Our March issue is out now. In his editor’s letter, Pat Nourse walks you through what to expect.
The Land of Flat Whites and Club Sandwiches?
There’s something in the poetry around food that I can’t resist. In Fuchsia Dunlop’s newest deep-dive into Chinese food, she mentions that the local term for Jiangnan, the focus of her latest exploration, is yu mi zhi xiang: Land of Fish and Rice. Something about the phrasing appealed to me and I’ve tried to bring a similar poetry to my own cooking habits, with mixed results.
Last month was the Land of Avocados it’s Okay to Pay Four Dollars for Because they’re Healthy, and April stands a good chance of being The World of Things that Ended Up Covered in Chocolate in Spite of All Common Sense and Reason. Putting it in capital letters definitely seems to give it a certain gravitas, no matter how questionable the activity. Take, for instance, That Semester I Wagged University and Made Nothing But Lasagne, or The World of Things I Grilled and Served with Taramasalata at Dinner Parties. (I was tempted to call our peek behind the kitchen door at Sydney seafood sensation Saint Peter something like The Land of Fish and Fish, but that might be taking things a step too far.)
More broadly speaking, I’ve dubbed this The Issue of Things I Want to Cook Again and Again, not least for the lamb sausage pasta with mint from Luca, the British-Italian restaurant that’s taking London by storm. I’m thinking about making it for a supper club at my place when I join in #CookForSyria, a campaign running this month that aims to bring Australians together around the dining table and in the kitchen to raise money for children affected by the conflict in Syria.
