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Sweet&Sour Golubtsy
Sweet & Sour Golubtsy – Russian-Chinese Cuisine View this post on Instagram A post shared by Politics For Dinner (@politicsfordinner)
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The Other Cold War: Why China and the Soviet Union Fell Apart
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, China and the Soviet Union looked like the perfect pairing, as they were two huge Communist powers challenging the Western world. However, by the end of the 1960s, the relationship between the powerhouses quickly began to deteriorate, turning from an alliance into competition for influence, and even to violence. What happened to cause this? How did the two nations go from allies to rivals? The answer lies in one of the most underreported stories of the Cold War. In 1949, when Mao Zedong took control of China and the Chinese Communist Party, he saw building a relationship with the Soviet Union as crucial…
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Stamppot Shepherd’s Pie
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On this day – September 9th, 1543
On September 9th, 1543, at just nine months old, Mary Stuart was formally crowned as the Queen of the Scots. Mary had been Queen since her father’s death on December 14th, 1542, when was six days old. However, the crowning ceremony at Stirling Castle marked the official beginning of her reign as Mary Queen of Scots.
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The 335-Year War: History’s Longest Running Technicality
Imagine being at war for centuries without even knowing it… That was the 335 Year War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly, a minuscule island off the coast of England. Widely considered the world’s longest war, the conflict dates back to 1651. In order to fully understand the roots of the war, we must first take a look back at the English Civil War. Beginning in 1642, the Parliamentarians, led by Oliver Cromwell, and the Royalists, strong supporters of England’s King Charles I, fought in a raging war for control of the nation. The Royalist forces faced serious defeats, and by 1648, the majority of England had been…
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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
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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)
