MEMOS from North Korean nuclear negotiators are not your average cookbook fodder, but perhaps the world would be a better place if they were, Chris Fair suggests in her genre-defying “culinary castigation” of 10 foreign policy hotspots. “Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States” (http://www.evilcuisines.com) stirs a generous dose of satire into its recipes for Pashtun cardamom tea, Israeli carrot salad and other dinner party fare from “Axis of Evil” states North Korea, Iran, and Iraq; hotspots Israel, India, Pakistan, Cuba, China, Burma (Myanmar); and “Great Satan”, the United States. Political analyst and South Asia expert Fair talks about why talking foreign affairs is safer over dinner, and the politics of falafel. Q: This may be the world's first foreign policy critique cookbook. When and why did you cook it up? A: “It actually had a sad origin in late 2002, when my brothers were deployed to Iraq. I was full of anger that the Bush administration had cooked up this ridiculous concept “the Axis of Evil” to justify a war that was unconnected to 9/11. The Axis of Evil dinner party was really just a way of kvetching, and bringing together friends...After my brothers came back from Iraq it became a fun thing to do -- the cookbook came afterwards.” Q: The recipes are from far-flung countries that are not always easy, or possible, for the average person to visit. Is cooking up another nation's food a good way to understand it? A: “Well, we can't afford to travel now, (laughs), so this might be the cheapest way to get to know the countries -- to buy this relatively inexpensive cookbook and cook something from it. Cuisine is a way that Americans, and others, are much more likely to encounter a foreign culture, in a domesticated safe environment. Vietnamese food is becoming very popular in the States, but very few Americans will actually go to Vietnam.” Q: Some people don't seem to see politics-food links at all? A: “There's a lot of politics we're not very perceptive about. I'm sure things go by my snout all the time because I'm not attuned... But when I travel I'm constantly thinking about who has food, who doesn't have the food, who's making the food, who's eating the food? It's a personal psychosis!” Q: What political insights might be sparked if the uninitiated millions knew and loved Cuban-spiced frijoles negros (black beans)? A: “The near nemesis, Cuba, is routinely battling with food insecurity. I think it's an aspect of our foreign policy that the average American probably doesn't think that much about.” Q: Which dish was the most complicated to learn to cook? A: “Probably the (Iranian) fesanjan (chicken in walnut and pomegranate stew). That's a dish that you kind of have to know what it tastes like in your head to get it spiced correctly.” Q: You suggest many “national culinary icons” are not timeless, indisputable realities but the products of contingent geopolitical alignments -- as with the chickpea dish falafel? A: “Many countries have interesting political positions about food, and what they want the world to think about what they eat. In Israel I was gobsmacked to see postcards declaring falafel the national food... This is actually a pretty sensitive issue for many Arabs, many of whom ask: “Why, of all the things that you could lay culinary claim to, do you claim our food?” It parallels the appropriation of Palestinian lands.”
