Issue No. 6: Food

Dear Reader,

We can trace the timelines of our lives through food. The food we love honors the families who raised us, the places which shaped us. Food comforts us. It shapes our celebrations. And it connects us to each other. We bring wine to new neighbors. We bake cherished cakes for birthdays, weddings, and baby showers. We take casseroles to those who are grieving and brothy soups to those who are sick. Whether it’s a simple piece of toast or an elaborate holiday feast, food defines our days and our lives, in big and small, in simple and meaningful ways.

I am biracial, from a - truly - multicultural family. At our family gatherings, the Keralan fish curry sat alongside the Malaysian satay and fried okra and sauerkraut and gratin dauphinoise and confetti cake. Each dish was filled with flavor, made with love, and connected to different lines of ancestors who endured wildly different hardships, prayed in wildly different ways, and put their feet on the earth of wildly different homelands. We were spoiled by a family of incredible cooks, who honed their skills in New York diners and home restaurants in Kuala Lumpur.

Our memories of food mark where in time and space we find, found, ourselves. I remember the bite of the sour cream donuts we’d eat as a family after church. The scent of my mom's meatloaf, which she'd make at the start of every new school year. The sour spice of my grandmother's beef curry when we'd visit her apartment. The hours my parents spent skewering our family's traditional satay, while we watched the 2004 Olympics together. Making an entire Thanksgiving meal, on the fly, for my now husband's British-Australian family the first time I met them. The pear tart from a patisserie in Paris. The first pizza my husband and I ate on the empty floor of our first New York apartment. The chicken and rice dish he makes on Christmas Eve. Eating oysters with my brother in Los Angeles. I imagine, dear reader, you have stories and memories like these, too.

When I chose food as the theme for our spring issue, I thought of our work as a kind of revelation through celebration. When we think of food, we think of love. As you'll soon see, this issue is filled with themes of love, family, grief, and joy. By celebrating our own joys, comforts, and loves, we can remember how every person deserves the same - things that uplift, nurture, heal, comfort, and connect. In the words of Alice Waters, “Good food is a right, not a privilege.”

I was astonished, by how many submissions for poetry we received. While we typically only publish a handful of poems per issue, poetry will be a significant part of this one. As it's National Poetry Month, it fits well, but it also feels a little lighter, like the wisdom can seep in more quickly, in this concentrated form, for as Gwendolyn Brooks said, “Poetry is life distilled.”

I hope these stories inspire you to reflect on the loves, memories, and timelines of your own life. I hope these words will help you carve out a few more moments of sweetness, joy, comfort, and connection in these challenging times. And I hope this collective work will help us all see more clearly the ways we can build well-fed, well-nourished communities that are caring and just.

As you do so, listen to our Kitchen Mix playlist, and find our reading recommendations for National Poetry Month and on the subject of Food.

With deep gratitude,

Sarah James