“However persuasive they might be as facsimiles, shokuhin sampuru are subjective interpretations, seeking not only to replicate dishes but to intensify the feelings associated with the real thing.”
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Posted inEditor's Pick
The Bottom of the Ninth
“In baseball and in life, there is a cost to our pursuit of an error-free existence.”
Posted inAnnouncements
Introducing the Longreads Story Recommender
Learn to love your search results again.
Posted inEditor's Pick
I Tried to Be the Government. It Did Not Go Well.
“My five-month quest to monitor the weather, track inflation, and inspect milk for harmful microorganisms.”
Posted inQuotes
On Stamina, the Need to Write, and the Urgency of Youth
Award-winning poet Carl Phillips on writing, poetry, and perspective.
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Portrait of the Artist as an Amazon Reviewer
“Between 2003 and 2019, Kevin Killian published almost twenty-four hundred reviews on the site. Can they be considered literature?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
A Haunting in Brooklyn
“At 25, I saw my grandfather’s ghost. At 52, I think of what it may mean to be a ghost.”
Posted inFeature
Best of 2025: Our Most Popular Originals of the Year
Our 10 most-read Longreads essays of 2025.
Posted inReading List
Not Serious People: A ‘Succession’ Reading List
Great writing begets great writing — and the commentary around the HBO smash hit is some of the best around.
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Tickling of the Bulls: A Rodeo at Madison Square Garden
“It’s an especially American paradox: a ruthlessly meritocratic system where men nonetheless live to pull each other up by their bootstraps.”
