#black american cookbook

[what-marsha-eats]

Chef Kia Damon has teamed up with @bembrooklyn to curate a list of some of her favorite cookbooks highlighting Black chefs and food histories. Check out the full list below:

📚The Jemima Code by Toni Tipton-Martin

📚Mama Dip's Kitchen by Mildred Council

📚A Date with A Dish by Freda DeKnight

📚Princess Pamela's Soul Food Cookbook by Pamela Strobel

📚The Black Family Reunion Cookbook by the National Council of Negro Women

[tabney2023]

Patti LaBelle

LaBelle Cuisine: Recipes to Sing About Available on Amazon USA

Patti LaBelle, living legend, beloved musical icon, “Godmother of Soul” (The New York Times), and New York Times bestselling cookbook author, crafts a new collection of her favorite comfort food recipes to help you bring joy and flavor to your family’s table.

[poeticmc-blog]

AFRICAN AMERICAN BOOKS AD

[rotzaprachim]

some smaller bookstores, presses, and museum shops to browse and know about! Most support smaller presses, diverse authors and authors in translation, or fund museums and arts research)

(disclaimer: the only three I’ve personally used are the Yiddish book center, native books, and izzun books! Reccomend all three. Also roughly *U.S. centric & anglophone if people have others from around the world please feel free to add on

birchbark books - Louise Erdrich’s book shop, many indigenous and First Nations books of a wide variety of genres including children’s books, literature, nonfiction, sustainability and foodways, language revitalization, Great Lakes area focus (https://birchbarkbooks.com/)

American Swedish institute museum store - range of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American/midwestern literature, including modern literature in translation, historical documents, knitters guides, cookbooks, children’s books https://shop.asimn.org/collections/books-1

Native books - Hawai’i based bookstore with a focus on native Hawaiian literature, scholarly works about Hawai’i, the pacific, and decolonial theory, ‘ōlelo Hawai’i, and children’s books Collections | Native Books (nativebookshawaii.org)

the Yiddish book center - sales arm of the national Yiddish book center, books on Yiddish learning, books translated from Yiddish, as well as broader selection of books on Jewish history, literature, culture, and coooking https://shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/

ayin press - independent press with a small but growing selection of modern judaica https://shop.ayinpress.org/collections/all?_gl=1kkj2oo_gaMTk4NDI3Mzc1Mi4xNzE1Mzk5ODk3_ga_VSERRBBT6X*MTcxNTM5OTg5Ny4xLjEuMTcxNTM5OTk0NC4wLjAuMA..

Izzun books - printers of modern progressive AND masorti/trad-egal leaning siddurim including a gorgeous egalitarian Sephardic siddur with full Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration

tenement center museum -https://shop.tenement.org/product-category/books/page/11/ range of books on a dizzying range of subjects mostly united by New York City, including the history literature cookbooks and cultures of Black, Jewish, Italian, Puerto Rican, First Nations, and Irish communities

restless books - nonprofit, independent small press focused on books on translation, inter and multicultural exchange, and books by immigrant writers from around the world. Particularly excellent range of translated Latin American literature https://restlessbooks.org/

olniansky press - modern Yiddish language press based in Sweden, translators and publishers esp of modern Yiddish children’s literature https://www.etsy.com/shop/OlnianskyBooks

https://yiddishchildrensbooks.com/ - kinder lokshen, Yiddish children’s books (not so many at the moment but a very cute one about a puffin from faroese!)

inhabit books - Inuit-owned publishing company in Nunavut with an “aim to preserve and promote the stories, knowledge, and talent of Inuit and Northern Canada.” Particularly gorgeous range of children’s books, many available in Inuktitut, English, French, or bilingual editions https://inhabitbooks.com/collections/inhabit-media-books-1

rust belt books - for your Midwest and rust belt bookish needs! Leaning towards academic and progressive political tomes but there are some cookbooks devoted to the art of the Midwest cookie table as well https://beltpublishing.com/

[marzipanandminutiae]

Do you know much about historical cuisine? Saw yet another anime with friends and they went the whole 'modern food always tastes better' bit. I feel tired of the trope and am wondering how different historical cuisine would taste compared to modern times. So anything you happen to know as a historian would be cool to know!

That varies MASSIVELY based on time and location. Like. Much more than fashion does, even, I'd imagine (in a given sub-region- I can talk about Mainstream European and Euro-American Fashion of the 19th CenturyTM but the food was so different in different countries that were dressing the same, if that makes sense? just as an example).

Food is often more globalized in a lot of places nowadays, so the characters might have more diversity of flavors from the regional norm than they're used to. But this could be a good or a bad thing- a woman from 17th-century Japan might love pizza and much sweeter Western pastries, or she might absolutely hate them. Which is not to say regional cuisines haven't evolved, too- a museum here in Boston used to have tastings of 18th-century-style hot chocolate, and it was very different from the modern sort. But that's the largest blanket difference across the globe that I can think of, food-wise.

Not sure what anime this was, so it could have been Japan-specific, but I feel like this gets applied the most to the 19th-mid 20th century UK and United States. The whole Captain America line about "food's better; we used to boil everything," for example, and the general belief that everything was bland mush in those areas until the 1950s and then it was incomprehensible Jell-O mold horrors until approximately the 1980s. And of course, none of that's true- there were plenty of dishes that used spices and different cooking methods, many of which are still popular today. See also: Jonathan Harker, a Normal 1890s Englishman, getting so rhapsodical about paprikahendl that he simply must have the recipe for his fiancee to make. There also WERE bland mushes and fluorescent nightmares, but there's less than ideal food today, as well.

(Note that I'm much less confident talking about the whole English StodgeTM thing as we get into the 20th century. That is outside my history wheelhouse and there's a lot of different stuff embroiled in it relating to class and such that I don't want to talk out my ass about. All I know is that I've seen plenty of recipes from as late as the end of the 19th century, from England and some from urban Scotland if I recall correctly, that made ample use of spices. Nutmeg, mustard, black pepper, rosemary, caraway, and cayenne pepper were especially popular (not all together obviously). There was a belief among the middle and upper classes that strong flavors of garlic and onion were distasteful to ladies, but the fact that cookbooks and such feel the need to mention it implies that those elements WERE being used in cooking generally, in the UK, at that time. So wherever the idea that All British Food Is Beige And Tasteless came from, it wasn't mainstream late Victorian cooking for adults as far as I can tell)

(They gave kids a fair amount of the beige and tasteless because they believed their digestive systems couldn't handle strongly-flavored- okay now I'm getting off topic. Read Ruth Goodman's "How To Be A Victorian." Anyway!)

tl;dr- The answer to "is modern food better?" is "that's literally impossible to answer as a blanket statement, since it's massively dependent on the character's original time, place, social status, and personal taste- and where they end up in the present, of course."

Now, I do agree that the trope is annoying the same way every single princess being totally shocked and appalled when her marriage is arranged gets annoying- not because it can't be true based on history and human behavior, but because fiction treats it as some kind of universal precept. Mix it up a little sometimes! Have a Regency character who comes to the present, finds out that her favorite local cheese isn't being made anymore, and loses her entire mind!

[alexanderwales]

When my wife and I took our trip to South Korea, one of my goals was to try a lot of foods. I had a whole long list, compiled as I'd watched some Korean documentaries and food shows, and I managed to eat almost all of them.

Then, when we came home, I set to work recreating as much as I could, trying to get the flavors how I remembered them, working from a Korean cookbook, and making substitutions where I had to, mostly due to a lack of specific fruits and vegetables. Perilla leaves are virtually impossible to find where I live, and you can get daikon radishes but not Korean radishes, and I would prefer to make things "correctly" before I start doing Americanized versions.

And tonight, two years later, I've finally gotten around to making my second-to-last dish on the list, jajangmyeon (자장면), a relatively simple sauce-and-noodle dish.

It's pork, veggies, and black bean paste that's black as tar. It's amazing, lots of salt and umami, not too tough to make, and I think my recreation is probably as close as I can be expected to get. I do wish it had been more black though, and I didn't have cucumber to garnish, plus the noodles I used weren't quite right, but such is life in the kitchen.

I have two cultural notes about this dish.

First, the spelling is either jjajangmyeon (짜장면) or jajangmyeon (자장면), and this is apparently somewhat contentious. This is actually a Korean Chinese dish that was originally brought over by Chinese immigrants, and has only really been around for something like seventy-five years, having been popularized after the Korean War. Wikipedia lists the difference in IPA as "[tɕa.dʑaŋ.mjʌn]" vs "[t͈ɕa.dʑaŋ.mjʌn]" and for the life of me I cannot tell what's even theoretically supposed to be the difference between the two. Maangchi actually has a video where she writes it both ways and says "see? same!" so whatever. It's the kind of thing that drove me a little nuts, because I wasn't sure which spelling was correct, but it turns out that this is just one of those transliteration issues where both are kind of right and if the letters are supposed to represent sounds, they're nearly indistinguishable.

Second, South Korea has Valentine's Day on February 14th, when women are supposed to give men gifts like chocolate or otherwise profess interest, then has White Day on March 14th, when men are supposed to "pay back" the women for Valentine's Day. But in South Korea they also celebrate Black Day, which is April 14th, and if you didn't get a gift on either of the two previous holidays, you dress up in black and commiserate with the other single people while eating some black food. The staple food is jajangmyeon, which is as black a main dish as you can get without adding squid ink or activated charcoal.

[vidavalor]

Polari

@camdenleisurepirates mentioned Polari & Ineffable Husbands Speak, so some thoughts on that below.

I think that C&A know how to speak Polari but the most common Polari words aren't in their language as much so far I don't think-- only because Polari is meant to sound exclusionary while C&A are hiding their cant vocabulary in words that wouldn't raise alarm bells for anyone listening to them.

They know a lot of stuff that influenced Polari and ties into it a bit, like the slang of seamstresses and sailors, which are part of their speak, but saying anything like "bona" and "vada" and "omi-palone" and the like on the bench in St. James' Park, etc. was out for them or the ducks watching them would have figured out something was up.

There are a couple of Polari words that overlap with their language that they seem to be using at least a little, though. The slang of a cottage and cottaging in gay communities is also part of Polari and Crowley & Aziraphale not only know exactly what that means but it also fits into their speak easily and I'd wager they will be smirking about it in relation to their South Downs cottage for some time. It's probably a word we'll hear on different levels in S3.

To "do a turn" in Polari and sailor's slang is one way to refer to having sex. The presumption has been that it comes from the theatrical world and doing a turn on stage. (Rather amusingly, C&A are literally doing a turn on stage during their Big Damn Sexual Euphemism Bullet Catch performance in S2.) Crowley uses "turn" euphemistically in this way in 2008 in 1.01. It's actually euphemistic on two different levels-- the Polari/sailor's slang level and also a joke related to the meaning of crepes in his and Aziraphale's speak.

Polari does have a lot of food euphemisms but not really overlapping with C&A's way that much & not to the same extent (to be fair, it'd be hard for any slang to get anywhere close to the same extent lol.)

It's not specifically Polari but kind of Polari-adjacent coded language but some gay men in England in the 1950s would refer to looking for gay erotica as looking for "American" magazines/books, etc. because that had just begun to be imported from the U.S. at the time. One aspect of the use of "America"/"American" in C&A's speak is in a coded way referring to not just to the idea of freedom in general (though, that too, for sure) but to sexual freedom, which is likely tied to how that was coded language for gay men in London historically at one point. While they still use America/American that way at times, they love their food euphemisms more when it comes to their erotica collection, which Aziraphale referred to as the "cookbook section" in GO: Lockdown. (I'm still laughing over that. 😂)

This one isn't Polari in origin, either-- as it came before it-- but, in Molly slang in the 1700s, the phrase "pleasant deed" was used to describe sex between male partners. It is thought to have possibly originated prior to being used by the Mollies but exactly when & where is unknown, so... technically, it or something *very* close to it could have been around in, say, 1601 😉... in case you ever got the same vibe from this that I do:

There's also that brandy is Polari & Cockney Rhyming Slang for ass and Crowley, when talking about Jane Austen in S2, says that she was a "brandy smuggler." The Napoleonic Wars were happening at the time so the "brandy" in question is actually French brandy-- the term for which is really cognac. (Aziraphale is drinking cognac-- a much more current bottle of Courvoisier-- in GO: Lockdown.) I'm sure that Jane really did have a whole scheme going where she was getting black market cognac into England during the war-- there's always the literal and then the wordplay level in GO-- but for Crowley to refer to Jane as a "brandy" smuggler in S2 might maybe suggest that Jane was also involved in facilitating some clandestine and gay shenanigans? The phrase "brandy smuggler" alone fits C&A's speak independently of any of the other connotations as brandy is alcohol (with the word 'randy' in it, no less lol) and one part of the origin of the word smuggle is "to eat secretly"-- food & alcohol being two of the most common euphemisms for them.

There's one more off the top of my head that is more like a joke about Crowley knowing Polari than actual use of the words itself but it is tied into a couple of Crowley & Muriel scenes in S2. In Polari, there are a bunch of phrases that mean "the police" and one of them is "orderly daughters." At the same time, to "order" in Polari is to orgasm.

Muriel shows up at the door and identifies themselves as a human police officer so insistently that they tell C&A at one point that their name is "Inspector Constable." Crowley makes some jokes that he knows only Aziraphale will understand about how some cops make a "hobby" out of spying on queer people. Later on, when Crowley has Muriel arrest him to get to Heaven, the jokes he's making that are all going over Muriel's head are all related to what will "take him to Heaven"-- some things that will get him to "order", in Polari. This all works without the Polari already but it's also kind of as if Crowley's wordplay-happy mind is turning over "orderly daughters" and "order" and that's part of why he's amusing himself by self-deprecatingly telling cop Muriel that if they throw the cuffs on him and word him a bit ("you just say 'blah blah blah...''), he'll order in no time.

I'm sure there's more but that's what I've noticed so far. 😊

[mariacallous]

Apples dipped in honey and honey cakes are popular across the Jewish world around Rosh Hashanah. But if you grew up in Israel, you most likely came across a unique variation of honey treats: duvshaniyot. These dense, dark, round honey cookies are a must in many families’ High Holidays nosh rotation.

The modest duvshaniyot (their name derives from the Hebrew word dvash, meaning honey) seem to have been part of the Israeli repertoire forever and you can find them on the cookie shelves in every supermarket in the country. They are cheap, pareve and last forever, so no wonder they have become a regular for Rosh Hashanah afternoon tea, for breaking the fast on Yom Kippur, and for dipping in a cold glass of milk in the sukkah. But these unassuming cookies hold a long history, as most Jewish and Israeli dishes do. 

Duvshaniyot are the Israeli adaptation of a popular Russian cookie called pryaniki. Dating back to medieval Russia, pryaniki were made with honey, rye flour and berry juice, and were known simply as “honey bread.” Starting around the 12th or 13th centuries, when Russia started opening up to imports from the Middle East and India, spices and dried fruit were added to the cookie. In different regions throughout Russia, people experimented with new additions to this cookie, from jam filling to a later invention of sweetened condensed milk. Some versions were imprinted using delicate wooden forms, and some were simply rolled by hand and dipped in sugar glaze — the same version that’s still popular in Israel today.

People sometimes confuse pryaniki with German lebkuchen (aka gingerbread cookies), but it is rare to see ginger added to these classic Russian cookies, and even lebkuchen don’t always have ginger in them. Traditionally, pryaniki were spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, and even black pepper and cumin. In fact, their name, pryaniki, comes from the Russian word for spiced, pryanik.

Different versions of pryaniki can be found around Eastern Europe, like piernik in Poland and lect cookies in Slovenia, which are heart-shaped, painted red and artfully decorated with colorful icing. These Eastern European versions were traditionally served around Christmas, but were adapted by Jews for their own holidays, mainly Rosh Hashanah, for the use of the symbolic honey.

From Eastern Europe, the little honey cookie made its way to Israel and the United States. “The Settlement Cook Book,” a classic 1901 American Jewish cookbook by Lizzie Black Kander, includes two versions of lebkuchen, both with citrus and almonds, but no ginger. Even more interesting, is that neither include honey, but instead call for brown sugar or molasses.

An early Israeli cookbook, “Folklore Cookbook” by Molly Bar-David, has recipes for honey cookies that are similar to pryaniki and for lebkuchen. Bar-David suggests adding ginger to the honey cookies and calls for margarine instead of butter, maybe to keep the cookies pareve.

Today, Israeli manufacturers of duvshaniyot must be doing a good job, as I notice the same Israeli brand cookies at many Russian stores in the United States. But maybe because duvshaniyot are readily available in every supermarket, most Israelis do not prepare them at home. That’s a shame, because as is the case with most baked goods, homemade is better. And when the recipe is as easy as the one below, there’s no reason not to.

You can add any of the classic gingerbread cookie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, clove, and even black pepper and cumin) as well as cocoa powder, strong coffee or chopped chocolate. Candied citrus peel or any tart candied fruit, as well as citrus zest. You can try to replace some of the flour with rye flour to be closer to the original Russian version, or replace some of the flour with almond meal and make it closer to the German lebkuchen. It’s up to you.

Some recipes, including centuries-old recipes, suggest letting the dough rest for a few hours and up to a week before baking the cookies. This will deepen its flavors and will make rolling the dough easier. But even if you bake it right away, the cookies will improve with time, so I suggest baking them at least two days before serving. You can easily prepare them the week before Rosh Hashanah and then serve them for break the fast on Yom Kippur.

Notes:

The cookie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator, or up to overnight.

The cookies will improve with time, so I suggest baking them at least two days before serving, though you can keep them in a sealed container at room temperature up to a month.

[cyarsk52-20]

🍲Black food history

:1. Fried Chicken: Originated in West Africa, brought to Americas by enslaved people

.2. Gumbo: African, French, and Indigenous fusion dish from Louisiana.

Barbecue: African and European influences merged in Southern BBQ.

Soul Food: Post-Civil War cuisine developed by African American women.

Juneteenth: Celebratory foods like red velvet cake, strawberry soda.

African Diasporic Cuisines: Caribbean, Latin American, African American.

Foodways of Enslavement: Cooking techniques, ingredients.

Freedom Food: Post-Emancipation culinary innovations.

The Black Chef''s Movement: Modern culinary activism.

Black Food Culture Preservation: Efforts to document, celebrate heritage. 🍲Books:

"High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America" by Jessica B. Harris

"Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine" by Adrian Miller

"The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink" by Andrew F. Smith 🍲Documentaries:

"The Search for General Tso"

"Soul Food Junkies"

"The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" 🍲African American culinary contributions are vast and diverse, reflecting the community''s rich cultural heritage. Here are some key aspects: 🍲Traditional Dishes

Fried Chicken

Barbecue (ribs, brisket, etc.)

Gumbo

Jambalaya

Soul Food (mac and cheese, collard greens, etc.)

Cornbread

Red Velvet Cake

Sweet Potato Pie 🍲Culinary Influences

African (fufu, jollof rice)

Caribbean (jerk seasoning, curry)

Southern American (biscuits and gravy)

European (French, Spanish, Italian) 🍲Historical Context

Slavery: Enslaved Africans brought culinary traditions.

Reconstruction: Freedmen established restaurants, food businesses.

Great Migration: African Americans introduced Southern cuisine to urban centers. 🍲Iconic Figures

Abby Fisher (first African American cookbook author)

Nat Fuller (renowned chef, Charleston)

Edna Lewis (celebrated chef, author)

Leah Chase (legendary New Orleans chef) 🍲Modern Contributions

Innovative chefs (e.g., Marcus Samuelsson, Carla Hall)

Food media (e.g., "Soul Food Junkies," "High on the Hog")

Food festivals (e.g., Essence Food Festival)

Food justice movements (e.g., Soul Fire Farm) 🍲Regional Cuisines

Southern (e.g., Lowcountry, Cajun)

Caribbean-American (e.g., Haitian, Jamaican)

West Coast (e.g., California soul food)

Midwestern (e.g., Detroit-style soul food) 🍲Books

"The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink" by Andrew F. Smith

"Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine" by Adrian Miller

"High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America" by Jessica B. Harris 🍲Documentaries

"The Search for General Tso"

"Soul Food Junkies"

"The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" 🍲Websites

The Southern Foodways Alliance

Black Food Studies

The Food and Culture Exchange

[justforbooks]

Robert George Seale (born October 22, 1936) is an American engineer, political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense", the Party's main practice was monitoring police activities and challenging police brutality in black communities, first in Oakland, California, and later in cities throughout the United States.

Seale was one of the eight people charged by the US federal government with conspiracy charges related to anti-Vietnam War protests in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Seale's appearance in the trial was widely publicized and Seale was bound and gagged for his appearances in court more than a month into the trial for what Judge Julius Hoffman said were disruptions.

Seale's case was severed from the other defendants, turning the "Chicago Eight" into the "Chicago Seven". After his case was severed, the government declined to retry him on the conspiracy charges. Though he was never convicted in the case, Seale was sentenced by Judge Hoffman to four years for criminal contempt of court. The contempt sentence was reversed on appeal.

In 1970, while in prison, Seale was charged and tried as part of the New Haven Black Panther trials over the torture and murder of Alex Rackley, whom the Black Panther Party had suspected of being a police informer. Panther George Sams, Jr., testified that Seale had ordered him to kill Rackley. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in Seale's trial, and the charges were eventually dropped.

Seale's books include A Lonely Rage: The Autobiography of Bobby Seale, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton, and Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers (with Stephen Shames).

In 1978, Seale wrote an autobiography titled A Lonely Rage. Also, in 1987, he wrote a cookbook called Barbeque'n with Bobby Seale: Hickory & Mesquite Recipes, the proceeds going to various non-profit social organizations. Seale also advertised Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

In 1998, Seale appeared on the television documentary series Cold War, discussing the events of the 1960s. Bobby Seale was the central protagonist alongside Kathleen Cleaver, Jamal Joseph and Nile Rodgers in the 1999 theatrical documentary Public Enemy by Jens Meurer, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. In 2002, Seale began dedicating his time to Reach!, a group focused on youth education programs. He has also taught black studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. Also in 2002, Seale moved back to Oakland, working with young political advocates to influence social change. In 2006, he appeared in the documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon to discuss his friendship with John Lennon. Seale has also visited over 500 colleges to share his personal experiences as a Black Panther and to give advice to students interested in community organizing and social justice.

Since 2013, Seale has been seeking to produce a screenplay he wrote based on his autobiography, Seize the Time: The Eighth Defendant.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[what-marsha-eats]

Freda DeKnight (1909-1963) was a pioneering author and editor who celebrated Black American chefs and home cooks as "Ebony" magazine’s first-ever food editor. Her book, “A Date with a Dish,” was one of the first cookbooks written specifically for a Black American audience.

[tabney2023]

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaq’s Family Style Cookbook—Championship Recipes for Feeding Family and Friends available on Amazon USA.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 17-23, 2023)

Episode 7 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters laid down significant Monsterverse lore, showing the moment Monarch finally revealed itself to the public (under hilarious circumstances) and how the organization's partnership with Apex Cybernetics began. I did not find May's long-awaited backstory super compelling, to be honest, I think because the proto-Apex company was so thinly sketched. And that Frost-Vark better not be dead. :(

An incredible three Godzilla comics released last week: DC/Legendary's Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #3 and IDW's Godzilla: War for Humanity #3 and Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon. The crossover lit a certain section of the Internet on fire with the revelation that Godzilla did, in fact, kill Superman the previous issue. Writer Brian Buccellato chalked it up to Godzilla's atomic breath having "a radioactive signature similar to [K]ryptonite," which as handwaves go is pretty good. Behemoth and Scylla had moments to shine as well, and the issue ended with Lex Luthor discovering a Mechagodzilla eye. Glad Godzilla won't be the only Toho character in the comic; that would've been a bit lame.

Godzilla: War for Humanity remaining a thrilling read, and the Super MOGUERA debuting in this issue is not to be missed. Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon starts with a content warning for depiction and discussion of attempted suicide, which certainly surprised me. It's another strong issue, neither callous nor didactic, and told so efficiently there's plenty of room for the titular bout (which sometimes has felt like an afterthought in Rivals stories). Also, Jet Jaguar talks—something Toho forbade in a comic earlier this year, for whatever reason. Anyway, he's exactly the 'bot you would expect him to be. Hope IDW can keep him chattering in the future.

You've probably seen my flurry of posts already, but it bears repeating: The Boulet Brothers' Dragula, a drag reality competition found on Shudder, aired a kaiju episode. Reality TV isn't my bag, but I thoroughly enjoyed the competitors' kaiju-inspired costumes and performances. I also kept ping-ponging between awe that Americans are just expected to know what a kaiju is now and yelling at the hosts for, say, not naming any kaiju outside of Toho's Big Five.

Hot on the heels of the black-and-white re-release of Shin Godzilla comes Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, which has to be the best title one of these things has gotten. As with Shin, this is no mere filter; each shot in the film was regraded, with director Takashi Yamazaki striving for "a style that looked like it was taken by masters of monochrome photography." It opens in Japan on January 12; no word yet on whether it will play in any other country.

Godzilla will follow in the steps of pop culture fixtures like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars with Godzilla: The Official Cookbook by Kayce Baker, due from Titan Books on September 10. (You can tell it's official because he's actually on the cover.) 60 recipes lie within. It's a given that I'm going to buy something Godzilla-related that's this silly; I just have to pick up another cookbook first so it won't be the first one I ever own.

I was surprised to realize that McDonald's has never done anything Godzilla-related; far less prolific fast-food chains have worked with the monster, from White Castle to Carl's Jr. The first salvo in the campaign was pretty underwhelming—BE@ABRICK figures that can only be won via lottery, with an entirely plain Godzilla. That replica MogeGoji suit looked great in the ad, at least. Tokusatsu is being kept alive in the Godzilla franchise through some truly odd means. The follow-up ad/promo was a lot better, but that's a matter for next week's post.

This is at least kaiju-adjacent—James Wan's long-gestating The Call of Cthulhu movie seems to finally be going somewhere, as revealed in roundabout fashion by a Deadline article. I thought the 2005 silent version was just fine, but presumably this will be produced by his company Atomic Monster, which is long overdue for an actual giant monster movie.

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

what's some music you recommend?

Ouguguguufug okay so.

In terms of music that Has My Brain On Hold, tarot cards by Saturdays at Your Place, SATURN SUV 2 by fredo disco, Scream 2 by RedHook, and Craigslist Bed by Tiny Stills.

Artists I absolutely reccomend: Saturdays at Your Place, RedHook, Winona Fighter, Raccoon Tour, Narcissist Cookbook, Bug Hunter, Hey Calypso, Cat Company, Ian McConnel, Neutral Snap, Pulses., Rare Americans, Scene Queen, Tiny Stills, and Chase Petra. (A lot, ik, but I'd you're curious abt a specific band I can give specific song recs)

For gen recs, across many genres, Beck and Call by Sundresses, Love Is Dead And We Killed Her by Doll Skin, "good guy" by Against The Current, Wine Red by The Hush Sound, Like a Staring Contest by Future Kings of Nowhere, Psycho by Taylor Acorn, November State of Mind by Black Pontiac, and Devils Point by Wicked Shallows.

Album recs! Vacancy by Bayside, Dentonweaver by Raccoon Tour, Toxic Positivity by The Used, something worth celebrating by saturdays at your place, Burnout by The Warning, Happiness (Without a Catch) by Bug Hunter, the first glass beach album by glass beach, This Is How We Get Better by Narcissist Cookbook, POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL GUIDE by Bring Me the Horizon, Emotionalism by The Avett Brothers, PUP by PUP, and We Really Felt Something by Tiny Stills

:] I'm normal abt music

[rabbitcruiser]

National Chicken Fried Steak Day

Feeling a little bit hungry for some southern home cookin’? Then this is the perfect day!

National Chicken Fried Steak Day offers a great opportunity to appreciate and enjoy this classic, hearty dish with a few different southern sides.

History of National Chicken Fried Steak Day

Chicken Fried Steak has been around in southern cooking for many decades. Several places seem to claim its origin, including the states of Texas and Oklahoma. Some think it came from German immigrants who settled in Texas and began cooking steak in a similar way that they had cooked pork or chicken – like a wiener schnitzel. Others believe the dish got its start further north, in some commercial kitchens of Kansas and Colorado.

No matter where it got its start, Chicken Fried Steak is a delicious dish that is associated with southern cooking. It has been officially embraced by both Texas and Oklahoma, but it can certainly be enjoyed anywhere in the US as well as around the world!

National Chicken Fried Steak Day was founded not many years ago. Campaigned for by a restauranteur, Jeffrey Yarbrough and his friend, singer Jimmy Baldwin, National Chicken Fried Steak Day was established in Texas to give this southern dish just a bit more respect. The two wholeheartedly believed that people would argue a little less often if they just had a plate of chicken fried steak to enjoy!

By the year 2011, the 82nd Texas state legislature officially approved Chicken Fried Steak Day through a proclamation of House Resolution 1419. Of course, even though it might not be an official day in other states, Chicken Fried Steak Day can certainly be celebrated in places all around the world!

In an effort to make the day even more special, Jimmy Baldwin wrote a little song about this delicious food, and the song was officially endorsed by the state of Texas in 2017. The title is “Peace, Love, and Chicken Fried Steak.” and the chorus goes like this:

“Peace, love and chicken fried steak

That’s what the world needs now”

National Chicken Fried Steak Day Timeline

1830s Germans populate large portions of Texas

It’s likely that the German tradition of making wiener schnitzel was a strong influence on the more recent invention of Chicken Fried Steak. 

1838 The Virginia Housewife is published

This cookbook, by Mary Randolph, contains one of the earliest recipes similar to Chicken Fried Steak, but it is made with veal cutlets.

1942 Chicken Fried Steak ranks as one of America’s top meals

The National Restaurant Association compiles a list of the top 10 favorite American restaurant dishes and Chicken Fried Steak with country gravy ranks at #3.

1988 Chicken Fried Steak is added to Oklahoma’s official state meal

Officially approved by the state legislature, Oklahoma’s state meal includes Chicken Fried Steak, black-eyed peas, fried okra, cornbread, pecan pie and several other items.

2011 First National Chicken Fried Steak Day is celebrated

By proclamation of the Texas state legislature, Chicken Fried Steak is considered a food that reflects the history and diversity of the state. 

How to Celebrate National Chicken Fried Steak Day

Have fun and fill up that belly with delicious food in enjoyment and celebration of National Chicken Fried Steak Day! Choose a variety of different ways to pay heed to the day, including some of these ideas:

Enjoy Eating Chicken Fried Steak

Head out to a restaurant that specializes in southern or country cooking, and order up a plate filled with chicken fried steak, pile some white gravy to go on top and perhaps ask for some fried okra or a side of black eyed peas!

If choosing a locally run southern cooking restaurant isn’t an option, some national chains that often have Chicken Fried Steak on the menu might include places like Cracker Barrel, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, or Church’s Chicken. And perhaps, in honor of National Chicken Fried Steak Day and in the interest of saving some money, these restaurants will be offering special discounts or deals on this delicious dish.

Try Making Chicken Fried Steak at Home

Making chicken fried steak in the kitchen at home isn’t terribly difficult. And it might be a fun activity to enjoy in celebration of National Chicken Fried Steak Day!

Grab a recipe from the myriad of country cooking recipes available on the internet, or choose one from a cookbook at home. One of the most important factors in making chicken fried steak is to make sure that the cut of beef is properly tenderized, meaning that it is beaten until it is very thin and will fry up easily.

One other pro tip is to bread the meat and then place it in the refrigerator, covered on a sheet pan, for about 30 minutes prior to frying. This will help the batter stick to the meat and prevent it from falling off while in the cooking process.

Serve chicken fried steak with a variety of classic side dishes, including creamy mashed potatoes, fried okra, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, green beans or many other options.

Learn the Chicken Fried Steak Day Song

When there’s a song that goes along with a day, it might be almost compulsory to learn it! Or at the very least it can be a lot of fun. This song by Jimmy Baldwin, one of the founders of the National Chicken Fried Steak Day, is worth learning and singing along with. A quick online search will bring up a YouTube video, just for fun or the lyrics are here:

A whole lotta hate going on A whole lotta hate We’ve gotta learn to love one another White, Black and Brown, We’re all just brothers Well, I’m no guru, but I know what it will take All it takes is some chicken fried steak. Peace, love and chicken fried steak Peace, love and chicken fried steak That’s what the world needs now

Take a Trip to Texas

Perhaps it is not the place where chicken fried steak originated (though many Texans will likely vehemently disagree), but it is definitely the place where National Chicken Fried Steak Day got its start. And Texas certainly was the first state (and only, so far) to pass legislation for Chicken Fried Steak Day!

So a little trip to the largest of the southern United States would be a great way to celebrate this day. Enjoy a plate full of chicken fried steak at a huge selection of restaurants in Dallas, Houston or some of the other main cities. In fact, it might be wise to eat at several different places on the trip, comparing to see which place offers the best chicken fried steak around.

While visiting Texas, it might be fun to do some other activities related to this state, like remembering to visit the Alamo in San Antonio, buying (and wearing) a ten-gallon cowboy hat, getting some science vibes at the Space Center in Houston, or enjoying everything related to the Texas State Capitol that’s located in Austin.

National Chicken Fried Steak Day FAQs

Why is it called Chicken Fried Steak?

The dish is named this way because it is made up of a piece of steak that is cooked in batter, in the manner of fried chicken. 

How do you make Chicken Fried Steak?

Using a tenderized cube steak or round steak, create a breading with flour, egg and breadcrumbs, then fry.

Does Chicken Fried Steak have gluten?

Yes, traditional recipes for breading chicken fried steak are made with wheat flour, which contains gluten.

What does Chicken Fried Steak taste like?

Chicken fried steak tastes like a piece of steak, but with a thick and crispy breading wrapped around it.

Can you bake Chicken Fried Steak?

Sure! Technically, it changes the recipe a bit, but it is possible to come up with a similar (and healthier) recipe that is baked instead of fried.

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