Convergent Cuisines: Commonalities Across Diasporic Traditions Explored at MOFAD

Food writers Anna Ansari and Polina Chesnakova discuss how migration and identity shape modern American cooking.

Jan. 28, 2026 at 6:55pm

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The Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) is hosting an enlightening conversation with acclaimed food writers Anna Ansari and Polina Chesnakova. They will explore how diasporic identity, memory, and migration have shaped modern cooking and kitchens, drawing on shared dishes like dumplings, kebab, and Salad Olivier that have evolved across time and geography.

Why it matters

This discussion provides insight into how immigrant communities and their culinary traditions have blended with distinctly American foods to create the diverse tapestry of modern American food culture. It also examines questions of authenticity and nostalgia that arise as these traditions are passed down and reinvented.

The details

Ansari and Chesnakova will reflect on their own backgrounds and experiences as Iranian-American and Russian-Armenian-Georgian Americans, respectively, and how those identities have shaped their cooking and food writing. They will explore how shared dishes like dumplings, kebab, and Salad Olivier have evolved across diasporic communities, as well as the role of "American" foods like Capri Suns, hot dogs, and Hamburger Helper in immigrant kitchens.

  • The event will take place on January 29, 2026 at the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD) in New York City.

The players

Anna Ansari

An Iranian-American food writer and former international trade attorney whose writing explores the intersections of food, history, migration, and the everyday act of cooking. She is the author of the acclaimed cookbook "Silk Roads: A Flavor Odyssey from Baku to Beijing".

Polina Chesnakova

A food writer born in Ukraine to Russian and Armenian parents from Georgia. She was raised in a tight-knit Rhode Island community of refugees from the former Soviet Union and has written two cookbooks, including "Chesnok: Cooking from My Corner of the Diaspora: Recipes from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia".

Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD)

A cultural institution in New York City that explores the history, culture, production, and commerce of food.

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The takeaway

This event at MOFAD provides a unique opportunity to explore how the blending of diasporic culinary traditions and distinctly American foods has shaped the diverse landscape of modern American cuisine, shedding light on questions of identity, authenticity, and the power of food to tell global and personal stories.