In A Seat at the Table, the restaurateur and activist details the founding of his Washington, D.C., eatery and bookstore Busboys and Poets, and offers insights on politics, food, immigration, and art.
You cover many different facets of your life in this book. How did you find that balance?
I didn’t want it to feel like it was just a food book, just an activism book. I wanted to have these experiences that shaped the trajectory that brought me to Busboys and Poets. I tried to pick and choose moments that I remember gave me that sense of forward movement.
How do politics and food connect for you?
Politics came first. Food was something that I thought could be a way for me to meet people that are into politics! I worked on the Jerry Brown campaign in 1992. We always had food, every time we had a gathering or an event or something like that. I really enjoyed the power that food brought to the table. It literally brought people together to have these very interesting conversations that they otherwise probably would not have had if there had not been food in front of them. I was spending hours and hours sitting with people like Ralph Nader and Howard Zinn and Daniel Ellsberg and Jerry Brown over a meal. The food becomes your connection in a very personal way to the person sitting in front of you. I think it brings down barriers; people can be themselves when they’re breaking bread with you.
I’m based in Brooklyn. I don’t know how much you’ve been following the mayoral race we’re having here.
Are you kidding? I have a picture of Zohran Mamdani hanging in my study.
He’s connected food and politics in a very tangible way.
He was eating with his hands in one of the videos that he did! I thought that was really cool. He’s bringing culture into the mix in a very seamless and comfortable way. It wasn’t forced. It wasn’t “let me show you how Indians eat” or something like that. It was just natural, organic. Food, in that sense, has made his campaign very special.
How do you stay engaged and focused even when things seem difficult?
Nikole Hannah-Jones writes about the idea that Black people were the ones that forced democracy on this country and said, “Okay, you said, ‘We the people.’ You said, ‘We are all created equal.’ Now live up to it.” I always have felt like my role is to fight for the promises this country has made to my family and to all people that have come to these shores. I really feel like it’s an obligation, it’s not an option. I really want to continue to leave this place better than I found it. That’s what keeps me hopeful and keeps me moving forward. I just don’t feel that life is worth living unless you’re constantly in that state of improving what’s around you.
