Weekend Reading: Squirrel for Dinner, Remembering Maya Angelou, and More

What we’re reading, cooking, and clicking this week.

It's often the work of professional stylists and photographers that gets me out of my desk chair and into the kitchen, hopelessly inspired by a gorgeous image. This project, by food stylist Michelle Gatton, photographer Christopher Testani, and art director Mason Adams, sets out to make me feel the same way about cooking with invasive species like jellyfish, or even squirrel. While I find the images visually compelling, I don't think I'll be experimenting any time soon. —Zoe Schaeffer [The Salt]

Ross Andersen's essay, "Sacrament," published in Aeon magazine this week, examines the mysticism behind the biodynamic wine-making movement. It's a rare sort of wine story, one that is as much about faith as it is about fermented grapes. —Karen Shimizu[Aeon]

Maya Angelou, who passed away at 86 this week, was not only one of the world's greatest and most august poets; she was also a great eater. I'm remembering her this week with her paean to rich meats, "The Health-Food Diner." —Betsy Andrews [AllPoetry]

As a devout user of Open Table, there have been times I've missed the boat on that one restaurant I couldn't wait to get into, simply because I was too late booking. Resy is trying to change that. The catch? Resy tables come with a price tag (which I just might be willing to pay). —Michellina Jones[Eater]

This week, the Yelp community used the review site as a bludgeoning tool against a publicly anti-gay Texas diner, writing posts describing it as the ultimate gay pick-up joint, much to the irritation of the homophobic owners. Fabulous. —Felicia Campbell [GrubStreet]

ADVERTISEMENTAD

For the past 65 years, Britain's National Collection of Yeast Cultures has been gathering strains of yeast, now housing 4,000 varieties. This fermentation repository is not just an archive for brewing and distilling; it's also a resource for other industries, like medical research. —Mari Uyehara The Atlantic