Eating for Peace
It’s a cold evening in New York City and I’m making Nepalese donuts. Or, I should say, Rachana Rimal, a cheerful woman with a dash of sassiness, is teaching me and five other novice cooks to make them. The savory scent of spices in Rimal’s kitchen in Queens allows us to feel like we’ve been transplanted to her childhood home in Kathmandu, where she learned to cook by watching her mother work magic with recipes handed down over generations. “I’m sharing my food, my culture,” Rimal says to us with a smile.
We grind rice into a flour, sprinkle in sugar, roll the dough into circles, and drop our donuts into bubbling ghee, a pungent butter. However, making the next dish, dumplings, with spinach, cheese, cilantro, ginger, and a spicy tomato sauce, is more of a challenge. But Rimal guides us through the preparation with patience. We’ve signed up to cook with her through The League of Kitchens, an organization that arranges cooking classes in the New York City homes of international cooks. “We create opportunities for people to connect across cultural differences,” says Lisa Gross, founder of The League of Kitchens. “And have an amazing eating experience.”
Gross is right on the
