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A Taste of Resilience: The Story of Budae Jjigae
75 years ago, on June 25th, 1950, the Korean War began. The fighting between the northern Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the southern Republic of Korea raged on for 3 years. During the devastation and food shortages that followed, Koreans created a dish that would come to symbolize resilience and creativity: budae jjigae. This popular dish represents the exact idea of Politics for Dinner: finding common ground in conflict. Because of my own Korean roots, I want to take a closer look at this dish to see how it tells a story of Korean culture. Often considered the first proxy war of the Cold War era, there was a…
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Operation Cactus: How India Thwarted the 1988 Coup in the Maldives
A small island nation facing the threat of a coup: how would they respond? This is the story of the 1988 Coup in the Maldives and of Operation Cactus, the response that ensued. Before I begin, let us first look into a short history of the Maldives, and how they arrived in this situation. The Maldives, or the Republic of Maldives is located off the coast of India, and is the smallest country in Asia. For centuries, the nation was ruled by ancient dynasties in its capital Malé. In 1887, the Maldives became a British protectorate, a status it maintained until gaining its independence in 1965. Two years later,…
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Currywurst Shakshouka with Labneh swirl
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Politics For Dinner (@politicsfordinner)
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Terror at the Games: The 1972 Munich Hostage Crisis
Recently, I watched the Oscar-nominated film September 5, which drew my attention to the brutal hostage crisis that unfolded at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, an event I had previously known little about. The movie’s dramatic portrayal of the ABC News coverage of the hostage crisis and how it progressed throughout the 24-hour period compelled me to learn more about what happened on this dark day in history. The 1972 summer was the first return of this event to Germany since the 1936 Olympic Games, which had been hosted in Berlin by Adolf Hitler. In an effort to wash over the memory of Hitler’s Olympic Games, the organizing committee of…
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Tilapia and Kachumbari Salad!
Inspired by my article about a disputed lake in Africa, I created this dish using Malawian and Tanzanian ingredients as inspiration. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Politics For Dinner (@politicsfordinner)
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The Football War
A World Cup qualifying match turned into an international crisis. This bloody, four-day conflict between the nations of Honduras and El Salvador has gone down in history as the Football War, or in other areas of the world, the Soccer War. But what correlation did the soccer match and the conflict really have? This is the story of the 100-hour war between two neighboring nations. To understand the beginning of this conflict, some necessary demographic issues must be discussed. Honduras and El Salvador are neighboring nations in Latin America. In 1969, when the Football War broke out, the population of El Salvador was around 3 million people, while the population…
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On this day in history – February 10th, 1945
On this day, February 11th, 1945, the Yalta Conference between the leaders of the Allied Powers came to an end. At this conference, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill signed the Yalta Agreement, in which they decided to demand a full and complete surrender from Germany, and began to plan their final steps to ending the Second World War and what would take place in the post-war period.
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Welcome to the Budae Jjigae Chronicles
As part of my continuing research on dishes and their relation to political events in history, I have decided to take a closer look at a dish that is not only part of my Korean heritage but also one that I love. I was inspired to create this after watching Naengmyeon Rhapsody, an amazing show on Netflix that explores the history of Korean cold noodles and how various historical events have shaped the dish’s evolution. So, I’d like to welcome you to a new section of the blog: The Budae Jjigae Chronicles. Budae Jjigae is a spicy Korean stew—budae refers to “military camp,” calling back to its origins during the…
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The Lake at the Center of a Diplomatic Standoff
There is a lake in Africa. Some call it Lake Malawi, while others call it Lake Nyasa. Some say it belongs fully to the nation of Malawi, while others are convinced it should belong to the nation of Tanzania. Continue reading to dive deeper into this conflict… The disputed lake between Malawi and Tanzania is the third largest lake in Africa, stretching an impressive 568 kilometers long and up to 80 kilometers wide at its broadest point. The lake itself takes up about one-third of the total territory of the nation of Malawi, and it is thus an integral part of the economic life of the country, as well…
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Bûche de Noël with a Mexican twist
Part one of this French recipe infused with Mexican flavors View this post on Instagram A post shared by Politics For Dinner (@politicsfordinner) Part 2 View this post on Instagram A post shared by Politics For Dinner (@politicsfordinner)
