Zaynab Issa in Conversation for Third Culture Cooking

Zaynab Issa, recipe developer, food editor, content creator, and Bon Appétit contributor, in conversation with Molly Baz for Third Culture Cooking: Classic Recipes for a New Generation. Book signing and meet and greet to follow.

Third Culture Cooking is American Cooking: Delicious everyday multicultural recipes, borrowing from our parents and their parents’ homes, melding the old with the new and the familiar with the unfamiliar to create bold flavors and new classics for the next generation of cooks.
The food that author Zaynab Issa cooks—inspired by her East African and South Asian roots, the American suburban delights she grew up eating, and her international travels—is packed with unique and flavorful riffs.
Her affectionate homages to the chain restaurants we love are reflected here: fluffy cinnamon rolls that rival Cinnabon’s, Baskin Robbins–inspired almond fudge squares, and an artichoke dip that recalls TGI Fridays’ delights that will make you want to stay in.
To complete the collection, Zaynab looked to her primary inspiration, the women who’ve fed her, and meticulously recorded her favorite traditional dishes from each of them.
Beyond the recipes, Zaynab shares her tips on establishing yourself as a confident cook—one who prepares food consciously, hosts with pride, and is never without a well-stocked pantry.
The book includes sections like "Set Yourself Up for Success," which outlines Zaynab’s essential kitchen tools and ingredients, "On Food & Feelings" to guide the reader through cooking based on their mood, and "Host with the Most" featuring suggested menus and Zaynab’s method for executing any organized dinner. Finally, look to "Eating with Your Eyes" for her philosophy on serving beautiful food.
For extravagant entertaining as well as weeknight ease, Third Culture Cooking is a love letter to American home-cooking and the many influences that make it so.
Recipes include:

• French Onion Ramen
• Samosas Two Ways
• Chocolate Cake with Chai Buttercream
• Farzana’s Biryani
• Thai-Style Crispy Salmon
• Steak Sandwich with Date Chutney
• Tandoori Tacos
• Baklava Granola
• Banana Cake with Tahini Fudge
• Chicken Kitchri
• and many more!

Zaynab Issa is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and content creator based in Brooklyn, New York. After publishing a zine that formalized her family’s Khoja recipes, she worked as a food editor at Bon Appetit, contributing culturally rooted recipes and stories to their archive. She is now a contributor at New York Times Cooking, and has developed recipes for King Arthur Baking, The Kitchn, and Food52.

Molly Baz is a 2x New York Times bestselling cookbook author of Cook This Book (2021) & More is More (2023), recipe developer, and video host whose number one goal in life is to convince the world that cooking is fun, and not that hard to do if you’re properly set up. When she’s not writing books, Molly hosts a subscription digital recipe club, The Club, where she drops new recipes weekly for her fans. When she’s not doing that, you can find her at home sipping on a glass of Drink This Wine (that’s her natural wine company!), slathering Ayoh on her sandwiches (that's her brand-new mayo company!) and shooting lots of fun, short-form videos to better equip her followers in the kitchen!

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