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Originally Published: 12 JAN 24 10:31 ET
By Krystal Hur, CNN
New York (CNN) — Markets were anything but predictable last year. Investors aren’t looking to get caught flat-footed again.
Stocks ended on a high note last year, but were tested by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, banking turmoil, debt ceiling worries and war in the Middle East.
Many early-year consensus predictions about what 2023 would bring — including a recession and several rate cuts — didn’t pan out.
CNN spoke with five investors about the biggest lessons they learned and how they’ve helped shape their 2024 outlooks.
Don’t underestimate the American consumer
Americans shelled out on everything from summer vacations to concert tours featuring Taylor Swift and Beyoncé last year. That helped keep the economy, and, in turn, the market, resilient even as the Fed raised rates to a 22-year high.
David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, says he expects Americans to continue spending robustly, despite the continued drain on savings accumulated during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“American consumers don’t pull back when they should, they pull back when they’ve got no choice,” said Kelly.
History isn’t a guide to the future
In 2022, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note fell below that of the 2-year, a phenomenon that has historically preceded recessions. Many traders and economists pointed to the yield curve inversion as a sign that the economy could downturn in 2023. That didn’t happen.
“Why would we expect this one-factor model to still hold in a world where we just had three or four unprecedented things take place in the last year?” said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management. Still, a recession isn’t completely off the tablefor 2024.
Don’t fight the Fed
George Cipolloni, portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management, says he’s sticking with one of Wall Street’s favorite adages when it comes to the central bank’s influence on markets.
The saying proved apt in 2023. Investors, for example, had anticipated in the spring that the Fed would cut rates several times in the latter half of the year, despite the central bank’s warnings of potential further hikes.
Hot inflation data derailed those expectations. Stocks entered a months-long rout and bond yields spiked. The pain eased after the Fed projected three rate cuts for 2024.
Diversify beyond the ‘Magnificent Seven’
Leslie Thompson, chief investment officer at Spectrum Wealth Management, says she recommends that investors don’t get swept up in fear of missing out and instead take a longer time horizon to maintain a diversified portfolio.
While the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks — Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Alphabet and Meta Platforms — took home the lion’s share of the market’s gains last year, for example, they weren’t the only winners. The end of 2023 ushered in an “everything” rally that saw beaten-down assets from small-caps to energy to financials run higher.
Thompson expects the rally to continue broadening out and says she’s eyeing industrials and dividend-payers.
Fundamentals have to start mattering
The S&P 500 index gained 24% last year despite an earnings recession, often defined as at least two straight quarters of corporate profit losses. Companies in the S&P 500 reported 4.9% earnings growth during the third quarter of 2023, breaking a streak of losses since the fourth quarter of 2022, according to FactSet.
Fourth-quarter earnings, which kick off on Friday with results from big banks, are expected to grow about 1% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The “Magnificent Seven,” which trade at roughly 31 times expected earnings, in particular have gotten expensive, says Amanda Agati, chief financial officer at PNC Asset Management Group.
“The market has behaved sort of erratically and emotionally … since the 2022 bottom,” but company earnings will have to justify valuations this year, said Agati.
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NYSE
**This image is for use with this specific article only** People walk by the New York Stock Exchange in the Financial District on March 7, 2023.
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12 Jan 24
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Originally Published: 12 JAN 24 07:00 ET
Updated: 12 JAN 24 10:41 ET
By George Ramsay, CNN
(CNN) — About this time last year, Ben Shelton was an up-and-coming tennis player taking his first-ever trip outside the United States.
Not long out of college, Shelton was relatively unknown on the circuit having only been pro for the past six months. But armed with a lethal serve and the fearlessness of youth, things were about to change – fast.
“I feel like it went from nobody knowing me to a lot of people knowing me kind of overnight,” Shelton tells CNN Sport. “It felt really quick.”
Skip ahead 12 months and the 21-year-old American is in Australia preparing to play in his sixth grand slam and second at Melbourne Park.
At this point in his young career, Shelton’s results have been excellent: he reached the quarterfinals of last year’s Australian Open and went a step further at the US Open, eventually losing to Novak Djokovic in a fiery semifinal. Several weeks after that, he won his first ATP Tour title in Japan.
It figures, then, that Shelton enters his second full season as a professional tennis player with weighty expectations.
“He could cut his ranking in half,” tennis coach and broadcaster Brad Gilbert recently told CNN, “and I think he’s going to be the first American [man] potentially to win a slam since Andy Roddick.”
It’s now been just over 20 years since Roddick triumphed at the US Open, and Shelton is the latest American looking to end that drought. He is currently 16th in the world rankings and has the company of compatriots Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe in the top 20.
Shelton, however, is coy about his ambitions for the year ahead.
“I feel like no matter what you say in the press, someone’s going say: ‘Oh, you shot too high or you shot too low,’” he says.
“So I’m going to keep my result-based goals between me and my team … I don’t have anything in my mind that I’m really setting out for yet. I feel like I don’t want to put a ceiling on myself and what I can achieve. I just want to take things one step at a time and see where I am at the end of this year.”
Shelton’s career path to date has been unconventional. Football was his primary passion until the age of 12 or 13, and despite his family pedigree – Shelton’s dad and uncle were professional tennis players, while his mom was an accomplished junior – he was under no pressure to take up the sport himself.
It was only after seeing his sister travel to tournaments across the country that Shelton was convinced to take tennis more seriously and begin his rise through the junior ranks.
But even in a sport that loves to celebrate teenage champions – Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu, for example – Shelton decided to spend his formative years closer to home. He enrolled at the University of Florida, where his dad was the coach, and went on to win the NCAA singles title in 2022.
“There’s not one path for everybody, and I don’t think that my path is perfect, but it really worked for me,” says Shelton. “At this point, at 21 years old, I feel fairly fresh. I haven’t been out here that long. I don’t feel burned out at all.
“Tennis can be a grueling sport with the schedule and amount of travel, so I’m glad that I got a little bit of a later start. I don’t feel like I have too many miles on my body yet.”
On the court, Shelton is physical and powerful. A six-foot-four left-hander, his serve is his most dangerous weapon – “a rocket shooting up off the ground,” according to Scott Perelman, a coach at the University of Florida.
At last year’s US Open, Shelton hit two serves at 149 miles per hour in his fourth-round match – just three miles per hour short of the tournament record, which is owned by Roddick.
But the Georgia native doesn’t want to be seen as a one-dimensional, serve-smashing automaton, and he believes that he arrives at the Australian Open as a far more accomplished player compared to last season.
“I feel like I’m worlds ahead of where I was a year ago,” he says. “I’m much more solid from the baseline. I think I’m also more comfortable taking away time and coming forward to the net.
“But I’d say the biggest factor is probably my movement. I think I’m a much better mover and player out of the corners, and when moving hard side to side and forward and backwards.”
Shelton has been coached by his father, Bryan, since June last year. Even at the age of 19, the former Georgia Tech and Florida coach said that he could see how his son was “a different animal” than he was during his playing days, and the younger Shelton has so far been enjoying their player-coach relationship.
“There’s no other person in the world who knows me better, what makes me tick, the things that I’m good at, the things I need to improve on,” he says.
They will both be hoping for another deep run at this year’s Australian Open, which begins on Sunday, or even to eclipse Shelton’s semifinal showing at last year’s US Open, where he gained as much attention for his now-iconic hanging-up-the-phone celebration as he did his gutsy play.
The dramatized slamming down of the receiver is a way, Shelton explained at the time, of saying that he’s “dialed in.” Even Djokovic ended up copying it, teasingly or otherwise.
The US Open and the maiden title in Tokyo that followed rounded off an enormously successful first year as a pro for Shelton – and with success came marketability.
In March, it was announced that Shelton had signed a sponsorship deal with Swiss sportswear brand On, the company’s first foray into tennis. Currently, the only other top player wearing On clothing is women’s world No. 1 Iga Świątek.
The sponsorship deal prompted a wave of photoshoots and interviews for Shelton, on top of his regular press commitments at tournaments. A life in the public spotlight, he explains, has been a new experience for him over the past 12 months.
“That’s something that I’m trying to adjust to – feeling like all the eyes are on me,” says Shelton. “It’s another piece of being a professional athlete that I didn’t think of that much before I turned pro.”
In short, the past 12 months have been a steep learning curve for one of the most exciting talents in men’s tennis. But Shelton has so far shown himself to be a fast learner – and grand slam success might not be far behind.
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Ben Shelton
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Shelton celebrates winning match point against Frances Tiafoe in the 2023 US Open quarterfinals.
Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports/Reuters
12 Jan 24
Novak Djokovic
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Djokovic mimics Shelton’s celebration after their quarterfinal match at the US Open.
Mike Stobe/Getty Images
12 Jan 24
Ben Shelton
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Shelton won his first ATP Tour title at the Japan Open after defeating Aslan Karatsev in the final.
Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
12 Jan 24
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CNN’s Erica Hill sits down with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ava DuVernay to talk about her new film “Origin” based on the best-selling book “Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson, and why the filmmaker wants audiences to hear the film’s message before the 2024
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The Sacramento Fire Department responded to a fire along 12th Street in Sacramento on Friday. The fire broke out first at the structure, which was vacant, and then spread to the home, a fire official said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Originally Published: 12 JAN 24 10:42 ET
By Jordan Valinsky, CNN
New York (CNN) — Bud Light brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev is becoming the first-ever beer sponsor for the next three Olympics and Paralympic Games — with a non-alcoholic brand taking the torch.
Rather than using the sponsorship to advertise an established beer, AB InBev announced Friday that non-alcoholic Corona Cero beer will be promoted globally to show the company’s and International Olympic Committee’s “commitment to responsible consumption” to the “billions of Olympic fans around the world with messages of connection, moderation and celebration.”
Financial terms of the sponsorship weren’t revealed. The deal will cover the upcoming Summer Games in Paris, the Milan Winter Games in 2026, and the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, which will be the first Summer Olympics to be held in the US in about three decades.
Prior to this, the Olympics never had a global beer sponsorship, but local organizing committees had enlisted beer brands in the past. For example, Asahi Breweries was the official beer of the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo (which took place in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.)
“Beer and sports are better together, so we are proud to be the first beer sponsor for the Olympics at the Worldwide Olympic Partner level,” said AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris in a statement.
Global sales of non-alcoholic beer have been soaring in recent years as drinkers embrace moderation with alcohol. IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, a global firm that tracks alcohol sales, said sales of no and low products are expected to grow by 31% this year in 10 major markets, including Spain, Germany and the US.
Corona Cero, launched in 2022, isn’t sold in the US since AB InBev handles international distribution and sales of Mexican lager across Europe. However, Modelo maker Constellation Brands controls the beer in the US and Mexico. (A similar beer, called Corona Non-Alcoholic, is sold in the US).
“We are always connected and up to speed with consumer behavior, being a consumer-centric organization, that’s what we do,” AB InBev CMO Marcel Marcondes told CNN. “We see all the trends towards non-alcoholic propositions coming from consumers, and also we know that beer is usually the beverage of choice for sports fans.”
Specifically, Corona was chosen because “this is the most global brand that we have in the company, and this is a global partnership,” Doukeris told CNN. “Therefore, it only makes sense for us to go with the brand that we have the highest reach globally.”
Also announced Friday, AB InBev’s Michelob Ultra is becoming the “exclusive beer sponsor” for Team USA athletes through 2028 and will be the official beer of the LA 2028 Summer Games.
Budweiser ended its sponsorship of Team USA athletes in 2017 after 32 years. Michelob Ultra, a low-carb beer, is likely more of a fit since it targets active people, often tapping high-profile athletes for its ads.
CNN’s George Ramsay contributed to this report.
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Paris 2024 Olympic Games
**This image is for use with this specific article only** This Paris 2024 Olympic Games flag next to European Union and French flag at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris in 2024.
Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
12 Jan 24
Originally Published: 11 JAN 24 09:46 ET
By Issy Ronald, CNN
(CNN) — The first known piece of mail sent using a prepaid stamp — “one of the greatest leaps forward in human communication” — could fetch between $1.5 million and $2.5 million when it comes up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York next month.
If the piece realizes its estimate, Sotheby’s said it would become one of the most valuable pieces of postal history to have ever been auctioned.
Dated May 2, 1840, the letter’s original recipient was William Blenkinsop Jr., the 35-year-old manager of a Victorian iron works in Bedlington, a town in the north of England. Sotheby’s state that all that’s known about the letter’s sender is that they posted the missive in London — about 300 miles to the south — and paid for it with the Penny Black stamp.
After receiving the letter, Blenkinsop Jr. turned the envelope inside out and refashioned it as a “Mulready” – an ornate wrapper embellished with images representing the British Empire that acted as another method of prepaid payment introduced at the same time as the Penny Black.
That second envelope reached a Mr. Blenkinsop, most likely his father, who lived 75 miles away in Dalston, Carlisle and kept it, although the contents of both letters themselves have been lost.
“Surviving over 180 years, the ornate Mulready envelope sealed with a Penny Black revolutionized the way people from all walks of life correspond, exchange ideas, share news and express themselves,” Richard Austin, Sotheby’s Global Head of Books & Manuscripts, said in a statement.
“At the dawn of the AI age, this remarkable object speaks to our innate human desire for connection and the ways in which it has evolved to new heights in the two centuries since.”
Both sides of the envelope still bear the stamped dates on which they were sent, the first on May 2, 1840 and the second on May 4, two days before the official start date of the Penny Black.
Teacher and social reformer Sir Rowland Hill conceived the idea for the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive stamp, to standardize the complex, expensive and unpredictable postal rates at the time, that were paid for by the recipient.
The system was unwieldy for both those using it and the postal service, who could sometimes not recover the costs of delivering items if the person receiving them did not pay.
While the stamp was wildly successful and subsequently adopted worldwide, the Mulready envelope was withdrawn after it was ridiculed by the public.
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First mail
**This image is for use with this specific article only** The first known piece of mail sent using a stamp is to be auctioned for up to $2.5 million.
Sotheby’s
11 Jan 24
First mail
**This image is for use with this specific article only** The envelope was resent as a Mulready.
Sotheby’s
11 Jan 24
The Penny Black stamp
**This image is for use with this specific article only** The Penny Black stamp revolutionized the postal service.
Sotheby’s
11 Jan 24
Originally Published: 11 JAN 24 05:51 ET
Updated: 11 JAN 24 10:14 ET
By Katia Hetter, CNN
(CNN) — Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.
The winter surge of respiratory viruses is underway. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to record rising levels of hospitalizations associated with Covid-19 as well as increasing hospitalizations for influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV.
Many ill people are reporting that their symptoms are lasting for more than a week, even up to two weeks for some. Is this normal? What should your expectations be about the length of viral respiratory illnesses? When should you contact your doctor for additional testing? And what other steps could you take to facilitate your recovery? For example, is it advisable to work, go to school or exercise?
To guide us through these questions, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. She previously was Baltimore’s health commissioner.
CNN: Many of us have friends and colleagues who are experiencing weeks of virus symptoms. Is this normal?
Dr. Leana Wen: There are three issues to consider here. First, let’s discuss how long symptoms typically persist for some common illnesses. For a regular cold, symptoms tend to peak within the first few days after they start. However, some symptoms, especially a runny or stuffy nose or cough, can last up to 14 days, according to the CDC.
Similarly, though those infected with influenza are typically better within seven days, some could have symptoms lasting over two weeks. And the same goes for RSV, the coronavirus and other viruses. Most symptoms generally peak within the first week, and most people are better within two weeks, but it’s not uncommon for some people’s recovery to take longer.
Second, it’s not unusual for some specific symptoms to linger even after others resolve. For instance, some people may develop a persistent cough that lasts several weeks, while other symptoms like body aches and fever could be gone within a few days.
This is especially true for people who have underlying lung disease, for whom the virus could have worsened that condition. Someone with asthma might need to use their inhaler more in the weeks or months following their infection, for example. Then there are also post-viral conditions, such as long Covid, that are associated with ongoing symptoms like fatigue and brain fog. These symptoms could last for months or longer.
Third, it’s also possible that someone who thinks they have one long viral illness is actually experiencing multiple rounds of viral infections. Kids in school and day care, for instance, may have one viral illness that is just beginning to resolve when they contract another one. They may even contract more than one virus at the same time. What seems like a prolonged recovery may really be several overlapping viruses.
CNN: When should people decide to seek additional medical care?
Wen: First and most importantly, what is the age of the individual and what are their preexisting medical conditions? People at the extremes of ages — newborns and elderly individuals — are more likely to become severely ill from viral illnesses. Those with underlying medical conditions like heart and lung disease and who are immunocompromised are also more vulnerable.
These individuals should seek additional medical care sooner. Ideally, they should already have a plan with their primary care provider about what kinds of symptoms should prompt them to get care. Everyone should know how to reach their provider after hours and, if this is not possible, to have a plan for which emergency room or urgent care they will go to if a need arises.
Another factor is whether testing has been done. Do you already know which virus is causing your symptoms? Some people might have already tested positive for, say, Covid-19, and have started an antiviral treatment. Have you also had a chest X-ray? Getting additional testing is one reason to seek medical care, and someone who just underwent tests may not need them repeated so soon. Still, they should contact their medical provider to be certain, especially if they are in a vulnerable group.
A third key factor is time and the progression of your symptoms. If it’s been 10 days but your symptoms are improving, that’s a different story from if it’s been over two weeks and now you have new or worse symptoms. Symptoms that should prompt urgent care would include shortness of breath, chest pain and inability to keep down fluids.
Also, if your symptoms improved but then got worse again, it’s possible that you could have a second, different infection. If you are eligible for antiviral treatment, consider contacting your physician to see if you could be tested for flu or Covid-19. There is also the possibility that you could have something other than a viral respiratory infection. Some people who first have a viral infection could then develop a bacterial infection.
Or perhaps your symptoms are due to something other than an infection. The fatigue you’re experiencing could be a sign of anemia or thyroid dysfunction, for instance. A final factor to consider is to listen to your body. Your doctor is the expert when it comes to medicine, but you are the expert when it comes to yourself. You know your body the best. If something doesn’t feel right, that’s another reason to seek care sooner rather than later.
CNN: What should you expect if you do reach out to your doctor, and what questions should you ask?
Wen: Your doctor may schedule an in-person or virtual appointment with you. They will ask you about your symptoms, so make sure you bring a detailed description of how you’ve felt and how the symptoms changed — or not — over time. Describe what treatments you’ve tried and whether they’ve helped. Be sure to mention a particular symptom that is concerning to you.
You could be recommended to receive additional testing, such as viral tests, blood tests or a chest X-ray. Questions to ask include what these tests are intended to show, as well as what to do if the tests are negative. Should you continue supportive treatments such as fluids and fever-reducing medications? Are there other diagnoses that your doctor is considering? If tests are not recommended at this time, when might they be in the future?
CNN: What other steps could you take to facilitate your recovery? For example, is it advisable to work, go to school or exercise?
Wen: Most viral illnesses self-resolve, which means that they go away on their own without specific treatment. How people recover depends a lot on what they’ve done in the past and what their condition is at present. Some people need a lot of rest. Others prefer to keep busy and continue light exercise. All of these are generally reasonable options, and people should discuss individual circumstances with their health care provider.
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Cold
**This image is for use with this specific article only** With a cold, a cough may last up to two weeks, the CDC says, but some people who experience viral illnesses may have a cough that lasts several weeks.
Charday Penn/E+/Getty Images
11 Jan 24
Originally Published: 11 JAN 24 08:49 ET
Updated: 11 JAN 24 10:17 ET
By Zamira Rahim, CNN
(CNN) — Roya Shariat doesn’t think of her cookbook “Maman and Me” as a Middle Eastern book. She co-wrote it with her mother, Gita Sadeh, and each page unfolds an Iranian-American recipe with gentle, firm affection.
Some of the dishes are classically Iranian, such as the tahdigs that helped the pair run up millions of TikTok views during the pandemic. Others carry Western influences – a clever recipe for orange and cardamom French Toast has been a particular favourite with readers.
Shariat knows the book will likely end up classified as Middle Eastern. The term is loosely used to refer to countries that span from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula to Iran. In her cookbook, Shariat suggests the fitting term for the region is “Southwest Asia.”
“The term Middle East was coined by the British,” she says. “You think about those two words; they’re quite meaningless, unless you’re thinking … from a Western point of view.” She says she felt it was important to be intentional with the language she used on the page.
Shariat has never been to Iran, a country her parents left in 1985 for the United States, though she says she’d love to visit someday. The 30-year-old grew up in Maryland but her connection with her heritage is rooted in cooking.
For Gita Sadeh, food was a way to connect with a country she’d left behind, according to her daughter.
“[Maman] would say… as soon as she was tall enough to reach the stove, she was next to it, helping her own mom cook,” Shariat says. “And she just had a natural gravitation to the kitchen from a young age.”
Sadeh moved to Tehran for university, where her knack for throwing together basic student fare such as eggs and rice or soup developed into composing extravagant meals for her friends. When building a new life in America, she cooked Iranian and Western dishes, finding a link to her past within her kitchen.
Food and language
Shariat’s own culinary journey was similar. The writer picked up the basics while in and out of her mom’s kitchen at a young age. The French Toast with a twist from the book has its roots in a Mommy and Me cooking class the pair took when Shariat was a small child.
“For me growing up in America [and] growing up outside of Iran, food was that lifeline to [the country]. Food and language,” Shariat says.
“Being able to speak Farsi and being able to recreate the recipes and cook, was a connection to home,” she adds.
“When you’re a third-culture kid, you’re not quite American enough but you’re not also quite Iranian enough for either group of people and you need to find something that keeps you grounded and rooted and feels like a tether to home. Food was definitely that for me.”
The Glossier beauty brand executive had always dreamed of writing her own cookbook but her ideas came to fruition when she began posting TikToks from her mother’s kitchen during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I’ve wanted to write a cookbook since I was a teenager,” Shariat says. “But it was during the pandemic that I started taking videos of my mom’s cooking [and] my mom’s beautiful tahdig.”
The writer had gone home to her parents for Iranian new year, which coincided with the early days of the pandemic. Shariat ended up spending two months in Maryland. She said she knew that this time, when she was hunkered down with her folks as an adult, was special.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get this time back,” she says. She started taking lots of photos and videos, latching on in particular to fun clips of her mom in the kitchen. TikTok was surging in popularity at the time, spurred on by droves of people who were also isolating at home.
A few videos in, Shariat posted a video of her mom making a simple chicken stew. The video went viral and Shariat’s account gained several thousand followers. Three years on, the account is close to 200,000 followers and the short videos have been viewed millions of times. Shariat has also started a beloved Instagram page called “Maman and Me” and the online success bloomed into the much-hoped-for book, which has the same name.
Third-culture cooking
The pair’s viewers delight in Sadeh bustling around the kitchen, in the mother and daughter banter and the specificity of third-culture cooking, which is infused with longing for an old land while standing in a new one. It is easy to see why Shariat hopes a cooking show could follow the book.
“People became fascinated with my mom,” Shariat says. “People call her ‘our mom.’ They wanted to see her cooking. This community rallied around her.”
Sadeh, who is not on TikTok, was startled and entertained by the sudden burst of fame.
“She and my dad were amazed,” Shariat says. She updates her parents on particular TikTok highlights or view milestones. “[My mom] laughs, she cries, she tells me what to say in comment replies!”
The book is as much for Shariat’s generation as it is for Sadeh’s, reflecting as it does a mix of Iranian and Iranian-American dishes. It is also a consummately millennial cookbook; there are traditional stews and rice dishes but these are balanced with tips on how to throw together an easy weeknight dinner. There are also pages dedicated to great snacks, cocktails and finger food ideas such as the Chips and Greek Yogurt Dip recipe that Shariat names as one of her favourites.
Other highlights include a spiced red lentil soup made with garlic, cumin and turmeric and a turmeric rice dish that Shariat describes as a “one-pot wonder.” The dishes were photographed for the book by the Arab-American photographer Farrah Skeiky.
I ask Shariat what her mother, who has now lived for 38 years in the US, had to say when she saw the book for the first time. The writer tells me there’s a video of her parents seeing the book’s PDF for the first time. When they scrolled, the book’s dedication came up first. It reads: “This book is a tribute to all the immigrant parents and caretakers who left their homes for a foreign land….Maman and Baba, this one’s for you.”
“I showed them the dedication and you hear [Mom] reading it and her voice cracks and she immediately starts crying,” Shariat says.
“Everything I feel like I do is to thank [my parents] for their immense courage [and] tenacity – all of the amazing things that immigrant parents so often give to their children.”
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Iranian cookbook
**This image is for use with this specific article only** After finding success on TikTok, the pair have published a book.
Courtesy Roya Shariat
11 Jan 24
Roya Shariat and Gita Sadeh
**This image is for use with this specific article only** Roya Shariat and her mother Gita Sadeh are pictured.
Farrah Skeiky
11 Jan 24
Cucumber and tomato salad
**This image is for use with this specific article only** The mother and daughter’s “everyday cucumber and tomato salad.”
Farrah Skeiky
11 Jan 24