Kitchen Playlist #2

From Stephanie Bonnin of La Tropikitchen.

The next Kitchen Playlist comes from Stephanie Bonnin who runs the New York City pop-up dining series La TropiKitchen, which is inspired by but not limited to the regional cuisine of Colombia’s Caribbean coast (listen to our interview on the podcast with her here). The music at her events is carefully selected to vibe perfectly with her food and her very presence. I could not think of anyone better to create the first guest playlist for this newsletter. If you like it, please share it.

She calls it “Música para lavar chismes, sacar el brillo fino y sacar a remojar los frijoles.”

This translates roughly to: “Music to wash the gossip, take out the steel wool pad and soak the beans.”

Here is her explanation: “To go ‘wash the gossip’ is a Colombian expression that is used to say wash the dishes. Colombian families used to be quite large so during family get-togethers there would be a lot of dishes. It is beautiful because it is something so communal. When I was growing up in Barranquilla, this was a moment for women to talk about novellas, family stories and other talk from around town.

This playlist is inspired by the music my mom listens to. There are lots of 80's songs with beats that keep the energy up! Now I don’t have anyone to wash my dishes, so when I’m doing them I just sing like a crazy person. When I hear these songs it takes me back to me listening to all the gossip in those kitchens while we scrubbed the rice stuck to the bottom of the calderos, the heavy pans we cooked with. It was also the moment where we would soak more beans in water to be ready the next day, so there was always this eternal quality to it, just one part of a never-ending process that I still feel a part of even though I’m so far from home.”

---

This is an ad-free space, and all support comes from you: readers and listeners. It is what keep this newsletter going. Think of it as ordering a drink and tipping the bartender.