I’m a Food Writer—With Some Food Issues
For food writers, work is food and food is life, but between social pressures, body image and random comment from strangers, female food writers navigate uniquely difficult terrain.
The Sad, Sexist Past of Bengali Cuisine
While being punished by a cruel sexist practice in West Bengal, the Indian widows considered “husband-eaters” created a rich cuisine made without meat, onions, fish or garlic. Writer Mayukh Sen honors these creative women through the story of great-grandmother, a widow at 37.
She Was a Soul Food Sensation. Then, 19 Years Ago, She Disappeared.
From the 1960s through the 1990s, Princess Pamela ran a thriving word-of-mouth restaurant inside her Manhattan apartment, and it attracted enough taste-makers to make her a legend. Then she abruptly closed shop and disappeared. Like many black culinary figures, her memory was nearly lost, until white celebrity chefs used their influence to revive it.
How—and Why—Did Fruitcake Become a Slur?
A personal essay about queerness, dessert and the origins of a homophobic and gastronomic slur.
