spice rack #3

what I want to eat this spring

I spent my final college spring break in one of those classic college spring break destinations doing classic college spring break activities. Miami does not do vegan food quite as well as LA, but it does do free ladies nights every night of the week! The water shines turquoise and the humidity reminded me of stepping off the plane in India. And I now feel the urge to deep fry my avocados for crispy avocado tacos. 

Here is March’s Spice Rack, with things to read, cook, and listen to. And what I’m dreaming of eating this spring.

to read  

“But how do you read so much?” on Books + Bits: I have always wondered about people who are able to read 50+ books a year, so this was good to know. 

On Joan Didion: I visited the Joan Didion exhibit at The Hammer museum twice and saw her name referenced in several TikToks before I ever read a word of her writing: “She - not her words, but more her face - has become a commodity, traded, used to signal what kind of woman/reader/writer/Californian you are. And I was as guilty of it as anyone else.”

The “Life After Food” piece about Ozempic on The Cut, which discusses the seemingly vanishing boundary between taking this diabetes drug for medical need vs. aesthetic desire, and what the latter means for the body acceptance movement. I will say it overstates the drugs’ pervasiveness (or maybe I’m just not in those circles, idk). This article was free for a time but I believe it is behind a paywall now. I also listened to this Science VS episode, which discusses health effects more.

Taylor Swift is a business icon, but we knew that already: “Taylor Swift started narrow (country), then went broad (pop). She’s reinvented herself again and again, launching new “products” in each era of her career at an ever-increasing rate of acceleration.”

Walking South LA on Chris Arnade Walks the World: Every time I take the bus in LA, I’m acutely aware of how quickly the neighborhoods change. When you’re on the west side – the Brentwood, Beverly Hills, and Melrose pockets of it – it’s easy to think of LA as the epitome of ease and extravagance. This is about South LA’s working class and the city’s homelessness crisis: “LA is a manufacturing town, not only of fantasies, but of real things.”

Another LA piece: trail running while Black, by Rio Lakeshore for Patagonia:

On the ChatGPT wave – if ChatGPT created a New American restaurant by Ali Francis for Bon Appetit: “That AI defines New American food as diverse, and then suggests tomato salad appetizers and sidelines chefs of color, isn’t the technology’s failing—it’s ours.”

And if ChatGPT were to write a smelly lunchbox memoir by Bettina Makalintal for Eater. Classic.

The Health Debates Over Plant-Based Meat on Asterisk Mag

The trauma porn that is A Little Life

I’m ashamed to say that It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover got me out of a reading rut. It was terrible, but easy, breezy, and occasionally funny. Then I read Kafka by the Shore, my first Murakami novel. I was intrigued and confused, but I think that was the point?

to watch/listen

A very pop culture-y roundup this month

Alison Roman is bored of Instagram on The Active Voice. I get it, but I think she exaggerated its futility

I went to an early screening of Air and listened to Ben Affleck on Smartless to prepare

the obsession with having an “aesthetic” on Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain

A critique of the 2011 documentary “Forks Over Knives” on Maintenance Phase. Not a critique of its ultimate message, but a critique of the research supporting it (i.e. vegan rats actually died more often than nonvegan rats, but nonvegan rats lived with tumors. and rats aren’t people lol)

American Teenager by Ethel Cain is a perfect song and I’m making my way through her album, Preacher’s Daughter 

Watched 500 Days of Summer on the plane and would recommend it to all hopeless romantics

to cook

baingan bhaja, one of the easiest ways to prepare eggplant. Coat disks of eggplant with red chili powder, turmeric, and salt, and then pan fry these. It’s a low-effort Bengali side dish that pairs perfectly with some dal. Video here. 

chana saag, a luscious sea of greens and chickpeas. If you’ve ever had palak paneer, it’s like that, but with any greens you want and chickpeas instead of paneer. I used spinach, kale, and chard; it’s flexible! Video here. Recipe here. 

chana masala kathi rolls for a fire lunch. Start with some Brooklyn Delhi tomato achaar, then add leftover chana masala, bell peppers, onions, and a cilantro yogurt chutney. Video here. 

Aloo matar, a quintessential spring dish! 

Taiwanese braised tempeh, loosely based on this Chez Jorge recipe. I didn’t have doubanjiang, so I flavored mine with a mix of sambal oelek, doenjang, and black bean garlic sauce. I also added in red bell peppers, leeks, kale, and cabbage. 

And saved the highlight for last: I’m addicted to cabbage. I go through a head of cabbage every week and might need to write a separate essay on this vegetable that I spent most of my life neglecting. I made this caramelized cabbage and leek pasta. And a recent favorite: cut into 8 wedges, sear in a cast-iron for 5 minutes or so, drizzle some tamari or soy sauce, roast for 30 minutes or until charred and tender, finish with chili crisp or a lemon tahini drizzle. 

extra spice: what I want to eat this spring 

Two years ago, I was at the peak of my food photography era, which meant I wanted my photos to reflect the mood and light of the season. It was the first spring I felt excited about eating bright, zesty, tender spring foods: asparagus, lemons, peas, every herb from dill to parsley, olive oiled baguettes, lavender lattes.

Since I was particularly intentional about the visual details of my creations, I ended up with some meals I may not have made if I was motivated primarily by convenience. Meals that may require more than one pot, but it’s because they have layers. Like broccoli stalk pesto and miso mushrooms in vegan omelettes. Za’atar coated tofu and mint tahini with arugula and tiny rolled up cucumbers. Saffron cauliflower, crunchy pickled vegetables, and cool yogurt on buckwheat flatbread. Pistachio dukkah to add some pizzazz to strawberry oatmeal. The simple golden trio of lemon, olive oil, and dijon mustard for lemon asparagus pasta.

I miss giving my food that much attention, to the point of having a journal full of sketches of bowls and thalis. Even if my artistic approach to food came from too much free time amidst a pandemic and aspirations to craft an appealing online aesthetic, it was still rejuvenating. After all, when the styling and photo shoot was over, I got to sit down – sometimes alone, sometimes with family – and enjoy the meal I carefully put together. So I’m trying to channel that infatuation with beautiful spring food. I haven’t journaled in months, but I opened my journal yesterday and gave it a go.

What do you want to eat this spring? What’s your favorite spring vegetable? And more importantly, how do you feel about cabbage? (for research)