My August diary: Forever chemicals and the National Anthem

Not a Lana song.

A lookback on August—what I ate, made, and read.

🥪 Out and about  

I flew to Idaho early in the month to visit my family. One evening my sister, 9-year-old nephew, brother-in-law, and I went to Garden Valley to see a rendition of Newsies at the Starlight Mountain Theater. The theater is outdoors, with a gorgeous view of the mountains, and, in true Idaho fashion, begin each show with the National Anthem. (This was two days after the shooting at the freeway adjacent to the water park we were at—after the evacuation and all-clear, a Christian rapper performed at the wave pool.) 

Before the show, we went to dinner at Tante Emma, a German deli new to town. I was charmed to see their menu was housemade and fresh—markedly different from the meat-heavy grill fare you typically find in Western mountain towns. I ordered the homemade spätzle, a cheese and egg noodle dish, and stole sips of my sister’s lager (the only dosage I’ll drink of beer). 

Back in New York, I went to Long Island for a night to visit my friend Meg. We went to Glen Clove for dinner and ended up at Otherside Wine Bar where we shared a bottle of Cos Rami Bianco, a Sicilian orange. The wine bar opened just a few months ago—it’s lovely. 

The next day, I returned to Brooklyn for a beginner knitting class at Cleo’s in Bushwick. One of my goals this year was to knit a pair of socks (life comes at you fast). I haven’t knitted since high school, and even with generous email guidance from my friend Stephanie, I felt I needed IRL instruction. The class was fabulous, and now I have a beautiful blue wool scarf and the beginnings of a terrific sock. Before class, I visited Seitan’s Helper, a nearby vegan sandwich shop. God, I love a vegan sandwich. I ordered the “Triple Threat,” an Italian sub made with housemade seitan mortadella, salami, and pepperoni, vegan cheddar, red onion, and peppers. It was delicious. 

And I finally made it to Librae Bakery. Eric and I swung by after a yoga class and shared the pistachio-rose croissant and the tomato-creamed corn Danish (!). I also got a feta dill scone and a loaf of their seeded oat sourdough. It was fantastic and may need to become our post-yoga ritual… 

The croissant in question.

🥛At home in the kitchen

We have slowly removed non-stick cookware (PFAS!!!) from our home over the last few years, but our rice cooker was the last holdout. We could make it on the stove, but preparing rice in an easy-to-clean appliance away from the stove is a convenience I can’t give up. After some overwhelming research, I realized I should use what I already have—our Instant Pot. But I use the Instant Pot for yogurt, and the inner pot is often in use or in the dishwasher. It occurred to me that I should buy an extra inner pot so I always have one clean and available for rice. I’m still trying to master the technique in the Instant Pot—so far, I’ve found that rinsing the rice well and adding a tablespoon of coconut oil keeps it fluffy and stops the rice from sticking to the bottom, but I’ll take any advice. 

This month, I had another obvious realization—we get a half-gallon of milk weekly from our CSA for the aforementioned yogurt. The milk comes non-homogenized, with a “cream line.” One of my grocery store dairy holdouts is organic half-and-half for drip coffee like the Boomer I am. I usually buy it ultra-pasteurized because it takes me about a month to go through a pint. It occurred to me that I should pour off the top of the weekly CSA cream-line milk and get an approximate half-and-half but with local dairy. (I would never go through a full local half-and-half before expiration!). I am storing it in an upcycled mini San Pellegrino bottle. Cute! 

My final happy discovery was adding a few basil leaves to a smoothie. I made a frozen peach and basil smoothie using goodies from the CSA. I also cooked a lot this month, but more on that in my next CSA food diary! 

🍊ICYMI

What I wrote about on Home Food this month:

A defense of whole-foods, and a recipe

🍬 What I read

I finished Ultra-Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn't Food by Chris Van Tulken. The book partly inspired me to write my defense of the whole-foods newsletter earlier this month. Ultra-Processed People investigates ultra-processed food’s (UPF) detrimental health and environmental effects. (The short and sweet definition of UPF is food wrapped in plastic and includes one ingredient not found in home kitchens). 

The timing was apt—I read the end of Ultra-Processed People while traveling and eating more ultra-processed food than usual. Despite some emergency kombucha, I felt its digestive effects after several days of eating this way. In the past, I have credited the “curing” of my decade-long digestion issues to an increase in the amount of fermented food in my diet. I do think fermented food addressed some of my nebulous gut issues, but until this book, I hadn’t connected another factor. Around the time I started eating and drinking fermented foods every day, I had also stopped eating ultra-processed food for the most part. I had done this because I was trying to limit single-use plastics in our kitchen, which, if you start to exercise this habit, cuts out almost all UPF. Naturally occurring fiber in whole foods was likely part of my gut turnaround, but studies also suggest a connection between modern food additives and PFAS in UPF and gut issues. Needless to say, I was relieved to return to my home kitchen. 

Some of the criticisms I’ve seen lobbed at the book are addressed at length by van Tulken, such as the socioeconomics of whole-food access and where responsibility ultimately lies (spoiler alert: with government regulation). The book is imperfect, and I will admit I didn’t feel equipped to understand whether his scientific interpretations of some of the referenced studies were a reach. Still, I recommend reading it if you’re interested in the food system or need inspiration to kick a junk food habit. 

I read The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History by Thor Hanson, too, which was a charming and fun read. Despite being a gardener, I hadn’t given much thought to seeds before, and it was hard not to find the author’s passion contagious. It was an interesting contrast to read it simultaneously with Ultra-Processed People—Hanson weaves memoir through the science and history more expertly and elegantly than van Tulken. I’d recommend The Triumph of Seeds to any gardener or botany nerd. 

I also read An Honest Woman: A Memoir of Love and Sex Work by Charlotte Shane, which I really enjoyed.