Elections With Cuban White Beans

I am quite heartened by the results of yesterday’s elections — the victory of Zohran Mamdani in the mayoral election in New York City stands out but Democratic candidates did spectacularly across the board. It was sad to see the high level of racism and Islamophobia in the mayoral race from sectors I’m supposedly in alignment with, but the voters of New York City as a collective got past that.

I first heard about Zohran Mamdani last spring leading up to the June primary, and soon discovered a fact about him that made me like him a lot. Six or so years ago as an aspiring rapper he made a rap video with the actress and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey that was a tribute to grandmothers. Madhur Jaffrey is in high esteem in our household and every week we cook between one and three recipes from her cookbooks. This week’s recipes are the following:

• Aromatic Cuban White Beans and Pumpkin Stew (Tuesday’s soup)
• Green Beans with Mushrooms (tomorrow’s dish)
• Bean Curd with Fresh Coriander (our standard Friday night fare — we simply call it tofu-cilantro).

I wish that the Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa had managed to push past Andrew Cuomo and come in second, but it was not to be. Sliwa is a cat person and currently has six kitties: at the height of the pandemic he was rescuing abandoned cats and one point had 17 living in his apartment. Trump disparaged him for his plans if elected to turn the mayoral mansion into a cat rescue site.

Three months ago independent journalist Marisa Kabas summed up the race this way:

why is this mayoral election different than all other mayoral elections?

in all other mayoral elections, we get to see andrew cuomo lose but once. but in this mayoral elections, we get to see him lose twice.

Mamdani will have many powerful people against him trying to thwart his agenda, but he has already done something quite significant. Today he named Lina Khan to be the co-chair of his transition committee. Khan is a brilliant young legal scholar who was the chair of the Federal Trade Commission during the Biden administration and was one of Biden’s most leftwing appointees. As an antitrust regulator, she was the terror of many of the large tech firms including Amazon and Meta. Naming her is a great choice by Mamdani.