The Monday Digest, June 2024
What happened last month on the newsletter, what’s to come and links to articles I enjoyed
This is the extra newsletter you get every first Monday of the month to sum up what I published the previous month and to tell you what you can expect on this one.
As a reminder, here’s what you will find on My Cup of Tea:
The Monday Digest: The first Monday of every month you’ll get a summary of what I sent out the previous month, a sneak peak of what you’ll get the current month and a curated list of latest food news as well as personal notes.
Every Thursday: a new newsletter on the following topics (a different one each week): 1 recipe, 1 educational blog on food photography, 1 in-depth essay about the history and uses of a dish or ingredient, 1 travel guide/chronicle/interview.
May’s summary
I started out last month with a favourite recipe of mine (and of a whole nation) that is also a perfect vegetarian lunch: Tortilla de Patatas + What Else to Eat it With (Vegetarian)
The photography post last month took you through my thought process to create the vermut spread I photographed for the essay about comfort food: How I Shot This. A Mediterranean Appetizer Spread
Last month’s historical article was about the most important rock for humans and how it’s harvested in Mediterranean’s biggest salt marsh: Salt, Looking into an Ancient Salt Marsh in France
The last article of the month was a travel chronicle, written after my 10 day trip I took at the beginning of May across the country: Coast to Coast, Crossing The United States by Train
What’s to come this June
Thursday the 6th: This week I’ll start with a second issue of “tips to take better photos” and this one will be focused on choosing what to photograph: Tips to Take Better Photos: Know Your Subject
Thursday the 13th: The recipe this month will come on the second week of June rather than this week as I want to wait for my local farmers market to come back and buy the produce there (so looking forward to it!). It’s a beloved Catalan recipe that is perfect for this season and it mixes the sea (cod) with the land (garden vegetables): Bacallà amb Samfaina
Thursday the 20th: This month’s food history piece will be focused on an ingredient that is a dish in itself and cherished everywhere in the world and adored especially here in New England (sneak peak below): The Oyster
Thursday the 27th: The last article I’ll share on June will be the second part of a personal travel list: My favourite Places to Eat in the World, Part 2
Food News
Why we keep seeing egg prices spike - (Whizy Kim) Vox
Hundreds of Meat Pies, Trays of Kibbeh: How Communities Are Keeping College Campus Protesters Fed - (Amy McCarthy) Eater
Trudging Through the Tedious Swamp of Celebrity Brand Deals - (Amy McCarthy) Eater
Is Making Your Own Seafood Stock Worth It? - (Tanya Edwards) Eater
The Restaurant World Still Has a Child Care Problem - (Corey Mintz) Eater
On the Thailand-Malaysia Border, Food Defies Nations - (Alia Ali and Annie Hariharan) Eater
The United States of Avocado - (Cathy Erway) Taste
The Fluidity and Fun of Chino Latino Cuisine Reaches New Fandoms - (Jess Eng) Taste
How Spanish Cocktail Culture Crept Into American Bars (Adam Reiner) - Punch
Are We Living Through a Bagel Renaissance? - (Hannah Goldfield) The New Yorker
Roundtable: What Is Queer Food? - (Mary-Frances Heck) Food & Wine
Substacks I loved
) Life's a Feast by Jamie SchlerClaus Meyer on eating as an agricultural act - (Analisa Winther) Future Food with Analisa Winther
America's Obsession With Dyes - (
) Serving up sweetnessBitter Oranges - (
) Feminist Food JournalReading List: Peruvian Food & Cookery Books - (
) New WorlderTrader Joe's ran out of tofu skin fast. What is tofu skin? And, how to get some? - (
) Pass the Fish SauceThe NY Times 25 Essential Pasta Dishes - (
) Notes From Emiko’s KitchenIs Grilling Season Real, Or A Media Creation? - (Jason Wilson) EVERYDAY DRINKING
Personal Notes
May was quite a month. I was super busy at the very beginning finishing up the pieces I wanted to send out while I was on the train journey and then the world stopped for 10 days while Ross and I were travelling cross country. I am glad to say I was quite present and didn’t let my mind divagate so much towards back-home responsibilities. The pace and constant rocking of the train had something to do, I am sure. Go read the article, if you haven’t. I share my thoughts on what I think makes the United States America after seeing it across.
My return to Boston was shaken by the news from Rafah. I have been silently aggrieved, engulfed by the pain and the absurdity to witness that my own neighbours still have signs in their gardens that shout “we stand by Israel”. They placed the signs after the attack from Hamas on the 7th of October. Back then it was understandable, though it still troubled me that it was so one-sided when the Palestinians had suffered so many attacks before, during decades. But I understood the sympathy against the horror towards a community that had suffered the unimaginable. I understood. Now I don’t anymore.
I am happy to live in a neighbourhood that is diverse and most of it proudly Jewish. I love the delis, the specialised supermarkets and even hearing teenagers complain about their rabbis on a Friday afternoon. But being proudly Jewish and having a sign on your yard that says “we stand by Israel” after a proven continuous genocide is not the same thing. Actually, many Jews argue that is quite the opposite. Your own pain can never justify someone else’s pain. Your fight for existence cannot be condito sine qua non to crash someone else’s right to live.
And because I am not allowed to vote here, there’s not much I can do. I can only raise my voice at times and be an observant, trying to see what is they see. And finally, I can be an advocate against disinformation, against fake news. I firmly believe that knowing more about history, seeing it from every side and being critical about it, helps us understand better the present and avoid making the mistakes of the past.
That *yster bed looks familiar!
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