Columbia Pike Recipes for Recovery

Restaurant Stories from Around the World in One Zip Code

Along the Pike, recovery can be found in berbere spice and Rooibos tea and chile paste, each ingredient forming part of a unique recipe and story.

Columbia Pike Recipes for Recovery shares stories of how food connected a community during a time when they needed it most. This passion and patronage kept Columbia Pike restaurant owners in business and continues to forge a path towards individual and collective recovery.

Response by a visitor to our community engagement project tent at the Columbia Pike Farmer’s Market, Nov 2021. These responses from the community led me to each restaurant, and each story and recipe in the book. You will find them in the book.

“It started with me wondering how the restaurants, which were part of my 2016 project Columbia Pike Recipes for You, were doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Were they still around? How were they faring?

When I heard about the Buy-A-Nurse-Lunch program by the Columbia Pike Partnership, I was relieved that it kept the restaurants busy and in business. So we discussed if I could do a new version of my 2016 project and make a new book filled with new interviews and recipes.

As I was working in my studio, alone in a building closed to the public, I decided to go out and find out. I started with two community engagement events where I asked guests for stories of the 16 independently-owned ethnic food restaurants I had not yet interviewed. It took me two years to get 13 stories, but here we are! I hope you enjoy the stories I could collect and share.”
– Sushmita Mazumdar, artist.
Photo, left: Guests respond at the first event.

The 2021-2023 project Columbia Pike Recipes for Recovery shares stories of how food connected a community during a time when they needed it most. This passion and patronage kept Columbia Pike restaurant owners in business and continues to forge a path towards individual and collective recovery.

I have gathered a few stories here for you to experience, all from one zip code. The stories might be different from the ones you share around your dinner table. We invite you to savor Columbia Pike Recipes for Recovery through the eyes, ears, and mouths of those who call the Pike home.

BUY the book!

Join us at the Book Launch!

You can also buy this book at any of the participating restaurants:

*Restaurants whose stories are part of the book but are not longer on Columbia Pike.