Content warning: This essay contains descriptions of diet culture and complicated relationships with food and eating. Take care while reading 🧡
I’m a woman of a certain age (33), which means I grew up in the age of “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” It's chilling how memorable that phrase was to a 12-year-old shopping for denim jorts. Diet culture of the early 2000s seeped into many of our brains, closely linking guilt and eating.
My perspective changed during my sophomore year of college when I watched my friend Shayne demolish a fat salad from the dining hall, squealing with joy after every scrumptious bite. I was shocked. I had never seen someone enjoy food so rapturously, so unhindered by shame.
But isn’t emotional eating inherently gluttonous and shameful? Recipe developer and author Carla Lalli argues that big feelings and eating should go hand in hand. In this conversation with Brittany Luse from It’s Been a Minute, Carla makes a case for centering pleasure in eating, cooking and life in general. Easier said than done, right?
After her marriage of more than 20 years ended, Carla’s perspective on cooking shifted dramatically. Even on your worst days, you still have to eat, and a delicious home-cooked meal could be the best part of your day. Rather than slogging through a recipe exactly as written, she encourages home cooks to be in the moment and cook with your instincts. Don’t be afraid to get creative — add ice to your cereal to keep it cold or mix all your short-cut pasta shapes for fun. Both in their ingredients and their instructions, the recipes in her new book Food is a Feeling get funky on purpose — because food is life, and life is weird.
Listen, cooking and eating can be difficult for a million reasons, but I love how Carla is trying to remove shame and restore joy. I hope you eat some comfort food this weekend — whatever that means to you. I’m going for a miso-honey-butter salmon situation.
Happy eating + listening,
🍅 Em
The week’s best episodes
…to share with your comfort person
🪕 Dolly forever!
Podcast legend Jad Abumrad traveled with Dolly Parton for two years profiling her, and the series he made is an intimate, funny and eye-opening look at the cultural titan. After her unfortunate passing last week, there’s no better time to listen to Dolly Parton’s America.
👱🏻♀️ I’m your dream (AI) girl
A 22-year-old med student in India created a woman with AI to scam (mostly right-wing) American men. He named her “Emily Hart” and she was an immediate hit, quickly making thousands of dollars (which Emily's creator used for tuition) but then… his conscience caught up with him. This two-part series from Close All Tabs is a banger story about human connection and AI.
🏈 Go Eagles but please be safe
I’ve lived in Philly for twelve years and for twelve years I’ve been conflicted. How can I be a “good” football fan when I know how widespread the neurodegenerative disease CTE is amongst NFL players? Short Wave covers a new study that looks at the brains of former players — at least 25% of whom had CTE when they died.
🍎 Stop trying to make Honeycrisp fetch
Remember when avocados were trendy? What about a few years ago when cotton candy grapes (figuratively) exploded? Planet Money’s Kenny Malone and Sporkful’s Dan Pashman chat about the economics of viral produce in this bonus episode. Get access (and sponsor-free listening) by signing up for NPR+.
One to Watch
In this Newsmakersinterview comedian Robby Hoffman takes a call from her landlord (who’s fixing Robby’s toilet)… right in the middle of sharing a heartfelt anecdote. You must watch.
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