[Music] welcome to between the covers summer series where the spotlight is on South Florida authors I'm Anne Bok and joining me is writer and journalist Raj T his Coming of Age Memoir shows how a young mixed race child struggled with identity and at the same time found that food was both a comfort and a sense of belonging the title is colorful palette thank you so much for being here it's an honor an I'm so excited what a lovely book it's it's an intimate story it's a family story it's a story of growing up as a multi-ethnic child with three cultures if I remember Indian Puerto Rican Italian so there's this big question who am I yeah I think I'm still asking that question to this day but you know growing up in that house as as crazy and confusing as it was I feel like it was also the most important beautiful experience I could have ever had you know I missed those days a lot and I think writing the book helped me reconnect with that part of my life how did it feel to you as a young child in this environment well I had these three different cultures very distinct very different cultures so I was always kind of floating in and out of these cultural worlds and I never really felt like I fit in you know I never felt like like a complete whole person um and I struggled with that for a long time and it really uh it was around the kitchen you know cooking with my mom and grandma that I really kind of learned about their Journeys and it helped me understand exactly who I came from food becomes the connection in in reading your Memoir as you said your grandmother your mother their kitchens when you're reading it you smell the Aromas of what's cooking is it enough to say that the kitchen was your safe spot yeah completely it was a place where I could ask questions to women who were really just trying to work as hard as they can and create a great life for my brother and me and you know it was really around peeling garlic and chopping onions and like mashing meatballs that I could kind of ask them about uh parts of their life that maybe they weren't always so open about and so food was this connective tissue to understanding the past that's so important I think today a lot of that can be lost with people running from you know 20 places at one time and kids maybe having to offend for themselves you know after school do you see where I I I yeah absolutely yeah I mean I think there's this disconnection between a child and and the fames that raise them and where they come from because there's just no time anymore to you know sit down have a meal and share these stories from generation to Generation Um and I guess I was just fortunate that I was annoying enough as a child to say who am I where do I come from where do you come from where does my father come from where do our grandparents come from you know and they'll tell me you know like it's for example a dish maybe they were cooking like the chicken curry my mom made for my Indian father and his community she told tell me about the Journey of that dish you know and what it took to to learn that dish as part of an acceptance into otherwise insular Community as lot many cultures are so it was be because of I didn't understand why we were eating an Indian dish on one night you know spaghetti and meatballs on another night oros gandules on another night what did it all mean that was normal for my life but I always kept asking questions you know I want to move into your house this sounds fantastic yeah I'm starving right now you sprinkle recipes at the end of the chapters and I think they were carefully cultivated carefully chosen each one kind of reflects a a moment that you chose to share with us and in doing this you you really open yourself up yeah it's very vulnerable um because you know family is really tough to write about um talking about one's self and identity is very difficult I'm something I'm still trying to to kind of understand about myself and food is really emotional I mean think for a lot of us I think you know when you taste something that um maybe was your mother or a family member made when you were a child it brings you right back to that moment so it was important for me to put recipes in that honored my family and no exact measurements because that's very Stern because every time I'd ask them you know how do you do that it's not a cup of this and it's always a pinch here a dash there and it kind of read like bead poetry after a while it was like well put this in the pot and it was cool you know it was exciting to to celebrate that and because this is not all you have another book coming out that is totally different a a children's book yeah it's a middle- grade book for um I think like 9 to 11 year olds you know Twins and um I because that was a time where I really struggled with myself at that point um it's called all mixed up it's a fiction novel it's a way for me to explore mixed race identity um in a way that is um kind of not only celebrated but also um entering a Marketplace that really doesn't have a lot of these stories um especially stories about Boyhood friendship which apparently is really um underappreciated in this market so I'm excited to go to libraries and schools and talk to kids and kind of really help open more Dialogue on this subject matter that isn't talked about enough I love that idea I hope you'll come back and talk about that when when that book is out Raj tell me one thing that you learned about yourself after completing this book um I learned that life is this continue explor continuous exploration that it's never done that anytime you think you have it all figured out you don't but also that more importantly um the writing in the book was cathartic and I learned much more about myself and the people who raised me than I had before you know it took a lot of even more question asking and research and I'm much more prouder of who I am as a multi-racial American what is one thing you would tell that young boy growing up that wanted to know who am I to be proud of yourself you know just don't be so ashamed of it you know I think I spent too many years wondering where do I fit in in this world and then I decided you know if you forge your own path in life and you find your place where you really just don't really care about what anybody else thinks really beautiful things can happen you know and your confidence will grow and and you really become you blossom into this person you never thought was possible and finally with a book that is centered around food give me an idea of what your favorite meal looks like okay my favorite meal is a is like a big mashup of a bunch of other dishes that kind of end up on my plate you know cuz during the holiday season there'd be lasagna on the table that my grandma made but there there would also be you know Chan Masala which is a chickpea Curry and there would also be you know a pork or rice and beans and so when I was a kid I used to take scoops of all of that put it on my plate together make like a big mushy scoop I can't do this today as an adult because people think I'm nuts put it in a big like on a spoon and to shove it in my mouth and all those flavors at once was just you know it was the most incredible experience um so I try to I try to do that today as an adult my wife yells at me that's okay the whole crew are all coming to your house for dinner so oh you have an open invitation thanks an Raj Tani is a writer and journalist his debut Memoir is colorful palette thank you so much for being here thank you an it's a pleasure I'm Anne boock please join me on the next between the covers [Music]