This week, we return to your regularly scheduled Longreads programming. The theme? Food: queering food, eating Pokemon, the potential of Soylent, tasting curly fries for a living, and Canadian food trucks.

1. “America, Your Food is So Gay.” (John Birdsall, Lucky Peach, June 2013)

“It’s food that takes pleasure seriously, as an end in itself, an assertion of politics or a human birthright, the product of culture—this is the legacy of gay food writers who shaped modern American food.”

2.  “The Food Politics of Pokemon.” (Monica Kim, Modern Farmer, May 2014)

The people of the Pokeverse gotta catch ’em all – and eat a few.

3.  “The Psychology of Soylent and the Prison of First-World Food Choices.” (Lee Hutchinson, Ars Technica, May 2014)

The provocatively named Soylent has the potential to pack the most important nutrients into a single gritty smoothie of sorts. And no, it’s not people.

4. “What It’s Like to Work as a Professional Frozen Food Taster.” (Mike Dang, The Billfold, March 2014)

One word: salty.

5. “When is a Food Truck More than a Food Truck?” (Chris Turner, The Walrus, October 2012)

A slew of bureaucracy stalls the food truck industry in many Canadian provinces. What are the implications for urban planning?

Photo: Ornello Pics