Precious Eggs and Animal Liberation
Of the Month: What I'm reading, writing, and cooking
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Reading
After
’s What Is Food Writing? workshop, I went to my library and did some damage: Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir by Ruth Reichl, and The Best American Food Writing 2023 edited by Mark Bittman.I devoured Plums. It read like a fever dream of a media landscape I never knew (Gourmet shuttered when I was a senior in high school). Reichl’s asides about the food and clothes are endearing, and I appreciate that she talks about the chef celebrity culture that she and Gourmet (in part) encouraged/created. It struck me as complicated and sad: The toxic male celebrity chef as a creation of a storied magazine that was fighting to stay at the front of culture while their time was running out (unbeknownst to the staff.) But the worst part of the decline (IMO) was that Epicurious got all Gourmet’s recipes! And then — Gourmet developed MORE recipes for their own website. Brutal.
Animal Liberation is a book I’ve been avoiding, I realized. Necessary and horrific reading. Singer moves deftly around the arguments or disagreements he knows readers will have, and acknowledges the decisions he made in how he wrote the book—something that interests me as someone who wants to write about complicated and contested topics.
And apparently 2023 was a banger of a year for Best American Food Writing, including two stories we discussed in the workshop: What We Write About When We Write About Food (gift link) by Ligaya Mishan and There Is No Such Thing As Italian Food by John Last.
I’m also reading Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Josephine Riesman on
’s recommendation and it is electric — and a tome. I’m racing to finish before I have to return it. And I’m re-reading The Hunger of Women by Marosia Castaldi, translated by Jamie Richards, after Alicia Kennedy’s bookclub discussed it last week.Writing
In January I started working for Wasted Ink Zine Distro as a grant writer! This time of year is a busy season, so I’ve been hard at work with Charissa, the founder/owner. Joining the WIZD team officially is a huge joy and I’m grateful for the opportunity to support the work it does in this capacity. Zines are the past, present, and future, and where so much of my hope lies. If you’re interested in learning more about zines and WIZD, click below for my interview with Charissa from 2023.
I’ve also been working on the odd bits that come along with taking this newsletter paid and some other things that I’m being mysterious about but can’t wait to share with you soon. Reminder: You get a discount if you upgrade to paid today!
Cooking
Precious eggs fried and eaten with pickled red onions and broccoli. Wine! (And before it seems like my alcohol consumption has skyrocketed, I’m just getting better at taking pictures of the three monthly bottles from Monsoon Market’s wine club which get shared between five adults. It’s so fun.) White beans with leeks, parsnip, kale, and onions following Anna’s recipe. Vegan banana blondies from Snacking Bakes by Yossy Arefi. Rice cake stir fry with shredded tofu (following this recipe, but I shredded and baked tofu instead of using beef.) Smoothies (most often banana, orange, soy milk, chia + flax seed.) Last week’s CSA box ($20) which had mixed lettuce, collard greens, apples, tomatoes, and basil. And (bonus), a dive bar gin & tonic at the exact perfect moment.
The Good Enough Weekly comes out on Fridays, alternating essays, interviews, and shorter updates. I also take on freelance editing and writing projects. Reach out if you’re looking for an editor.
I'm so glad you're enjoying Ringmaster. Something I love about Josie's writing is her ability to make me deeply invested in topics I didn't think I cared about.