The ‘yum yum’ school of food writing ✍️
Good food writing challenges readers, she says. The “yum yum” style of food journalism (per Anya von Bremzen) doesn’t take itself seriously. I don’t care for it, and Alicia doesn’t either: “In the internet age, we’ve lost a lot of criticality to food writing, and it has become something about just a new recipe, a new restaurant. What’s the trend of the day?” (Bonus: If you want free tickets to Alicia’s Puerto Rican dinner at Seven Acre Dairy Co. on Sept. 25, we’re giving a pair away to the next 8 people who become Cap Times members!)
In the spirit of Alicia’s veggie-centric cooking, I’ve been skewing our meals vegetarian lately. I couldn’t stop snacking on the crunchy roasted chickpeas on chickpea paprikash, which I served over Stalzy’s challah. I whipped ricotta with lemon to go under roasted carrots, topped with toasted walnuts. And though not fully vegetarian, the mafe-inspired creamy peanut butter chicken stew I made last night happily accepted extra peppers, squash and eggplant.
Cheese diviner Jennifer Billock can see shapes in blue cheese and cheddar. After reading Madisonian futures at the Wisconsin Cheese Ball, she’ll appear with culinary curmudgeon Christopher Kimball at a live podcast taping of Milk Street Radio on Saturday, Sept. 27.
I enjoy them both, and I cannot wait to see Kimball’s New England reserve meet Billock’s witchy vibes. “Reading” cheese is so fun and silly! “It’s so hard for me to pick up the cheese, tell a fortune, and then put it back down,” Billock told me. “Subconsciously, I’m just like, ‘OK, time to pop it in my mouth!’ But wait a minute — not my cheese.”…