Food For Thought
With stories and food side by side, it’s easy to see how connected we really are.
Ann Richmond
A World of Flavor and Perspective from Idaho’s Refugees and Friends.
Food for Thought is a cookbook project, carefully collected and photographed by Ann Richmond.
Published by Mooseprint Press in collaboration with the CSI Refugee Program in Twin Falls, Idaho, Food for Thought contains 477 beautiful full-color pages with recipes from 15 countries around the world, in addition to the experiences of many refugees, as well as those who work with them here in the United States.
What is a Refugee?
To qualify as a refugee, a person has to leave their home country and make it to a host country on their own. They then wait, usually with very limited resources and rights, to see if they will be resettled, usually by the by the UN. Unless a refugee already has family in a specific resettlement country, they usually have no choice about where they will be resettled.
What is “Displaced?”
At this time (2019), there are, according to the UNHCR, 68.5 million displaced people in the world today (see unhcr.org). 44,000 people flee their homes every single day due to persecution or conflict. That’s one person, every two seconds. Less than 1% of worldwide displaced peoples are actually ever resettled.
Purchase Your Copy
All proceeds of this project are donated to refugee organizations for both immediate and long-term needs of refugees, including, but not limited to, the CSI Refugee Program in Twin Falls, Idaho, and the IRC.
Click below to purchase “Food for Thought” through our partner, Red Thread Life.
“Cooking is all about people.”
Yotam Ottolenghi
By reading this book, by entering your kitchen and making someone else’s recipe, a recipe that came from their home, you are letting that person in. And while you cook, read a small part of their story, and let that in as well.
Next, invite some friends over for a Food for Thought night at your home! Prepare some of the recipes featured in the book and discuss the stories. Encourage your friends to do the same, and tag #thefoodforthoughtproject and @the_food_for_thought_project on Instagram.
In this book, each of these people is opening the door to you and offering you a seat at their table. By sharing their food, by sharing their story, they have opened the door of themselves to you, and it is a sacred trust to walk through it. When you walk through their door, they will become a part of you and a small part of them will be inside you forever. Things begin to change when we allow ourselves to become a part of each other.
The Food for Thought Project