Podcast Summary: "Celebrating Dumplings From Around the World This Lunar New Year"

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Date: February 18, 2026
Host: David Fuerst (in for Alison Stewart)
Guests: Eric Kim (New York Times food and cooking columnist), Hedy Lou MacKinnon (food writer)

Overview

In celebration of Lunar New Year and New York Times Cooking’s Dumpling Week, this episode explores the rich cultural, emotional, and culinary significance of dumplings from around the world. Host David Fuerst is joined by food writers Eric Kim and Hedy Lou MacKinnon to discuss the diversity of dumplings, their place in family traditions, and how New Yorkers and others celebrate Dumpling Week with recipes and stories, echoing the vibrant multicultural tapestry of the city. The conversation is interwoven with listener calls sharing their own dumpling memories and traditions.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dumplings Across Cultures: Definitions and Debates

• What makes a dumpling?
  • Eric Kim describes dumplings as “anything that’s filled with a filling, anything that gets steamed, pan fried, or fried” (03:53).
  • Debate about expanding the definition—are empanadas or ravioli dumplings? Hedy: “I think it is” (04:34).
  • Hedy mentions her family’s dumpling, gokjae, and its similarities with empanadas in Argentina (04:35).
• Inclusivity:
  • Both guests argue for an inclusive approach to what counts as a dumpling, celebrating global diversity.
    • Eric: “I think we’re of the bent to kind of include most things… it really says a lot about our just human nature” (17:55).

2. Dumplings and Family Traditions

• Symbolism during Lunar New Year:
  • Hedy: Dumplings are “a sign of luck… they represent gold ingots, which are like old currency in Chinese culture” (05:21).
  • Dumpling-making as a family bonding ritual and rite of passage:
    • Hedy: “Some of my earliest memories… are actually making dumplings with my mom. Being invited to that table… was a big deal. It’s a rite of passage.” (05:54)
  • Eric shares forming new family traditions with his partner:
    • “I wanted him to learn about dumpling folding so that we could start a new tradition together because we’re starting our own family now.” (06:44)

3. Listener Stories: Dumplings as Cultural Connectors

• Non-Asian Dumplings:
  • Jeffrey from Brooklyn shares about Jewish kreplach at Second Avenue Deli: “It’s beef…they’re quite large…it’s very authentic.” (09:09)
  • Discussion of Polish pierogies (Eric reminiscing about Veselka) and Ukrainian varenikes (Leti from East Brunswick, 20:29).
• Teaching and Community:
  • Marja from the Lower East Side shares about her restaurant’s dumpling classes as storytelling: “Each dumpling filling was like a story, like little content.” (19:23)
• Dumplings as comfort:
  • Jennifer in South Orange wishes to cheer her injured daughter with homemade dumplings (13:27).
• Friendship and Inclusion:
  • Dominique from Brooklyn recalls being welcomed into a Chinese family’s Lunar New Year dumpling-making tradition: “It was so cute and wholesome to just see, like, how her family just, you know, took us in.” (23:31)

4. NYT Dumpling Week: Evolution and Recipes

• Annual Celebration:
  • Now in its second year; started with traditional dumplings, expanding this year to various world styles (10:17).
• Recipe highlights:
  • Hetty’s mushroom manti, a vegetarian take on Turkish/Central Asian dumplings with yogurt and spicy tomato sauce (10:44, 16:33).
  • Viral recipes: Hedy’s “tomato dumpling salad” (08:06), a popular summer dish using store-bought frozen dumplings.
  • Innovative approaches:
    • Thai basil chicken dumplings with gluten-free rice paper wrappers (12:42).
    • K Chun’s potato-cheese dumplings—a fusion inspired by Russian, Korean, and pierogi traditions (14:39).
• Educational value:
  • Eric celebrates the expertise shared through video tutorials on NYT Cooking: “You get to watch these experts…do it with so much elegance.” (11:29)

5. Food, Identity, and Evolution

• Dumplings as a mirror of migration and adaptation: Recipes and techniques “come from no culture but all cultures,” blending past and present (Eric, 15:09).
• Layered meanings: Comfort, nostalgia, and togetherness echoed through calls, personal memories, and shared meals (“magic” and “ritual” mentioned repeatedly, e.g., 21:14 by Leti).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On dumpling diversity:
  • Eric: “We’re sort of stretching the definition of dumpling this year because we want everyone to understand…the possibilities of filling things.” (03:53)
• On family and ritual:
  • Hedy: “Some of my earliest and most treasured memories are actually making dumplings with my mom, being invited to that table.” (05:54)
• On new traditions:
  • Eric: “I have these…King Mandu…every time I open that, I’m, like, reminded of… the four of us gather(ing) around a table helping my mom fold dumplings.” (06:44)
• On inclusivity:
  • Hedy (on ravioli): “When I do hot pot at home… I get out frozen ravioli and it goes in the broth. To me, it’s so similar… I do consider it a dumpling.” (17:29)
• Listener’s warmth:
  • Jennifer: “Whenever I say to her what do you want for dinner? She always says dumplings…hopefully this will cheer her up.” (13:27)
• Describing varenikes:
  • Leti: “She had to dry them before cooking, so she spread dish towels all over her little tiny apartment. On every surface, there were the dumplings drying, and it was the most beautiful thing I saw as a child.” (20:29)
• On the comfort of dumplings:
  • Eric: “I think that combination is just so comforting. It’s like what I want to eat after a drink or two.” (21:20)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Dumpling definitions, cultural debates | 03:25–04:58| | Family traditions, making dumplings at home | 05:21–07:10| | Listener stories – Tomato dumpling salad | 07:35–08:34| | Non-Asian dumplings: Kreplach, Pierogi | 08:46–09:53| | NYT Dumpling Week—scope and highlights | 10:17–12:25| | Gluten-free dumpling advice | 12:42–13:11| | Listeners: Dumplings as comfort food | 13:27–15:20| | Manti & cross-cultural connections | 15:38–17:14| | Ravioli and broad definitions | 17:27–18:37| | Listener stories: Dumpling classes, varenikes | 19:16–21:14| | Afghan dumplings (ashak); favorite/worst dumplings | 22:05–22:44| | Inclusion in Lunar New Year tradition | 22:52–23:54| | Is baked pork bun a dumpling? (Yes!) | 23:54–24:05|

Additional Resources

• All NYT Dumpling Week recipes and videos:
  • nytcooking.com, or via the NYT Cooking app.
• Watch cooking demonstrations by thinkers, doers, and creators—experts featured each day on youtube.com/NYTCooking.

Tone and Takeaways

The episode is infused with warmth, nostalgia, and an infectious delight for food traditions old and new. The hosts and guests are open-hearted—curious about global foodways, gleeful about experimentation, and reverent about the emotional weight dumplings carry in so many families and communities. Above all, the message is inclusivity: that dumplings, in their many forms, are a global language of care, creativity, and togetherness.

Closing Quote (Hedy Lou MacKinnon, 24:19):
“Happy Dumpling Week to all who celebrate.”