Step 1: Donate to Sameer Project here (sugg. donation $30).

Step 2: Register for “Let’s Make Beni-Imo Tart” here.

In this workshop, Nozomi and alice will teach participants how to make Beni-imo Tart, an Okinawan dessert featuring Beni-imo, or Okinawan sweet potato. Together, we’ll learn about the cultural significance of Beni-imo, and the importance of community in Okinawan foodways. By the end of the workshop you'll have made yourself a Beni-imo tart and have learned more about the Ryukyu islands as well as the lessons its foodways give us.

Participants will need to acquire the following ingredients before the workshop:

- 4-5 medium-sized Beni-Imo*
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 egg (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1 premade pie shell (flaky or graham cracker crust) OR make your own!

*Some grocery stores sell benimo as "Hawaiian sweet potatoes." Benimo are tannish-white on the outside with small flecks, and purple on the inside. If not available in your local grocery, you can also substitute with regular sweet potatoes or Japanese sweet potatoes.

Nozomi Nakaganeku-Saito is Assistant Professor at Amherst College in English and Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies. Her research focuses on the impacts of US militarism and Japanese settler colonialism on Okinawan ecologies.

alice’s research is rooted in understanding community resilience. Her work centers on themes of care, food, education, and survivance, exploring the lessons embedded in foodways and the insights they offer us. alice is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at UT Austin.