Founder Files: My Substack Reading List, Stylish Melamine Tableware & Brisket Sliders

Welcome to the latest edition of Food52 Founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly newsletter, Hey there, it’s Amanda, packed with food, travel, and shopping tips, Food52 doings, and other matters that catch her eye. Get inspired—sign up here for her emails.

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I have a Substack problem. I was going to share the Substacks I read, and once I listed them, I realized that I subscribe to more than a dozen! (And that doesn't even count newsletters like Puck, The Information, Domino’s Home Front, and Nice News, that I also read.) There’s a lot of rumbling about the crisis in media, but we also live in an age teeming with excellent content—if you can sift out all the noisy junk. So let’s do this: Email me at [email protected] with your top 3 newsletters, and I’ll come back in a few weeks with some findings.

I grouped my reading* into buckets** for you:

*I only do the paid version for some of these—the subscriptions add up!

**There are more, but this is starting to make me look like a weirdo

Food

• The Best Bit by Clare de Boer - The chef/owner of King and Stissing House turns her lens on the food she cooks at home.

• Food Processing by Carla Lalli Music - Former BA food editor turned creator; she’s funny, unpretentious, an excellent cook

Culture

• After School - Casey Lewis has her ear to the ground on youth culture.

• Feed Me - Emily Sundberg writes about culture with a business lens.

Business

• The New Consumer - All about consumer products and the companies trying to change the landscape—Dan Frommer, the reporter, is a not-so-secret foodie so he pays a lot of attention to new food and lifestyle companies

• The Rebooting - A dose of media news and commentary

• Link in Bio - Smart takes on social media and internet trends

News

• Letters from an American - Thoughtful, knowledgeable essays on daily politics—and corresponding moments in history—from a historian living in Maine

Lifestyle/Fashion/Home/Travel

• Big Salad - Joanna Goddard’s newish Cup of Jo offshoot, focused on relationships

• Bobbi Brown - OG beauty entrepreneur writing about whatever floats her boat, a style that I also gravitate towards

• 5 Things You Should Buy - Longtime fashion journalist Becky Malinsky is my clothing Cliff’s Notes. I like that she’s high-low—a normal person who cares about clothes and does the homework for you.

• Rad Minimag - Chloe Redmond Warner, founder of Redmond Aldrich Design, writes about the nitty gritty of being an interior designer.

• YOLO - If you like to fantasize about travel while eating your desk lunch, as I do, Yolanda Edwards delivers.

I may be am definitely biased but I think we offer the most stylish array of melamine plates, which are great for outdoor use—and, in my view, for use anywhere.

For the pattern-curious:

For monochromatic devotees:

Real talk: Melamine, a coal byproduct, was developed in the 19th century but wasn’t used for dinnerware until the 1950s. It is completely safe to use as long as you don’t put it in the microwave and you don’t keep very hot food in it for hours at a time. There’s been a movement toward recycled bamboo dinnerware (here and here), which is considered more sustainable, but most of these materials are blended with melamine as well.

• Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Portland chef Naomi Pomeroy, who died last week. To celebrate her life and contributions to the food world, join our Cookbook Club in revisiting this Sole Piccata recipe from her cookbook, Taste & Technique.

• Our Tournament of Teriyaki recipe contest has a big prize: 5,000 smackers! Enter here by August 5.

• No grill, no problem—all you need is an oven to make Nea’s Slow-Roasted BBQ Brisket Sliders.

• César’s Scallop & Shrimp Aguachile is like ceviche, only way more fiery.

Karen Levi, a longtime Food52 team member (who's now at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture), was also my longtime source for skincare tips. Her latest find is Face Oil from Wonder Valley, which also produces olive oils for cooking. The face oil contains olive oil as well as a bunch of other food oils and flowers and herbs, including sunflower seed oil, rosehip, sea buckthorn, rosemary, and chamomile. I have annoyingly sensitive skin and it’s been great!

Now, on with your day!

Amanda

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