Comfort food and competitive destruction šŸ”„

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Welcome to Secret Breakfast / An exclusive newsletter, the best place to start your day with fast food mermaids and comfort food with an edge of competitive destruction

Even mermaids like fast food.

Hi there!

I’ve been back home from an incredible journey in Israel. I hope next week I can organize my thoughts and share what I saw and ate in a meaningful way.

In the meantime, we go on with the usual extravaganza, like a mermaid eating fried chicken.

Piero

Picture: A woman in costume holds a cup of beer at a restaurant during the Mermaid parade in Coney Island. Photograph: Amr Alfiky/Reuters

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THE BEST QUOTE

✦ Alan D. Wolfelt, probably he was talking about grief, but the quote works for many situations.

āŽš

THE MISSING INGREDIENT

COOK LIKE A DAD

I missed Father’s day but this New York Times’ feature about man-food is something interesting.

The food that dads cook sometimes seems to have a performative quality that mirrored so-called dude food, which the author Emily J. H. Contois memorably describes in her book ā€œDiners, Dudes and Dietsā€ as ā€œcomfort food with an edge of competitive destruction.ā€ A dad, after all, is just a dude with more responsibilities.

ā€œComfort food with an edge of competitive destructionā€. I love it. ā€œDude food was a reaction to the cognitive dissonance men felt as they entered the realm of the home kitchenā€. I love it even more.

Photo by Anca Dorneanu

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THE BOOK

Dump, dump, dumpling
ā˜…ā˜…1/2

Do we really need a book to learn how to waste less? The honest answer is probably in our trash bin. But even if you don’t waste so much, do you really recycle food in a tasty way? That’s where I fail. Perfectly Good Food, by chef-sisters behind Boston’s acclaimed Mei Mei Dumplings, gives away 80 recipes and 150 ideas to use up what you have.

Perfectly Good Food: A Totally Achievable Zero Waste Approach to Home Cooking by Margaret Li and Irene Li
→ Shortplot: 🄬 šŸ  šŸ„• šŸ„

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RANDOM ACTS OF HUNGER

This is the space where I share some food (un)related stuff of my week

šŸ³Yotam Ottolenghi’s breakfasts from around the world (ā˜…recipes) šŸ‘¾McDonald's Just Dropped A Brand New Game Boy Game šŸžHow to Bake Sourdough Bread in Summer šŸ·Everything You Need to Know About Wine Right Now šŸ„¬Chantelle Nicholson, the chef-owner of green-starred Apricity in London shares a zero waste idea: Roasted Cauliflower, Caramelised Cauliflower PurĆ©e, Emmer Wheat and Zhoug (ā˜…recipe) 🧬Climate resilient crop and the six innovations that can help feed the world šŸ”„Blogger Frankie Gaw’s Scallion Buns (ā˜…recipe) šŸæNetflix Opens Pop-Up Restaurant in Los Angeles šŸ›’A peek into Japan's Convenience Stores šŸ® Always order a dessert to go (but I don’t agree with that) šŸ½Why We Love Old Restaurants

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FOOD FOR LATER

ā€œNow, all of a sudden, everyone wants cake tattoosā€. And also Brussels Sprouts and fermented stuff.

Agnes B. Marshall, a 19th-century culinary entrepreneur, mastered the art of subversive gelato: ā€œShe tried her hand at spinach, cucumber, pumpernickel, and fish curry ice creams; a frozen gruyere souffle; a Neapolitan mixed with tomatoes, peas, and artichokes. Food historian Sarah Lohman called her recipes ā€˜genius, to the point of madnessā€™ā€.

āž¤ Last week's most clicked link was the one about the meaning of Israeli breakfast. And that's all for today.