Esi Lewis: Attorney and Community Activist on Building Black History, Family Legacy, and Joy as Resistance

Esi Lewis: Attorney and Community Activist on Building Black History, Family Legacy, and Joy as Resistance

Esi Lewis grew up on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, in the same house she lives in now with her daughter. It wasn't until later in life that she learned the property sits on a burial ground for enslaved Africans, a discovery that reshaped how she understood the place she'd always called home.Esi is an attorney and the founder of the Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis Center for Black History and Culture, named for her mother, a pioneering Black Studies professor who chaired the department at SUNY New Paltz for over three decades. In this episode of Dinner Last Night, we follow Esi's path from New Paltz to a decade in New York City, including six years as a prosecutor in Brooklyn's Sex Crimes Bureau, and back home again after her daughter was born. We talk about the Center's work to save the Ann Oliver House, built in 1885 by Jacob Wynkoop, from demolition, the field trips to Huguenot Street that taught Esi about French Protestant settlers but nothing about the Black community that built and worshipped alongside them, and the moment she learned what her own childhood home was built on. We also talk about her podcast We Be Griots, the role of Black churches and song as historic anchors of joy, and the dish that most reminds her of her mother. In this episode: * Ribeye, a 10-year-old dancer's protein craving, and why Esi tries never to rush through dinner * Growing up in the shadow of her mother's legacy, and how Margaret Wade Lewis shaped everything from food to faith to community * Jacob Wynkoop, the Ann Oliver House, and why Esi fought to save a piece of New Paltz history from demolition * What a griot is, and why Esi's podcast We Be Griots is an act of documented resistance * Living on Huguenot Street and learning that her family home sits near a burial ground of enslaved Africans * Joy as resistance: how Black communities in the Hudson Valley use celebration, song, and togetherness as a form of healing * Raising a daughter with roots, ritual, and a sense of her own place in history Mentioned in this episode: * The Margaret Wade Lewis Center [https://www.mwlcenter.org/] for Black History and Culture * We Be Griots podcast [https://open.spotify.com/show/75hkH1f2P0JUH1ISMzB8Qa?si=37e455d39bda4022] (Esi's show) * Historic Huguenot Street [https://www.huguenotstreet.org/] in New Paltz, NY * The Ann Oliver House [https://oracle.newpaltz.edu/ann-oliver-house-preservation/] * SUNY New Paltz [https://www.newpaltz.edu/?https://www.newpaltz.edu/science-of-reading-center/thank-you/&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22883512546&gbraid=0AAAABA2yAUmkv3VKc6fJzW9STjG5qCYRt&gclid=CjwKCAjw6MPRBhBTEiwAd-7MryZeto03s5hYMH9vYufUplIUt2pq4jkm51oEGITa8rzidc8mlgmXsBoCFRsQAvD_BwE]

Katrín Björk: Icelandic Food Photographer and Cookbook Author on ARFID, Adoption, and Redefining the Family Dinner

Katrín Björk is an Icelandic food photographer, cookbook author, and mom of three adopted kids, and she'll be the first to tell you that dinner in her house is a disaster. Katrín grew up in North Iceland in a fishing and farming family, where wild Icelandic lamb and fresh fish three times a week were just Tuesday. She went on to study photography in Copenhagen (where she met her husband!), publish From the North, a love letter to Icelandic and Danish food, and build a career in commercial food photography. But none of that prepared her for the reality of feeding a family where one child has ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder), one is autistic and struggles significantly with eating, and all three carry early childhood trauma with deep ties to food. In this episode, Katrín talks openly about the therapy, the letting go, and the slow, hard work of replacing perfectionism with presence. In this episode: * Growing up in North Iceland with wild lamb, fresh fish, and from-scratch everything * What ARFID actually is, and how it shows up at the dinner table differently than picky eating * The "safe list" tool: what it is, how Katrín's daughter helped build hers, and why it has to stay flexible * How her romantic idea of the perfect family dinner collided with the reality of raising three kids with complex needs * Sourcing prepared food locally and releasing the pressure to cook everything from scratch * The evolution of her blog Modern Wife Style and why its messaging no longer rings true to who she is * Why her family connects over bike rides and nature, not dinner, and why that's okay Mentioned in this episode: * From the North [https://a.co/d/0j3VYOGk] by Katrín Björk * Katrín's website [https://katrinbjork.com/] * Modern Wifestyle Blog [https://modernwifestyle.com/] * Follow Katrín on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/katrinbjork/] * Black Eyed Susie's [https://www.blackeyedsuziesupstate.com/] in Kingston, NY * Common Table [https://www.commontableny.com/] meal prep service in Kingston, NY * Dia Beacon [https://welcome.diaart.org/] in Beacon, NY * Julia Turshen's Episode [https://open.spotify.com/episode/67iKbEm0QuRhJOKzktoNdf?si=C3SlqT5GT267oTMGwZx_xA] on Dinner Last Night

Paragini Amin: Designer on Indian-American Identity, a Husband Who Cooks Like a Chef, and a Game That Opens Kids Up

Paragini Amin grew up in Jersey City in a Gujarati household where dinner, cooked daily by her mother, was always Indian food, and everything else was negotiable. Today, her husband does all the cooking, and he's exceptional at it: French technique one night, Caribbean-Southeast Asian the next, with an instinct for sniffing out the best restaurant on any highway. In this episode, Paragini takes us through the experiences that shaped her, including the early racism she experienced in school, and the radically intentional desegregation high school where she learned what happens when kids from different backgrounds are just given room to be. She tells us what a psychic once said about getting into the kitchen, and why she still hasn't done it. We get into Things & Things, the conversation game she designed — cards paired with physical objects — that helped her quiet, heady eight-year-old finally open up at the dinner table. And we talk perimenopause and HRT, because we're all in our forties and we have things to say. Paragini is co-founder and creative director of Design for Progress [https://designforprogress.co/], a brand strategy firm serving social justice nonprofits focused on criminal justice reform and mass incarceration. In this episode: * Growing up Gujarati in Jersey City, and her parents' approach to two cultures at the dinner table * The racism Paragini faced as a young Indian-American girl, and how she made sense of it * The quietly radical desegregation high school in Jersey City that just worked * The husband who does all the cooking, and his nose for the best restaurant on any highway * What a psychic once told Paragini about getting into the kitchen, and why she still hasn't done it * Things & Things: a conversation game with cards and objects that opened up her quiet eight-year-old at the dinner table * Perimenopause, HRT, and the conversations we should all be having in our 40s Mentioned in this episode: * Things & Things [https://designforprogress.co/things-and-things], Paragini's conversation game * Design for Progress [https://designforprogress.co/], Paragini and Chris's design firm * The First 40 Days [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-first-forty-days-the-essential-art-of-nourishing-the-new-mother-amely-greeven/6433c0315ff66ec2?ean=9781617691836&next=t&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%7Bcampaignname%7D&utm_content=6443417794&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16235479093&gbraid=0AAAAACfld43T5PnR_7eXN0Zq-Qen3kyBv&gclid=CjwKCAjwt7XQBhBkEiwAtStpp_lY_fVJnYgTqEjNj6Hdcmkl0e2STse8neLSr84Qgfv0Eu6rRUeX2xoCASkQAvD_BwE] by Heng Ou * Earlier episode with Eliza Blank [https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JbWiMMghTawLwreQllU5o?si=mhHDNI2dQm6SDeHUivi4zQ] on Farmlink and food waste * Cornell Prison Education Program [https://cpep.cornell.edu/] Subscribe Never miss an episode: Follow Dinner Last Night and ⁠subscribe to our newsletter⁠ [https://emmafrisch.substack.com/]. If you loved this episode, please leave us a review, tap “like”, and share it with a friend! It helps more people discover the show. 💛 Giveaways ⁠CLICK HERE⁠ [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScN3ZQCUTgDYa_rx3gUinh_jgs-4-f-Ki-1NEeOZrLvxXFnPg/viewform] to enter the giveaway for any episode! Follow Us * Substack: ⁠subscribe to our newsletter⁠ [https://emmafrisch.substack.com/] * YouTube: ⁠@DinnerLastNightPod⁠ [https://www.youtube.com/@DinnerLastNightPod] * Instagram: ⁠@dinnerlastnightpod⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/dinnerlastnightpod/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet] * Website: ⁠dinnerlastnightpod.com⁠ [https://dinnerlastnightpod.com/] Credits * Produced: Wombmate Productions, Inc., ⁠REP Studio⁠ [https://repstudio.com/], and Stuart Hetzler * Editing: ⁠REP Studio⁠ [https://repstudio.com/] and Stuart Hetzler * Music by: ⁠⁣⁠ [https://whiskeyclass.bandcamp.com/]⁠Emerson ‘Longstory’ Bartlett⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/longstory_music/?hl=en] (feat. ⁠Drew Martin⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/idrewmartinmusic/?hl=en] on Saxophone)

Stefan Merrill Block: Novelist and Memoirist on Being Homeschooled, Cooking as Rebellion, and The Power of Writing to Heal

When Stefan Merrill Block was nine, his mother concluded that his teachers were stifling his creativity and pulled him out of public school. He wouldn't return until ninth grade. Those five years in between shaped everything that came after, including, eventually, his relationship with food and cooking. Stefan is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Homeschooled [https://bookshop.org/p/books/homeschooled-a-new-york-times-bestselling-memoir-and-read-with-jenna-pick-stefan-merrill-block/7e9b1465fdf608ff?ean=9781335000989&next=t&next=t&affiliate=397], which traces a fiercely loved boy through the years he spent learning at home with a mother whose ideas grew more inventive (and more unsteady) as the months went on. In this episode, we follow the food: his mother's recipe-less cooking, the Dallas chicken tortilla soup that tasted like friendship and a bigger world, and the long road that led Stefan at 30, alone on 250 acres of Texas land, to fall in love with cooking on his own terms. We also talk about writing a memoir with a novelist's instincts, feeling anger for your younger self for the first time, and the homeschool reform conversations the book has sparked in three states. In this episode: * Why Stefan's mother pulled him from school at nine, and how that impacted his later years * His mother's recipe-less cooking, and the meals that felt like something to endure * The Dallas chicken tortilla soup that tasted like friendship and a bigger world * Falling in love with cooking at 30, alone on 250 acres of Texas land * Cooking three separate dinners as the main cook in his household * Writing a memoir with a novelist's instincts, and feeling anger for your younger self * Co-owning Skate Time 209, the beloved roller rink in Accord, NY Mentioned in this episode: * Stefan's Website [https://www.stefanmerrillblock.com/ ] * Follow Stefan on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/stefanmblock] * Get a copy of Stefan's memoir, Homeschooled [https://bookshop.org/p/books/homeschooled-a-new-york-times-bestselling-memoir-and-read-with-jenna-pick-stefan-merrill-block/7e9b1465fdf608ff?ean=9781335000989&next=t] * The Coalition for Responsible Home Education [https://crhe.org/] * Skate Time 209 Subscribe Never miss an episode: Follow Dinner Last Night and subscribe to our newsletter [https://emmafrisch.substack.com/]. If you loved this episode, please leave us a review, tap “like”, and share it with a friend! It helps more people discover the show. 💛 Giveaways CLICK HERE [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScN3ZQCUTgDYa_rx3gUinh_jgs-4-f-Ki-1NEeOZrLvxXFnPg/viewform] to enter the giveaway for any episode! Follow Us * Substack: subscribe to our newsletter [https://emmafrisch.substack.com/] * YouTube: @DinnerLastNightPod [https://www.youtube.com/@DinnerLastNightPod] * Instagram: @dinnerlastnightpod [https://www.instagram.com/dinnerlastnightpod/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet] * Website: dinnerlastnightpod.com [https://dinnerlastnightpod.com/] Credits * Produced: Wombmate Productions, Inc., REP Studio [https://repstudio.com/], and Stuart Hetzler * Editing: REP Studio [https://repstudio.com/] and Stuart Hetzler * Music by: ⁣ [https://whiskeyclass.bandcamp.com/]Emerson ‘Longstory’ Bartlett [https://www.instagram.com/longstory_music/?hl=en] (feat. Drew Martin [https://www.instagram.com/idrewmartinmusic/?hl=en] on Saxophone)

Virginia Craddock: Fashion Founder and Mother on Conscious Consumption, Blending Families, and Finding Clarity in Everything

Virginia Craddock is the founder of Inside Out Agency, a multi-brand showroom working to shift the way we think about what we wear, how we consume, and what it all means. Virginia grew up eating Brazilian moqueca in two different households — her parents had both spent time in the Peace Corps in Brazil — and now she makes the dish her own way. We talk about scruffy hospitality and why clarity in how you invite people into your home changes everything about the experience. And in one of the most moving moments of the season, Virginia shares how blending her and her partner's families is her biggest triumph, and why. The phrase her business teacher gave her — “clarity is connection” — turns out to be the thread running through it all. In this episode: * A Brazilian moqueca passed down from Peace Corps parents, adapted and made her own * Building Inside Out Agency to shift how we think about clothing and consumption * Scruffy hospitality, and the freeing power of low-stakes gathering * How knowing where your clothes come from changes how much you love them * The Art of Gathering, and hosting with intention instead of effort * Blending three boys, two households, and years of hard conversations into one family * “Clarity is connection” — her business teacher's mantra that became her life's Mentioned in the episode: * Virginia on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/virginia_craddock/] * Inside Out Agency [https://www.insideout-agency.com/about] * The Art of Gathering [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-art-of-gathering-how-we-meet-and-why-it-matters_priya-parker/18627063/item/37708715/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&vector_id=14637440387&vector_source=GOOGLE&vector_campaign=shopping_new_condition_books_high&utm_campaign=shopping_new_condition_books_high_14637440387&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=545752079965&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=14637440387&gbraid=0AAAAADwY45jncSHhgA9RiWWT_rZNhwgte&gclid=CjwKCAjw46HPBhAMEiwASZpLRIqhhJt2YrtVt7I0KNuEIxLtkdgL6xb4Hb8CSuo4UytADtdinU0uthoC0sYQAvD_BwE#idiq=37708715&edition=29474366] by Priya Parker * Meditations for Mortals [https://bookshop.org/p/books/meditations-for-mortals-four-weeks-to-embrace-your-limitations-and-make-time-for-what-counts-oliver-burkeman/d5648b5349145ef6?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=dsa_nonbrand&utm_content={adgroupname}&utm_term=dsa-19959388920&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12440232635&gbraid=0AAAAACfld40Q73L7_ZBjSgVzzFcKf2qbZ&gclid=CjwKCAjw46HPBhAMEiwASZpLREe-G4YvZ0b2TmGt6rMawvLomgXHyG_RxOnw7uymh10aFpJcnXYIXBoChv4QAvD_BwE] by Oliver Burkeman Subscribe Never miss an episode: Follow Dinner Last Night and subscribe to our newsletter [https://emmafrisch.substack.com/]. If you loved this episode, please leave us a review, tap “like”, and share it with a friend! It helps more people discover the show. 💛 Giveaways CLICK HERE [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScN3ZQCUTgDYa_rx3gUinh_jgs-4-f-Ki-1NEeOZrLvxXFnPg/viewform] to enter the giveaway for any episode! Follow Us * Substack: subscribe to our newsletter [https://emmafrisch.substack.com/] * YouTube: @DinnerLastNightPod [https://www.youtube.com/@DinnerLastNightPod] * Instagram: @dinnerlastnightpod [https://www.instagram.com/dinnerlastnightpod/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet] * Website: dinnerlastnightpod.com [https://dinnerlastnightpod.com/] Credits * Produced: Wombmate Productions, Inc., REP Studio [https://repstudio.com/], and Stuart Hetzler * Editing: REP Studio [https://repstudio.com/] and Stuart Hetzler * Music by: ⁣ [https://whiskeyclass.bandcamp.com/]Emerson ‘Longstory’ Bartlett [https://www.instagram.com/longstory_music/?hl=en] (feat. Drew Martin [https://www.instagram.com/idrewmartinmusic/?hl=en] on Saxophone)