Culture

Weekend Reading: Cooking with Grandmothers, Blender Physics, Flowerpot Bread, and More

A look at what we’re reading, cooking, and clicking this week

• [Pictured above] Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti has done a few around-the-world themed portrait series, many of which are featured on his website: there's children with their toys; CouchSurfers; and even grandmothers posing in their kitchens. In the grandmother series "Delicatessen with Love", each portrait is flanked by a picture of each granny's most-loved dish, along with a recipe for making it. —Karen Shimizu

• One of my all-time favorite sandwiches in New York is the Sofia at idiosyncratic Italian sub joint Alidoro: salami, mozzarella, artichoke, and tangy olive spread on a chewy, earthy focaccia wedge. But at least half the pleasure in this sandwich is ordering it: Alidoro owner Walter Momente runs things exactly the way he wants, which means no tomatoes, no mayo, no substitutions, no having-it-your-way—all of which is on display in The Atlantic's charming little video about a day in the life of Alidoro, which is making me really hungry for (another) lunch. —Helen Rosner

• My friend Kilolo Strobert works with a remarkable man, Yannick Benjamin, a sommelier who ended up paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident a decade ago, when he was just 25 years old. That didn't stop Benjamin from continuing to pursue a career in wine. As per a recent article by Lettie Teague in The Wall Street Journal, you can find Benjamin, who often holds free seminars for disabled wine lovers, at Le Duc's Wines in lower Manhattan, where he'll give you awesome advice on Burgundys. —Betsy Andrews

• I've been in a hole for the last few weeks (we were closing an issue! Not my fault!) but the other day I came across this awesome video on Wired, courtesy of ChefSteps, explaining the physics of the blender. For those of you who were also in a hole, now you can use the word "cavitation" when you talk about your morning smoothie. You're welcome. —Sophie Brickman

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Credit: Hong Yi

• Hong Yi, a Malaysian artist who goes by the nickname "Red," posts photos of food on Instagram [pictured]—but hers are not the kind you'd expect. Instead of what she's having for lunch, she shoots plates that have been transformed into tiny canvases: landscapes made of cucumber, reproductions of famous paintings made from rice and seaweed, and even condiments turned into the iconic Campbell's soup can. I look forward to her little tableaux in my feed every morning. —Laura Sant

• Nabokov will always be my favorite synesthete, but it seems some chefs and sommeliers may have a leg up on him (and the rest of us) when it comes to taste. This article on NPR's blog The Salt touches on what it's like to taste music and smell in colors. —Anna Perling

• This New Yorker review of Bee Wilson's Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat is a fairly thorough introduction in itself to the fascinating history of the modern kitchen and all things in it—the now-mundane but "formerly weird" fork, favorite coffee mugs, and the surprisingly recent development of the human overbite. All this information only made me want to read more, and Consider the Fork can now consider itself the next book on my reading list. —Camille Bromley

• This week I've been cracking up over an old classic on YouTube: Felix the Cat's "The Guardian Idiot." I never get tired of the hilarious (and pretty political) image of people stuffing themselves with burgers, and the hilarious and strange meat song that starts the episode off. —Felicia Campbell

• This past Wednesday I celebrated my birthday with a delicious meal at Brooklyn restaurant Anella, and the surprise highlight of the evening was the house-baked bread that started us off. Warm, crisp-on-the-outside yet soft-on-the-inside, and presented in the clay flowerpot in which it was cooked. I decided to take a crack at making my own, and found this rustic-looking recipe. Filled with feta, tomato and rosemary, I've found the future star of my next brunch party. —Elsa Saatela

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