A Place at the Table

Elizabeth’s mother arrives to pick her up when Mrs. Hameed returns from delivering catering orders. The two women call everyone together to announce the surprise—they both have their citizenship exam interviews scheduled for the same day. The interview will happen on Wednesday, January 9, and Elizabeth’s father will not be able to attend the ceremony.

When Elizabeth, Justin, and her mom arrive home, Elizabeth refuses to enter the house—she stages a sit-in and stays on the porch. Her mother tells her not to be so dramatic, but she remains seated. Her father exits the house and sits next to her. She pleads with her father to attend her mother’s ceremony and to be more present with their family. She tells him about the overheard conversations between her mom and Aunt Louise and her fears about her mom returning to London permanently. Her mom interrupts the conversation to tell them dinner is ready, and her father postpones the discussion.

Later in the week, Elizabeth’s mother sits with her and discusses Elizabeth’s concerns. She assures Elizabeth that despite missing England, she loves their family and the traditions they are developing together in the US. After the conversation, they watch an episode of Doctor Who together, and Elizabeth silently decides she must convince her father to be around more frequently than just on the weekends.

Sara has a headache during Monday’s language arts class. She spent the weekend entertaining her brothers while Mrs. Hameed prepared catering orders. Then, she had a nightmare that her brothers were running around with monster faces, and their house’s wallpaper was a collage of paper slips saying the loan was past due. She did not sleep after that nightmare.

During class, their teacher has the students read a poem about a positive memory associated with eating hot dogs and then asks everyone to write a poem about a food-related memory. Elizabeth writes about a memory of her grandmother related to mushy peas. Sara writes about pizza. When her friends ask why, she relates pizza to the US, where different perspectives and “recipes” are equally American. Across the hall, Maddy shouts a racist comment about Sara and her peers. Sara tells Elizabeth to ignore her, but Elizabeth can no longer stay silent.

Stephanie approaches Elizabeth the following day and pulls her aside. She confesses she loves Mrs. Hameed as a teacher and wants Elizabeth to talk to Maddy about the comments she has been making. Elizabeth tries to avoid doing this, indicating Stephanie is Maddy’s new best friend. However, Maddy will not listen to Stephanie. Elizabeth agrees to talk to Maddy but does not tell Sara about the conversation.

During the cooking class, Mrs. Hameed has the students make a dessert similar to ice cream with curdled milk. Mrs. Kluckowski interrupts the class when the new ice cream machine arrives. While everyone fawns over the machine, Elizabeth pulls Maddy aside to talk to her about her racist comments. Maddy does not see the problem with her comments because she believes middle-schoolers are always mean to each other. She also believes Sara should be less sensitive, then walks away without agreeing to apologize to Sara or anyone else Maddy had targeted with her comments. Once Elizabeth tries the recipe, she realizes ice cream is the solution to their recipe conundrum.

Sara wakes up Saturday morning to Mrs. Hameed entering her room to gather clothes for laundry. While tidying Sara’s room, Mrs. Hameed finds Sara’s sketchbook; Sara takes it, intending to hide it, then offers to let her mother see her sketches. Before Mrs. Hameed can look, she receives a phone call. She has no catering orders for that day, so she takes Sara to the grocery store with her and then out to lunch at Burger Palace. During lunch, Sara and Mrs. Hameed discuss the business. Sara wants to help her parents, but her mom wants Sara to study, get good grades, and acquire a well-paying job.

Before cooking club, Elizabeth tells Sara about her recipe idea: Earl Grey ice cream with chunks of doodh ka halwa, the curdled milk dish they made the previous week. The only challenge is that they must use Mrs. Kluckowski’s new ice cream machine, which she has said is off-limits for students. Sara refuses until Elizabeth reveals her genuine interest in Pakistani culture and food. After the cooking club, Elizabeth and Sara stay behind to make the ice cream; they enter the classroom using the spare key Sara had kept earlier. They figure out the perfect recipe after three attempts. While they finish their recipe, Sara is nervous because she acts like a disobedient daughter rather than the behaved child she has always been. She hopes winning the festival contest will force her parents to take her seriously.

Elizabeth’s grandmother, Bubbe, is coming to the house for Hannukah. Elizabeth’s mother goes to the grocery store and asks the kids to clean the house before their grandmother arrives. While their mother is at the store, Elizabeth talks to her older brother, David, about how their family interacts with each other. He observes their tendency to avoid problems and hide when challenges arise. He also plans to clean the house, which the kids execute. When Bubbe arrives, Elizabeth’s mother asks Bubbe to teach her Jewish prayers and recipes because she wants to learn them.

Elizabeth’s father arrives home the following day. Though he usually takes Elizabeth to Hebrew school, Elizabeth asks Bubbe to take her. During the drive there, Elizabeth asks her grandmother to talk to her parents about seeking professional help for their depression and problem avoidance. Bubbe promises to try, and though Elizabeth does not expect a miracle, she hopes.

Sara and Mrs. Hameed attend Hannukah celebrations with Elizabeth’s family. Bubbe enjoys seeing Elizabeth and Sara cooking while the two mothers discuss their citizenship exams. Near the end of the night, Elizabeth and Sara dish out their ice cream to try. Elizabeth realizes they forgot to clean the ice cream machine after using it.