This is the forested area behind our house. It’s the part of our property that the creek runs through. It’s where I go when I need peace and calm and to escape from the world for a little bit.
If you’ve been reading this blog since I restarted it this month, you’ve noticed something: this food blog has gotten pretty political pretty fast.
I had plans, y’all. I was going to ease into 2026 with recipes and restaurant reviews and garden updates. Keep things light and friendly for a few months while I built momentum. Share the pecan cheese ball and the pavlova and the jalapeno popper chicken. I wanted to build an audience and some solid food content before I started talking about the hard stuff.
And then January happened. And holy hell was January a LOT.
Renee Good. Alex Pretti. ICE agents murdering people in our streets, lying about it, and facing no consequences. Greenland. Venezuela. The daily avalanche of cruelty and chaos that makes it hard to breathe, let alone think about recipe testing.
So here we are. A little over a month into 2026, and I’m writing about politics and rage and grief alongside the recipes. And if you’re wondering why a food blog is going so heavy on current events, this post is for you.
Why This Blog Has Been Political Lately
There’s a series of memes going around right now: “This is a Facebook page about dogs, but you can’t talk about dogs if ICE kills you.” “This is a site about dancing, but you can’t dance if ICE murders you.”
Same here. I want to talk about cooking and food. I want to share the perfect pavlova recipe and tell you about the incredible meal we had at The Optimist. I want to show you photos of Finn footprints in my focaccia dough and Callie photobombing my food photography.
But I can’t pretend everything is fine while people are being murdered in the streets. I can’t post cheerful content about Sunday dinner while ICE terrorizes communities and our government lies about it.
Speaking With a Voice That Shakes
“Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind—even if your voice shakes.”
Maggie Kuhn said that. My voice has been shaking a lot lately. I’ve been furious and heartbroken and exhausted. I’ve prepared for the the accusations of virtue signaling, the demands that I “both sides” issues of basic human rights, and the inevitable “keep politics out of food” responses.
I promise that KaraCooks is not becoming a political blog (I have a different blog for that). KaraCooks is a food blog. But it’s a food blog written by someone who lives in the world, who reads the news, who gives a damn about what’s happening to her neighbors.
When the big things happen, when the things that make me so angry or so sad I can’t hold it in happen, those things are likely to make it over here. For how long? I don’t know. Until the world becomes sane again, whenever that may be.
You’ll still get recipes. You’ll still get restaurant reviews and vacation stories and updates about the garden and the pets. But you’ll also get my rage when ICE murders someone. You’ll get my thoughts on food justice and climate change and immigration. You’ll get the whole person, not just the parts that make for a pretty Instagram feed.
I Want to Talk About Food
I want to share the restaurants we’ve discovered and the trips we’ve taken. I want to post about the joy of watching seeds sprout and pulling the first tomatoes from the garden. I want to show you Remy’s ridiculous fear of falling leaves and Finn’s determination to sit on my keyboard at every opportunity.
I want to share recipes that bring people together and meals that create memories. I want this blog to be a place of joy and connection and good food.
And I want America to do better. I think we can. I have to believe we can. But we can’t get there by staying silent. We can’t get there by pretending everything is fine. We can’t get there by separating our values from our daily lives.
So I’m going to keep being authentic, even when it’s hard. I’m going to keep speaking up, even when my voice shakes. I’m going to keep writing about food and politics and everything in between, because that’s what it means to be a whole person.
If you’re still here, thank you. Because (as Joyce Vance says) we’re in this together.
P.S. I made cookies the day Alex Pretti was murdered. Toll house cookies, over and over, the same recipe I’ve made hundreds of times. The repetitive motion was the only thing that kept me from screaming. That post is here if you want to read about cooking as coping.
P.P.S. If you’re angry about what’s happening and you want to do something about it, I wrote letters to my senators and representative. It felt small and insufficient, but it was something. You can find your representatives here.
P.P.P.S. I know this post is heavier than the usual Sunday deep-dive. Next week we’ll be back to something lighter – probably another post in my Food Is Political series; something related to Black History month. Still political, but less raw. I promise.