One Last Look at 2024
Five favorite essays
I’m not the best at re-reading my writing once it’s published. Yes, of course, I’ll re-read it over and over, revising and fiddling until the deadline. But once in the world, it’s dead to me (to put it hyperbolically.) The cognitive dissonance of wanting to be seen but then wanting to disappear.
But we grow and change, and I took some time to read through the essays I published here in 2024. They’re not horrible (lol) and I was left with more ideas for the future.
Letting Food Matter and Mean More
January 5
I find meaning in managing my pantry, shopping, and cooking (which I don't do alone). The routines of saving vegetable scraps, cooking from the pantry, and eating leftovers foster a reverence for the ordinary—and a daily reminder of how much I have when so many in my town are hungry. Paying attention to something makes it matter more and mean more. It’s still a relentless chore. Some days, ordering pizza from Clockwork, my favorite local (Palestinian-owned) shop, is necessary. The pizza tastes extra good because I'm extremely grateful for the labor of whoever made it so that I could sit down and rest.
There Are Many Things Better Than Sliced Bread
March 1
Large groups of humans, such as armies or governments, can swallow people whole. We are gulped down as we buy into the marketing that assures us convenience is the most important attribute of food. And, as US citizens deal with our food having additives that have been banned in other countries, we are the lucky ones. In Gaza, people are consumed whole while they’re waiting in a line for aid. In the US, in front of the Israeli embassy, Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire in extreme protest of the genocide – preferring to die than to be part of devouring more lives.
When Ideas Taste Better Than Food
March 15
Last month, my 9-year-old son became fascinated with a junk mail ad for the Wendy's Baconator on a pretzel bun. He taped the shiny paper to the side of my refrigerator and often mentioned how good it sounded. The idea for sale was the Perfect Burger, luscious, vibrant, and tantalizing. Lettuce greener than green, tomato redder than red. I restrained myself from going on a tirade about advertising, airbrushing, and capitalism. When he got the burger, it didn’t live up to the hype. He only ate half, voicing disappointment. The idea tasted better than reality.
The Limits of Comfort Food
September 27
Alexander Chee wrote recently, "There is something that thinks it is trying to protect you by shutting you down. You have to give it a specific new job. You have to put it in charge of keeping you going. It believes that keeping on will bring danger. You have to explain that safety is actually in that direction. And then see if you can keep going." Something in me thinks it’s protecting me by keeping me quiet, small, palatable. But no, I’m learning that safety is in the direction of the fear – especially when it is a fear of talking about something difficult. Which, on the scale of fears, is not the worst.
Against Fearing Home Cooks
October 11
There is something sinister in the earnest lawmaker's rush to bring more foods into the legal fold. He's thinking of the people (women) making food to supplement their income, to make ends meet. Make this food respectable, he cries. Let the government help, he pleads. But there is no acknowledgment that homemade food is generally safer or as safe as what's in the store. There will never be enough proof of safety to change the minds of those who profit off keeping food made in factories.
Thank you for reading! I’m looking forward to 2025 and have some exciting things for this newsletter in progress. Cheers to another year of focus on all the horror and all the hope, and what food means to both <3
The Good Enough Weekly comes out on Fridays, alternating essays and shorter updates. I also take on freelance editing and writing projects. Reach out if you’re looking for help in those departments — I’ve worked on everything from zines to textbooks.