A Cuisine of Exile

You are what you eat, the saying goes, and you become who you eat it with. After a lifetime of curating dishes and dinner companions from Paris to Istanbul and Budapest to Beijing, Gün Benderli knows this better than most. Whether discussing genius over a meal with legendary poets Nazm Hikmet, Pablo Neruda, and Nicolás Guillén or making mayonnaise with the resistance fighter Bert, whether sitting at a banquet held by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai or peddling soup to her picky grandkids, A Cuisine of Exile finds this militant radio broadcaster turned award-winning translator dishing up a feast for the stomach, heart, and mind.