How to Build Cross-Cultural Connections Over Food This Holiday Season

One evening this past September, I found myself seated around a table at the Dungan House—a guesthouse in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan—with a group of travelers from countries such as Spain, Canada and India. Together we were sharing a traditional meal of the Dungan people, Turkic-speaking Muslims who immigrated to Central Asia from China in the late 19th century.

The table was set with slices of watermelon as well as cucumber and tomato salads, and a steamed bread called jin momo resembling Chinese bao. Our hosts also brought out servings of beef-stuffed dumplings and bowls of lagman, a mix of beef, vegetables and pulled noodles, while we shared stories and learned about Karokol’s Dungan residents and their enduring Chinese roots. In a trip filled with incredible experiences, it was one of my most memorable—in large part because this dinner offered insight into a culture I knew very little about, in the company of others I’d only recently met.

“Food is a particularly good vehicle for sharing love,” says Lisa Kyung Gross, founder of New York City’s League of Kitchens, an organization that focuses on immigrant-led cooking classes to help build cross-cultural connections. Kyung Gross is also the author of the new The League of Kitchens Cookbook: Brilliant Tips, Secret Methods and Favorite Family Recipes From Around the World. “In every culture people come together and connect around the table,” says Kyung Gross. Her cookbook aims to share such global connections with readers.

Along with detailed recipes, The League of Kitchens Cookbook focuses on how foods are eaten in different cultures throughout the world—whether it’s using chopsticks or a piece of spongy injera bread to scoop up food with your hands—and features…