Diversions, Amusements, Etc
To do, to listen, to read
I had a book club going on Patreon for a bit but honestly it was too much work for people. So I’m switching it up and calling it a cocktail club - it’ll be a private, live, interactive podcast episode over Zoom. Details here.
In other news I’m still in Pondicherry, seeing the sites through sweat-stung eyes and drinking my weight in lemon soda, sweet, every hour. I’m also eating masala dosa every morning for breakfast. Shout out to Surguru Spot. It’s all a blast. -Katherine
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Last week I posted about “Amish soul food” on Facebook and Twitter. I really appreciate everyone who rolled with it.
I asked because I had just interviewed Chris Scott, pictured above, for the podcast. As far as I know, Chris coined the phrase first, to describe his cooking and, really, his heritage. The conversation opened my mind up to some new ideas - I wish Substack allowed .mov embeds so you could hear the best quotes RIGHT NOW. Instead listen to the whole episode and think about how many pickled pig feet you’d eat if you were super high. You can find it here or listen to Smart Mouth on: iTunes • Google Podcasts • Stitcher • Spotify • RadioPublic • TuneIn • Libsyn
More Food Reading:
The life of someone who influenced what we consider “salad.” You’ve perhaps not heard of her, but you’ve eaten her salad.
Don’t know about you, but I was overcome with eye-rolling rage (you know what I mean?) reading this. It says that areas with a lot of Trump voters also mostly have chain restaurants. And it pretends to not understand why. I’m sure the writers could’ve found a couple psychologists to explain fear of the new and the unknown.
I enjoy gossipy stuff like this, but given how often chefs change jobs, I have no sense these folks are just doing regular industry activities or are absolute kooks.
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This newsletter is edited by Katherine Spiers, host of the podcast Smart Mouth.
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