In the Media
Chaz Sandifer Debuts as Executive Producer on her first Documentary
Stories Behind the Menu started as a Dinner Series aimed at facilitating cultural conversations. Founded in Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s murder the Program has hosted dinners for hundreds of Minnesotans from wildly diverse backgrounds.
Each dinner features an Award-Winning local Chef with a unique story to tell, and a culture and history to share. The attendees are seated at random – NOT beside the people they arrived with. The idea is that food can serve as the catalyst for the type of open (and sometimes uncomfortable) cross-cultural conversations we desperately need to be having more often.
One night, five of these renowned Chefs gathered together in a kitchen to make each other a meal. They swap techniques, flavors, and childhood memories as they cook. Then, seated around a Chef’s Table delighting in each other’s food, the group has an unfiltered conversation about culture, history, oppression, and repair – all through the lens of their varied culinary traditions.
Bringing them together was an opportunity to capture the ethos of Stories Behind the Menu in microcosm…we get to see what it looks like when people truly come together to break bread.
Mpls/St Paul
As she was thinking of how important it had become to her to break bread with her friends while sharing ideas, she had a thought about inviting more people in. And because she's an incredible entrepreneur, the founder of theNEWmpls and the Lakeview Terrace Farmers Market among other ventures, she decided the time was right to go bigger, to bring storytelling to life through food.
MPR
It's easy to talk about food - its tastes, aromas, textures and potential to bring people together. Chaz Sandifer and Julie Burton also use food as a way to unlock to storytelling about people and cultures.
KSTP
Enjoy this recipe from Stories Behind the Menu for Eggplant, Pepper and Tomato Balkan Tapas.
Chaz Sandifer, creator of "Stories Behind the Menu," visited KARE 11 News at Noon to tell us what we can expect this week.
Yia Vang and Milissa Silva are just two of the chefs who have shared their food and their hearts at the table.
There are a million different ways to tell stories and share cultures. Chaz Sandifer developed “Stories Behind the Menu” as a way to do just that. She explains how this idea has grown while Tommy McNeal, the CEO of The Mobile Kitchen and chef Darren Hayes join Ben in the kitchen.
The best conversations usually happen over a good meal. That's the idea behind Chaz Sandifer's conversation series "Stories Behind The Menu."
Stories Behind the Menu will offer an experience that goes beyond the plate—a fusion of flavors, culture, and storytelling that celebrates both food and the people behind it.
Stories Behind The Menu grew out of Sandifer’s book club. Sandifer, the founder of theNEWmpls, wanted to partner with Burton, and ModernWell to be the host site. The partnership has brought in local chefs to create a “cultural voyage of... delicious food and rich storytelling.”
Stories Behind the Menu will offer an experience that goes beyond the plate—a fusion of flavors, culture, and storytelling that celebrates both food and the people behind it.