I really want to join The Vegetable Orchestra
a look back on the month of March. Can you believe it's been 5 years since Covid?
This is a newsletter about the intersection of food, business, and culture — but it’s also a place for me to answer ridiculous questions, draw silly charts, and share embarrassing personal stories. It’s the feedback from readers that keeps me going:
Hi there,
I’ll get straight to the point: March wasn’t great. I tabled a few projects I had spent months on, had to cancel a few meetings because of “spontaneous crying,” and spent a lot of time scrolling The RealReal. But I also went to some good shows (Mike Birbiglia, some random girl Gracie found on TikTok), grew a lot of oocytes (a fancy word for “got pumped up with hormones as part of the IVF process”), and freed up space for some new shit. And that is what we call “balance.”
Below, I’ve shared my 4Ls for the month: what I liked, what I learned, what I lacked, and what I longed for.
Liked
filling up on a serving of vegetables in this millet and butternut squash porridge — but it needed to be zhuzhed up with so much extra apple butter, nuts, and dried cherries that I will go back to searching for other ways to eat vegetables for breakfast
discovering some new favorite reads: Where is the Cool (magazine), The Gentleman in Moscow (a really good book),
(a better news briefing), (for design inspo), and (for humorous dating stories in NYC)receiving videos of babies enjoying (or throwing) their first bites of food. My friends made some cute critters 🥹
this matryoshka doll on Ozempic at The Museum of Illustration’s latest exhibition
Learned
a month without drinking and exercise freed up a lot of time work and write, but I spent most of it at the grocery store. Strong recommendations for Tashkent (for Eastern European treats) and Teitel Brothers (for bulk olive oil, parmesan, and anchovies on Arthur Avenue)
that there is no fury comparable to the fury I felt when my husband gave Pride and Prejudice 3.5 stars
there is such a thing as a tuna hangover
Mido's all-you-can-eat tuna party tested my limits
Lacked
a bougie bean subscription (because I’m still on the waitlist for Rancho Gordo). A great example of making pantry staples desirable without being too cute or luxury!
an explanation for why this leek recorder exists — and why feel like my true calling is to make one and join The Vegetable Orchestra
Longed For
someone to teach me how to take better pictures of food (plz, it’s getting out of hand)
good fantasy smut. I invested more time in Literature and missed the dragons immensely
perfectly active levain on demand — but this loaf didn’t turn out so bad. Should I buy King Arthur’s Sourdough Sidekick?
Other Stuff & Things
While Ben was giving one of the best GQ interviews in awhile, Jennifer (Garner) was making $100M/year on those kid food pouches
Diners are opening everywhere — even Elon and Kim are opening their own. I’d like to see which one makes the best BLT
The cancellation of the USDA’s grants to bring local produce into schools and food banks is going to be devastating for farmers, kids, and rural communities, and we should be figuring out how to fill the gap. In addition, the tariffs being announced today are likely to result in signifiant losses for farmers
We’re in our big tote era (thanks
) – which explains why my feed is full of women training to be a “birkin mom,” someone is trying to sell the (free with purchase) Marfa Stance tote bag for $40, and I can’t stop lusting after my friend ’s Shupatto for the marketI was planning to do a roundup of April Fools’ Day pranks — but
has you coveredMore personalized nutrition companies are popping up (I think there’s a lot of opportunity), but why don’t they take pictures of actual food?



Coming soon: how to survive the most dangerous ingredient in the kitchen, what it’s actually like to cook on reality TV, and wtf is going on with all those fake meat startups.
Until next time,
Sophia
I am a King Arthur super-fan and, in general, think that if there's a tool or piece of equipment that will make your kitchen life easier, go for it! That said, this Sourdough Sidekick feels really unnecessary to me. I've been keeping my starter alive with the absolute BARE MINIMUM of effort for the past five years. I suppose it's not available "on demand," but is that really worth the counter space? For me, no.
March (and really Feb too) have been much more miss than hit for me as well. Hope things even out for you soon!
I don't know what in the ASMR this vegetable orchestra is but I'm listening to some of their tracks now and it's definitely the oddest thing I've seen all week. Makes me want to record some tracks in the kitchen as well.