Today we’d like to introduce you to Leighann Blackwood, Meghan Tschanz and Kayla Carnes.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The inspiration to create a feminist cookbook came to Meghan while she was fast asleep one night in the winter of 2018. Upon waking, Meghan couldn’t shake the late-night burst of motivation: write a book that would empower modern feminist women to reclaim their heavily stigmatized love for community, cooking, baking, and culinary creativity.
Writing a cookbook on her own wasn’t a one-woman job, so Meghan shared her vision with two close friends, Kayla and myself, Leighann. Together, we created a no-holds-barred project plan to bring the idea of a full-length cookbook to life. Armed with spatulas, an assortment of frying pans and matching FEMINIST aprons, embarking on a year-long journey to discover what it means to be a modern millennial working woman proudly bearing the ‘feminist’ label while also whole-heartedly embracing the dichotomy of womanhood that has been rejected or stigmatized as “lesser than”: an unapologetically badass female advocate who also loves to clock long hours crafting delicious dishes in the kitchen.
Together, we pay homage to a host of powerful historic feminist figures by repurposing and interpreting well-known (and lesser-known) recipes that have been enjoyed and prepared by famous feminist activists across the centuries. We documented our year-long journey on various social media channels, which ultimately culminated in the publication of our book, Recipes to Take Down the Patriarchy, a full-length color cookbook chronicling famous recipes new and old, all centered around the stories, biographies and victories of history’s most audacious female feminists.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
ANTI-PATRIARCY PAUSE, we started this project in the spring of 2020. Coming together at each other’s homes for brainstorming sessions, conversations about the state of our country, and our own fears about what would become of our nation post-Trump, we gained momentum and made plans to really get this cookbook off the ground. Our first full day of cooking and shooting dishes was on a partly cloudy day in February. We made about eight different dishes–from roast chicken to savory Spanish rice, to a delicious melt-in-your-mouth apple pie–in honor of Black History Month. We were so excited to get our first cooking session down and begin our journey of crafting delicious recipes in the weeks to follow. We even set up a Kickstarter page, asking friends, family, and the Kickstarter community for help in funding our endeavors. The donations came in slowly, but we figured we had time. Then COVID-19 happened.
Everything shut down. Our bi-monthly cooking. Our photography sessions. Our whole lives. And ultimately, because we knew everyone else’s lives had essentially taken an unwanted pause, we decided our Kickstarter needed to as well. We reached out to our followers and told them it just didn’t feel right to keep our Kickstarter up and running when so many people were getting sick, losing their homes, their jobs, and their lives. Instead, we decided that we’d work towards the advocacy piece of our mission and shed light on various causes (e.g. the rent moratorium, black lives matter movement, etc.) and ask our followers–all 500 or so–to do the same. For months, we focused primarily on calling our senators and writing letters to our governing officials and shared our journey with our IG and Facebook communities. While, for the moment, we couldn’t continue one part of our journey, we told ourselves we would keep doing the work and the rest would eventually follow–at least we hoped so.
BRIDGE TROLLS, throughout this process, we’ve encountered so much excitement for this book and for the work we were doing in the intersectional feminist/womanist space. But of course, with any project that sheds light on those in the margins, you have people who have yet to recognize their privilege (ahem, cis-het men), or those who simply refuse to do so, and in the process, try to undermine the work. We’ve had our share of trolls in our own, independent spaces as women, but with Recipes to Take Down the Patriarchy. We encountered racist, bigoted trolls of a new caliber, set to destroy anything that was anti-patriarchy. Which, if you understand the concept of patriarchy at its core, you’d know that it truly hurts all of us–not just women/trans folks/non-binary folks. Though some did end up conversing with us around our ideas and beliefs, many were simply in our DM’s to challenge (and threaten) us with no real purpose behind it. They were promptly blocked and ignored. Because we can’t waste our precious time arguing with those who just love to hear their own voice when the voices of many communities are being drowned out by society on a daily.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Kayla Carnes- Yoga teacher and writer by day, the team’s Ben Wyatt by night. She’s in charge of all RTTDTP’s accounting and budgeting. (Which is funny because she can’t organize a sock drawer to save her life.) She brings her experience as a former marketing director to help the team plan, prioritize and project goals while also contributing to recipe research and content editing. Catch her in the kitchen with her favorite tool, a pie pan, because who says you can’t be brilliant and unabashedly sweet-toothed at the same time?!
Meghan Tschanz- An avid baker and vulnerable writer— she’s the team’s badass woman researcher, recipe curator, and dreamer of what could be. She uses her degree in journalism and somewhat decent interview skills to talk to people cooler than her on the podcast Faith and Feminism. You can catch her crying in a corner, reading about inspiring women, writing vulnerable Instagram captions, or pretending to be a contestant on the Great British Baking Show. Her first book, Women Rising, was recently published by IVP in May 2021.
Leighann Blackwood- Licensed Master Social Worker, supporting students in the Atlanta Public School system, moonlighting as a freelance writer. A self-proclaimed graphics queen and perpetual photography student—she is the content creation lead for the team’s social media and website. She’s known for her love of all things social media and for always adding more vanilla than the recipe calls for. Because, as Julia Child once said, “everything in moderation, including moderation.”
How do you think about happiness?
Leighann- “My Goldendoodle puppy, a Dove, makes me really happy. I recently got her, and we’ve been slowly learning about one another. She has the sharpest teeth known to man, but she also gives the best slobbery, wet kisses. Spending time with my parents–we just got back from a trip to the island of Aruba- makes me joyful. Therapy also makes me happy. I am a HUGE proponent for therapy, whether you’re in the midst of crisis or in the best season of your life. My therapist has been a big help for me as I learn to regulate my mood, learn to sit in the present and realize that maybe the worst won’t happen. Listening to music and watching Schitt’s Creek also brings me a great deal of joy.”
Kayla- “You guys (Meghan/Leighann). Petting other people’s dogs. Realizing I have CheezIts in the pantry and Christmas.”
Meghan- Traveling to countries around the world. Her husband, and their dogs, Maude and Nellie Bly. Cooking and baking up a storm in the kitchen, winning at any game, ever. Hosting the people she loves the most at her home.
Pricing:
- Recipes to Take Down the Patriarchy: The Feminist’s Cookbook – $39.99
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@recipestotakedownthepatriarchy.com
- Website: https://www.recipestotakedownthepatriarchy.com/
- Instagram: instagram.com/recipestotakedownthepatriarchy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RTTDTP/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RTTDTP/
Image Credits
Tabitha Brooke Photography, Leighann Blackwood
