Spent £17 on mushrooms for you / 'Cause I'm silly
I baked a curry this week. A sort-of mash-up of the classic feeling of proud domesticity that only having food in the oven creates, and the type of exhaustion so deep that stirring scales of slowly-translucifying onion seemed too much to approach.
Cooking is emotional, I think, and so many TV shows I comfort myself with agree. Cooking is fun, cooking is easy; you can do it at home with your imaginary children. Cooking is a passion, cooking is an obsession, cooking is aggressive. Watch a man karate chop a vegetable with his knife. Slice al pastor like an ear from a snitch.
I like to cook for people I love. I took 1kg of plantain to my friend's house as a gift last week, because I couldn't cook them for her myself. I am tired of only feeding me. When I cook, I imagine dishing up in a full house, and I miss everyone I know.
Other stuff
The subject line of this email is from a song by Dry Cleaning. This piece on them by Casey Chapter for Florida State University News is great, a collection of well-chosen quotes from larger interviews and on-point observations that made me feel hella nostalgic for student publications.
Actor Ryan Ken absolutely nails the British media's coverage of racism now, and to be honest, all the time. His "oops racism...aaah racism" bit should be taught in schools.
Nicole Johnson, CEO of Rusty Rabbit importers, has become the first black woman to own a Champagne brand sold in the UK (and the second in the US) with Lapin Rouillé. Read an interview with her from Travel Noire - her quote "In 2021 you can still say that??" is particularly important.
Wine, history, archaeology and pottery? Hell fuckin' yeah. "Thriving Wine Trade In Islamic Sicily Revealed By Chemistry Of It's Pottery"
Buy cool t-shirts, support the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament. For my Burum Collective friends, there is also a great Welsh one :)
Another reason to ban fast fashion: widespread sexual violence reported at H&M garment factories in S. India.
This piece from Vittles on food hype, commodification/corporatisation of street food and lockdown boredom is so, so good. "...in the absence of anything else to do, food and eating has become a replacement for culture itself, with people eating their way out of boredom."
This week in Pellicle, chef and food writer Tim Anderson (who won Masterchef in 2011, which was the last time I was happy with who won it!) writes about Fumio Tanga and his bar/restaurant/hangout Sho Foo Doh. Can I add here that I am Fully Weirded Out that a brilliant piece on Izakaya bars crossing with UK pubs came out in Pellicle this week, considering Tom and I have been non-stop obsessed with them for over a year as part of our Corto plans.
My Stuff
I filed my first piece for a national newspaper this week. It's coming out on April Fool's Day! Haha seriously
I was also accepted into the Guild of Food Writers! Which is cool. I'm v chuffed about it.
In case you missed it: Bun! The Taxonomy Of The British Bread Roll
I'm up for travelling ANYWHERE as soon as I can. Offer me a commission. Tom can run the bar.
If you enjoy my writing and would like to buy me a Beak - Gurr (my current beer of choice), thank you! The easiest way to do so is via my Ko-fi profile.
Sho Foo Doh by Grace Helmer for Pellicle