The Monday Digest, October 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 seasonal recipe, 1 educational blog on food photography, 1 in-depth essay about the history and uses of a dish or ingredient (mostly focused on New England), 1 personal essay/travel guide/chronicle.
September’s summary
Last month’s recipe praised a fantastic end-of-summer fruit with an easy salad: Fig, Goat Cheese and Crispy Prosciutto Salad
Last month’s piece on photography I took you behind the scenes on composing an image for a magazine: How I Shot This: An Ingredient Page for a Magazine
Last month’s food history piece was on New England’s favourite fall treat: The Cider Donut
The month ended with my route around Vermont’s agricultural treasures: An agriculturally-focussed trip to Vermont
What’s to come this October
Thursday the 3rd: This month will start with some inspiration for the upcoming social gatherings (featuring my favourites cheeses from Vermont): A perfect fall cheese platter
Thursday the 10th: This month’s recipe is a Catalan classic that honours a beloved seasonal ingredient: Fricandó: Catalan braised beef with mushrooms
Thursday the 17th: This month’s piece on photography will be a new issue on a popular series: Tips for taking better photos: Know Your Angles
Thursday the 24th: I will delve into an essential of the season. Its production and history will be this month’s food history piece: Cranberry Sauce
Thursday the 31st: I’ll finish the month shedding new light on a local Halloween emblem: Salem beyond its witches
There’s an extra Thursday this month so we’ll start this week with a guide on how to compose a perfect fall cheese platter (picture and taste perfect), continue with the usual newsletters (recipe, photography tips, focus essay) and we’ll finish off on Halloween talking about Salem, "the “Witch City”.
Food News
Please Put Your Light Away at the Restaurant - (Jaya Saxena) Eater
Americans Have Lost the Plot on Cooking Oil - (Yasmin Tayag) The Atlantic
Can fungi turn food waste into the next culinary sensation? - (Robert Sanders) UC Berkeley News
Why Alice Waters Believes Gardening Can Save Our Democracy - (Alex Testere) Saveur
Why Breast-Shaped Cakes Are the Confection of the Moment - (Tanya Bush) The New York Times
Substacks I loved
invisible labour, invisible food costs - (
) AnthroDishBringing diversity back to our baking - (
) Latina Cooking by Camila MarciasFor the Love of Olives and Palestine - (
) Contadina) French Fries and Martinis) La BriffeRecipe: Shoulder-Season Fresh Tomato Panade - (
) WordloafGlasgow - (
) The Unplugged TravelerA Tale of Boars, Booze, and Barbarism - (Jason Wilson) Everyday Drinking
My grandma's olive oil choux pastries - (
) Letters from TuscanyCrisps de Madrid - (
) VittlesA Mini Grape Gripe and an Anise-Spiked Cake for Fall - (
) Buona DomenicaFalling out of love with food. - (
) noorishbynoorIngredient Spotlight: Tamarind - (
) Real Simple FoodKey Caribbean Ingredients and Rich, Complex Cuisines - (
) Family Friend by Lukas VolgerOn Living - (
) COW WE DOIN’Injera, Pupusas & Momos in Small Town Ohio - (
) New WorlderMy Best Thanksgiving Tips, Part 1 - (
) QuaintrelleOn Coca As Food - (Carmen Posada) From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
Personal Notes
Last week I met
in person. His newsletter Cow We Doin’ is one I never miss as it always brings new perspectives on how to consume food more sustainably, or as he would said “radically”. We met to greet each other outside of the virtual world but also to chat about hunting.As a European, hunting has always been associated with royalty and with the idea of doing something excessive and violent for the sake of showing off. The power of the men over the animal.
Here in the United States many more people hunt than in Europe, and so I found the though of it white terrifying if I am honest. I thought of high testosteroned men owning lots of firearms and other weapons and whose idea of fun was to go kill animals so they could display their heads in their living room. After reading On the Sublime by Lou I got curious about another possible image of the hunter. And so he invited me to chat about the topic.
I had a great time with him and now I’d love to know more of it. I guess I kept my journalistic curiosity afloat the fear.
His invite and the posterior conversation is a reminder that as long as there’s a common understanding of respect, any different view can be discussed and we can allow ourselves to open our mind to the otherness. Embracing the dialogue over polarization.
Now I have a very cool “cow we doin’” t-shirt I can wear around the woodlands of Massachusetts!
I'm excited about your piece on cranberry sauce. It's interesting that it's only eaten during the holidays.
Thank you so much for the mention!! ❤️❤️❤️