Welcome to Secret Breakfast / An exclusive newsletter, the best place to start your day with a girl dinner, rebel canning, and the sexy effects of bee pollen

Hi there!

It’s from the times of Machiavelli that Italian politics shapes the whole world. Could I spare you some of that? Absolutely not (but you can skip it).

Farm Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said "the less well-off often eat better because they buy better quality produce directly from producers". He probably intended that poor people buy local from farmers, but that is not what he said.

Then he was attacked for allegedly insulting the poor.

Italian politics is made of those: feelings and people. What are we missing? Data.

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First, the obvious: you can’t say that really poor people eat better, because really poor people can’t even buy food. But let’s go deeper and see what happens to the less well-off.

In developed countries - like Italy - “the number of people with overweight and obesity is increasing. This paradox has a relationship with both the easy availability and low cost of highly processed foods containing 'empty calories' and no nutritional value”. As we know ultra-processed food raises risk of heart attack and stroke. And ultra-processed food comes cheaper.

Nevertheless, we can observe growing obesity in the population of “poor” people. The reasons are higher unemployment, lower education level, and irregular meals. Another cause of obesity is low physical activity, which among the less well-off is associated with a lack of money for sports equipment.

Once I heard somebody saying that being poor in America was better than being poor in Central America because you can be poor but still be fat. There it is: most of us live in countries where lower-income people are targeted with cheap and less-nutrient meals. Some of them resist, some of them are lost and kept alone.

Piero

PS: this subject is immense and I can’t be exhaustive here. Interesting correlations emerge as you change countries (this was a smart analysis about the US) and consider the history of the people involved.

Pic. Onur Senay

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THE BEST QUOTE

✦ Kimberly Lemming, That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon.

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THE MISSING INGREDIENT

IT’S NOT SOME RANDOM STUFF,
IT’S A “GIRL DINNER”

I do not really know if that’s something that can gain the “feminism” label, or just tell us something about the condition of the (Western) society, but apparently, women are posting more and more simple snack plates made by one person, and just one person. It’s been called Girl Dinner (you can read more about it here).

Food obsession, a sin that this newsletter is 100% guilty of, is not as widespread as we can imagine. For many people - sometimes - eating is an accomplishment. Reading about The Depression Cooking Zine (pdf version), a zine written for people struggling with depression, reminded me that.

And sometimes a clean, quick, Instagrammable meal is more than enough, boys and girls.

❍ OnlyPans
This is where Secret Breakfast picks juicy content from food creators

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RANDOM ACTS OF HUNGER

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

🐝 Can Bee Pollen Actually Make Your Boobs Bigger? ☕️You Know, coffee makes concrete stronger 🧇Now you can drink an Eggo’s Waffle 🇨🇺Cuban Migrants Are Moving to Kentucky, and that’s making Louisville a food spot not to miss 🥞Scallion Pancakes (★recipe) became the Most Versatile Bread in America 🔪The Tuscan Kitchen is coming back 🥗Iceberg Won the Lettuce Wars 🥥Why Coconut Farmers Risk Their Lives To Feed The World’s Superfood Obsession (video)

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FOOD FOR LATER

‘Rebel Canning’ Is Having a Moment, Whether or Not It Should
Amy McCarthy / Eater

All the health rules we break when we preserve stuff at home. Rebel, rebel!

The key to depression, obesity, alcoholism – and more? Why the vagus nerve is so exciting to scientists 
Linda Geddes / The Guardian

This ‘electrical superhighway’ called Vagus Nerve helps to control everything from our breathing to our immune system. Could stimulating it transform physical and mental health?

➤ Last week's most clicked link was the one about the Bonne Maman Advent Calendar. And that's all for today.

Ma