Hello!
A poem for this month of June, 2021:
Try to praise the mutilated world.
Remember June's long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
You must praise the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts and ships;
one of them had a long trip ahead of it,
while salty oblivion awaited others.
You've seen the refugees going nowhere,
you've heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth's scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.
—Adam Zagajewski, "Try to Praise the Mutilated World," translated by Clare Cavanaugh
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. Welcome to all the new subscribers this week. If you'd like to hop off anytime, simply unsubscribe. I appreciate you reading (and sharing) this newsletter.
#Protip: if you click on the title of this newsletter (#43 | SF’s Gayest…) it will open up in a browser and make all the links and videos easier to view.
Let’s eat!
EAT
Trending: One of the most-viewed recipes on ediblesanfrancisco.com this past month, is this Radish Leaf Salad from Tara Duggan’s Root-to-Stalk Cooking: The Art of Using the Whole Vegetable. Who knew that radish leaves were so popular? But Duggan’s creative recipes make use of the parts of vegetables that typically get thrown away (or at least into the compost bin), and give new ideas for making the most of seasonal ingredients. Enjoy! Edible SF
We’ll Leave This Right Here Without Comment: “Just because I knew I was going to tell you that I did, I had an egg that I cooked in my egg spoon over the fire on my kitchen stove. (My daughter’s been selling them.) That is something I love to do. It’s a real fried egg. It’s very easy to do, and it’s so great because the egg puffs up. It’s so beautiful to do a three-minute egg with one of those blue-colored Araucana chicken eggs, and to cut the toast into little fingers for dipping.” Grub Street
Couldn’t Resist: “In the great food culture wars of the 21st century, the egg-spoon skirmishes may one day be remembered as pivotal.” —Kim Severson, New York Times
BTW, Alice Has a New Book Out Too: We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto.
Eric Ripert Is Not Afraid of Frozen Peas: “To me, what makes sense is to use the best ingredients available. And today, technology allows us to freeze, and there’s basically almost no difference between the fresh and the frozen.” Taste
DRINK
Gris de Gus: If you’re a (former) Noriega Produce shopper then you’ll recognize this photo of Gus’s Community Market founder Gus Vardakastanis (it was perched above the beer coolers at the old location) on the bottle of the 2020 Gris de Gus Rosé, Santa Barbara County. This wine is the ideal summer thirst-quencher, delicately perfumed with sweet strawberries and laced with racy acidity for that perfect one-two, damn-this-is-good, punch. Absolutely food-friendly, so grab a bottle for brunch or the beach. Available at Gus’s Community Markets.
Taking a Hard Pass: Mateus, the wine that seduced dictators and rock stars, is roaring back. The Drop
Some Like it Frozen: All of the necessary tips and tools to create exceptionally cold, on-demand Martinis, Negronis, and more. Punch
Filler Up: “There’s a consistent flow of people in their late 20s and 30s coming into the gas station looking for natural wine.” Eater
Our Fruit Forward Take on the Gin and Tonic: Summer Peach Smash Cocktail. Edible SF
THINK
🎥 A Life Unknown: New Bourdain film drops July 16. Trailer.
“Zuni, always was and has remained the gayest restaurant in San Francisco.” — David Tanis, cookbook author and New York Times columnist. We haven’t made it back to Zuni, post-pandemic, but ICYMI, John Birdsall’s “The Forgotten Queer Legacy of Billy West and Zuni Café” has given us a greater appreciation of the landmark restaurant and it’s place in SF’s culinary history. New York Times
Stash the Harpoons: In contrast to many fish species around the world, Pacific swordfish stocks remain healthy. A new way of fishing could make California-caught swordfish both sustainable and profitable. Nature
Bitter or Sweet? Can U.S. chocolate companies be liable for child-labor abuses in the global cocoa supply chain? The Counter
Go Big or Go Buggy: Insects are starting to enter the commercial agricultural food chain, albeit indirectly, through animal feed and pet food. In fact, insect agriculture is a mini-livestock industry that could get big. Anthropocene (h/t The Fern)
The Foreign Eggplant: From Portuguese introduction to British cultivation, the story of tomatoes in Indian cuisine is a complex one. Firstpost
No, Seriously: Cargill Backs Cow Masks to Trap Methane Burps. Bloomberg
👀 SPOTTED
(See Alice Water’s chat with Grub Street ☝️ wherein she lays down the tomato gauntlet)
June Dinner Jams Playlist: This month’s list slams it into high gear right out of the gate with “The Gathering,” Frank Turner’s foot-stomping anthem that envisions his first concert after the Covid-19 lockdown. It’s followed by a few similiarly themed rockers from Delta Spirit, Two Door Cinema Club and Spoon, before sliding into a “Good Vibrations” groove. Also, our favorite new tracks from Sunny War, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Natalia LaFourcade.
That’s all for this week.
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We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
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"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end" –John Lennon