Nice Pear: a weekly(ish) feminist foodletter | Issue #022 | 07 February 2021
Hello!
This is a strange time, isn’t it? I find myself looking forward to the most mundane things: finally (finally) seeing crocus shoots in the park on my daily walk, going to the supermarket and taking five minutes in the car afterwards to quietly eat a snack alone, drinking a hot Ribena with my husband before we both go to bed.
I had a course of counselling recently, and one of the things my counsellor encouraged me to do was to find these small moments of happiness in each day. No matter how monotonous or hopeless the day felt as a whole, I’ve been trying to find - and note down - a small joy in each one.
The more I write them down, the more I seek these moments out and recognise them. Laughing with abandon on the phone to my sister, pouring a hot bath and locking myself in the steam to read a book, taking longer than I need to make breakfast for myself on Sunday morning, just because I can.
Have you been able to find moments of joy each day?
👇 Scroll on down for Things to Read & Things to Eat 👇
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Photo by Taryn Elliott from Pexels
Things to read this week
This damning piece on food poverty by Jack Monroe. I always had some vague idea of Jack’s story but had never known the extent of it until I read this piece. I’m lucky enough (and it is purely luck) to have never known poverty like Jack (and so many others in this cesspit of a country), but pieces like this make it all the more abundantly clear that we need better support systems to keep families (and individuals) out of poverty, and that empty ‘advice’ isn’t enough:
“There are many, many myriad reasons why people choose convenience foods over preparing their own from scratch... Sometimes it’s a lack of time. Or a lack of equipment. Living in a bedsit, a B&B, a hostel, a refuge. Poor mental health. Working two or three low paid jobs to make ends meet in a society that is designed around a two median income family. Not believing in a future. Why would you batch cook when you’re suicidal?”
In two pieces of absolutely not-unrelated (and fucking obvious) news from The Guardian:
Extending the furlough scheme would prevent mass unemployment “The government must understand we need to work our way back to growth, and for that we need people in jobs. Otherwise we are going to end up with real, deep economic and social problems.”
Cuts to social security benefits (like Universal Credit) would have a hugely negative impact on mental health - and would do the most harm to the most vulnerable people. We need “a compassionate system of welfare support that ensures everyone has the chance of a healthy standard of living.”
That these things need to be pointed out when they should be blindingly obvious fills me with despair.
This longread/photojournalism piece in NYT (possible paywall) made me rage and cry and occasionally laugh. It follows the stories of three mothers during the pandemic, how they've continued to do paid work while also parenting/schooling from home, usually with little-to-no help. This story is so powerful to me, echoing the experiences of so many women I've spoken with and read about this past year. The exhaustion, helplessness, the feeling that it will never end and that there is no respite - with a glimpse of recognition, here and there, that it could be so much worse, that quarantining has presented a unique opportunity to spend more time with the children.
This line in particular made me well up:
“ “Sometimes I have to tell myself I cannot do it all,” she said. “That I cannot juggle all of these balls at once and not expect to drop one or two from time to time.”
“And that is OK.” ”
This story of the ubiquity of the vegan Caesar salad weaves in the recent history of veganism in NYC, the craving of recent vegans for “excessive amounts of salt and umami”, and the difficulty, for chefs, in recreating a meat- or dairy- heavy dish.
I initially disagree that “There Is Such Thing as Too Much Garlic” on principle, as someone who usually believes more garlic can only be a good thing. But, along with a really interesting read about the history of garlic use in the US, the story does make a good argument for its’ moderation:
“I implore you, put the garlic down, and stop masking the delicate or full, hot or cool, sharp or soft flavors of your ingredients”
In vegan news: lab-grown meat may soon be used in pet-food
And finally, an explainer of what that sPiNaCh cAn sEnD eMaIlS story actually means.
Where to find me this week
Nothing new published this week.
This week I sent 3 pitches, got 1 rejection, and no commissions - yet!
As always, you can find me @ZoePickburn on Twiter, Insta, and other social media.
Thanks!
Zoe
Freelance writer & journo | Food blogger & newsletterer (she/her)
Say hello@zoepickburn.com with stories, commissions & foodie chit chat
If you enjoy Nice Pear & want to support it (or any of the other content I create online) you can always become a paying subscriber, buy me a virtual cuppa, or throw some change in the tip jar.