Episode notes
In this episode we talk with Annabelle Tometich and Raj Tawney. In their work, both authors dig into the complicated intersections of culture, belonging, and home.
Grab a snack, pull up a chair and listen in on this lively conversation as we explore food, family and the etiquette of Aldi shopping carts
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Annabelle Tometich went from medical-school flunky to line cook to journalist to author. She spent eighteen years as a food writer, editor, and restaurant critic for The News-Press in her hometown of Fort Myers, Florida. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, USA Today, Catapult, the Tampa Bay Times, and many more publications. Tometich has won more than a dozen awards for her stories, including first place for Features Writing from the Florida Society of News Editors in 2020. She (still) lives in Fort Myers with her husband, two children, and her ever-fiery Filipina mother. You can find her online at annabelleTM.com.
Raj Tawney is an author, journalist, and essayist whose work largely reflects his multiracial American upbringing. Born in New York to an Indian, Puerto Rican, and Italian American family, Tawney has explored his identity and family history through personal essays published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, and other outlets throughout the country. His debut memoir, Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience (Empire State Editions/Fordham University Press, 2023), earned critical acclaim and won numerous awards. His Middle Grade novel, All Mixed Up (Paw Prints Publishing/Baker & Taylor, 2024), was a NYPL Best Book for Kids pick and a Día Reading List pick, among other accolades. He currently resides in South Florida.
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The Mango Tree - This “witty, humorous, and heartfelt” (Cinelle Barnes) memoir navigates the tangled branches of Annabelle Tometich’s life, from growing up in Florida as the child of a Filipino mother and a deceased white father to her adult life as a med-school-reject-turned-food-critic.
It is a love letter to her fellow Filipino Americans, her lost younger self, and the beloved fruit tree at the heart of her family.
Colorful Palate - A timely self-examination of the “mixed” American experience featuring exclusive recipes and photographs from the author’s multicultural family.
Tawney shares his family recipes along with the intimate stories he overheard in the kitchen as he played sous chef to hundreds of recipes that not only span continents but also come with their own personal histories attached. Colorful Palate is a tale of the mixed experience, one of the millions that rarely get told, undefined by a single group or birthright and unapologetic about its lack of classification.
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Purchase copies of The Mango Tree and Colorful Palate through Book Banter Books.
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