my home page, it’s been clear from the beginning that I envisioned this space as not only a forum to discuss what’s for dinner, but also as a place to discuss what’s happening around the dinner table. In the past seven years, I’ve posted too many chicken recipes to count, but I’ve 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 childrens’ 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 — fiction, nonfiction, kids, YA, adult — 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 wouldn’t have thought so. But I hope you understand, given the extraordinary circumstances of this administration, that it has started to feel disingenuous, almost irresponsible 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 I’m not naive in believing that we are in a unique position on this blog. I think it’s fair to assume every person reading Dinner: A Love Story wants what is best for their families and their childrens’ futures. Let’s remember that we have more in common than we don’t, 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.
Thank you. We talk about it at our family dinner table and I love that you talk about it here. Keep doing what you do!
We are all bearing witness to this administration and its dastardly deeds. We are fotunate that those who do have a platform are NOT afraid to use it. Preach on, Jenny! The world wide web is watching. I’ve marched for two weekends in a row and don’t plan to stop. I”m making donations to NAACP, Planned Parenthood, ACLU, and everywhere else i see a need. I don’t need another cookbook, but i want you to know that a lot of us are in the fight with you. #resist
Thank you!
The personal is political. Thank you for contributing to the discourse.
Thank you, Jenny- for your posts over the years and also for your thoughtful comments on current events these past few months. I will certainly keep reading!
Thank you for this post. This is the most sincere, thoughtful piece of writing I have read today. I love how you eloquently reminded everyone that we all want what is best for our families and we have more in common than we don’t. It is so very true. I just wish more people would attempt to understand this. Why can’t we all just respect our differences and get along?
Thank you! Your blog is about food and your community and I don’t want to live in a community where people don’t show compassion and courage by speaking out against social injustice. This is not about politics, it is about people.
Amazing post! Thank you for staying true to what you desire for this blog! It’s yours and no one else should ever shame you into silence about what matters. So many of us are with you!!
Thank you lovely Jenny for doing what you do and speaking up so thoughtfully. I am so with you. Much love from California.
Thank you! I believe we need more discussion and less isolation- even if your recipes are fantastic! I may have come for the recipes, but I stay for the conversation.
I enjoy reading all your posts! Why not discuss political topics? Politics affect ALL of us.
THANK YOU for that final paragraph. Every post on social media that is a light-hearted recipe or funny video seems disingenuous right now. These are times when we can’t idly stand by and people who want to say they came here to avoid politics are sticking their heads in the sand. Thank you for standing up for what is right.
I’m so glad you’re not ignoring the current political climate in your blog posts. I’ve found it very unsettling that so many of the blogs I follow have ignored it completely–not even an acknowledgement that these are, at a minimum, interesting times. Thanks for speaking from your heart and mind!
I’ve loved your blog (and books) for years, and I have to tell you that that love just SKYROCKETED after reading this post. Thank you, thank you, for not ignoring the world and for being brave enough to talk about politics here — I never would have imagined the need either, but it’s nothing short of crucial. After all, it all ties in to building happy, good families, and strong, capable children who will make the world better. Bravo!
You are my favorite, Jenny. You feel like a part of my family and we have never met. Even my children, ages 4 and 8, are distraught by what is happening in our political universe and more than ever, I want to make our family dinner table a place of comfort, conversation, and mind-opening for them. Thank you for addressing all three of those through your posts and recipes.
Your ‘note’ and ‘reminder’ are absolutely the best part of this post. I’m also a mom of two girls and finding myself completely distracted with all that is ‘unprecedented’ in the past weeks. I’m always thankful for your blog, thank you for defending your content today and always.
From here in Australia (where we too have an approach to immigration that brings me great shame and sadness) we are worried about close friends living in California – him an American-born Jewish man whose family escaped Russian pogroms, and she an Iranian born woman who grew up in sydney. They are expecting a baby in a few weeks and now can’t have her mother come to meet their child, or bring their baby here to meet family without worrying about being let back home. Needless to say, we and they are heartbroken.
Thank you for speaking out, Jenny.
That breaks my heart, too. Will be thinking of them and you! <3
Thank you Jenny! Your blog has always been and will continue to be such an inspiring uplifting corner of the Internet. Future leaders are raised at the family dinner table. I tried to donate to the ACLU on Saturday afternoon and received the “due to unusually high traffic” error message on the donation page and had to wait until yesterday to complete it!
Beautifully written. THANK YOU. You are a class act.
At the dinner table, in our homes, connecting over food and wine, surrounded by our family and friends…that is where we have conversations about courage and strength, about love and empathy, about right and wrong.
I find the expectation that we compartmentalize parts of our lives (“stick to recipes!”) unrealistic given the current state of affairs; thank you for using your platform to speak out for what is good and right.
I am not usually a commenter (every! anywhere!) but break my rule now to say: thank you. I DO come to your blog for recipes and dinner strategies. But I also admire the grace and humanity with which you tackle dinner table topics, and I agree that this is not a moment for silence. Bravo.
I appreciate you..
Thank you Jenny! This space is important to me and my family, and these past 18 months have moved the needle for me as well. Thanks for all you’ve said and done to point back to the importance of family dinner and how we talk to our kids (over ragu or chicken parm meatballs or salmon and brussels, our favorites).
You go! I especially love your directive to express opinions like you are sitting across from me at the dinner table. Your chicken recipes rock too!