Local residents craft quilt, cookbook to counter divisiveness

In an age of political divisiveness, the Richmond Public Library is hoping food and sewing can bring people together.

On Thursday evening at the main library on Civic Center Plaza, library officials unveiled a community cookbook as well as a community quilt at a reception attended by several dozen people.

After putting out a call for submissions, the library received 16 recipes as well as 26 quilt patches from local residents.

The recipes were compiled in a 42-page book complete with photos, detailed cooking instructions and blank pages to add in personal recipes.

The recipes range from appetizers and side dishes to main courses and desserts. They include macaroni salad, Asian rice and vegetables, chicken in yogurt sauce, Polynesian spareribs and Italian sprinkle wedding cookies.

Free copies of the cookbook can be obtained or checked out at the Richmond main library.

The quilt will be displayed at the library. In addition to the 26 patches crafted by community members, there was a patch from the library as well one made by a local church, making a total of 28 squares in seven rows of four patches.

Christopher Eaton, a Richmond librarian, said at the ceremony that the cookbook and quilt are a way to help unify the community.

“They show the diversity and culture of Richmond,” he said. “It allows anybody of any background to come together.”

Eaton thanked California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, for providing funding for the project. He also praised the Friends of the Richmond Library for their support.

Evie Groch, whose recipe for sweet lokshen kugel is in the cookbook, thanked library officials “for all that they do.”

Groch is an El Cerrito resident but frequents Richmond’s main library. She said the inclusiveness of the cookbook is needed now more than ever in our divided nation.

“I can’t think of a better way to bring people together,” she said.

Khammany Mathavongsky, a resident of Tara Hills who also is a regular visitor to Richmond’s main library, submitted a quilt patch as well as a recipe for three comrades larb mushroom salad.

He told the gathering that it was an “honor to contribute to this project.”

After the ceremony, he said the quilt and cookbook gave him an opportunity to share his Laotian culture with the rest of the community. Mathavongsky, who is a board member of the Wat Lao Rattanaram temple a block north of the library, also said the cookbook and quilt stand in opposition to a divided country.

“It’s an opportunity for our community to show its heritage,” he said. “Food can really bring people together.”

Marilyn Smith and her husband, Eric Torgerson, didn’t submit a recipe or a quilt patch. But the couple traveled from their home in Richmond’s Marina Bay neighborhood to attend the ceremony.

“It’s a community event and we wanted to support it,” Smith said.

She and her husband both thought highly of the cookbook and the quilt.

“We’re very impressed with the efforts,” Smith said.