Re-learning to celebrate
Chloe cherishes the moments of celebration and Anna has a dressing recipe, which is really about faking how to be a good cook.
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Celebrating (even the little) Celebrations
Chloe-Rose Crabtree
Pandemic celebrations have been laced with weirdness. Moments we hoped to cherish surrounded by our loved ones constantly postponed.
Nearly 2 years and countless lockdowns later there does seem to be an end in sight but it’s still not exactly a sure thing. For those of us prone to anxiety this has made celebrations a source of mixed emotions. Each reopening we’ve had to navigate awkward air hugs, hand sanitizers of varied viscosities and whether or not ‘sharing plates’ are a COVID-friendly dining option.
In spite of pandemic safety measures, we’ve had to come up with new ways to celebrate a little where we wish we could have celebrated a lot. For me these celebrations have usually taken the shape of food or drink either as gifts or as a form of self-indulgence.
With Sourced we talk a lot about the politics of food and drink which can seem to take the joy out of eating and drinking. But our goal isn’t to suck the fun out of food. Sourced was founded with a love for food and drink culture in mind. Through an understanding of the politics of food and drink we can begin to appreciate and celebrate the endurance of culinary tradition. Where colonising forces have tried to flatten diets, food and drink traditions enjoyed in celebrations have served as quiet personal forms of resistance.
So instead of lamenting another push on the lift of Covid restrictions in the UK, here are the best ways I’ve celebrated with food and drink during the pandemic:
To celebrate turning 30 last year:
2 dozen Maldon oysters delivered as a birthday gift to my house (12 were eaten raw, 6 broiled with loads of garlic and butter, 6 used to make an oyster omelette)
Anna’s surprise gift of a truly excellent sparkling red wine, enjoyed in the garden while I sunned myself
To celebrate enduring the pandemic:
pre-mixed Negroni from the local pub enjoyed in the sun at ‘Negroni hour’ (when the sun hits the doorway perfectly so I could sit in the threshold and read while the dog sunned at my feet)
To celebrate Sourced’s first Live tutorial (and Anna’s Birthday)
A charcuterie spread, a bottle of champagne and all the bants.
To celebrate Thanksgiving
Made and sold a fuckload of pies and each pie pick-up became a mini reunion with all the lovely people I hadn’t seen all year. (Special shout out for David and Ameeta for bringing Sambal Shiok to me when they came to pick up their order because I forget to eat when I cook and it was so delicious and thoughtful)
To celebrate Christmas
Bought a jar of lumpfish roe but only needed it to garnish some crab-salad stuffed gougeres so I spent the next week putting low-rent caviar on everything. Potato chips were a favourite.
To celebrate a local artist, and give myself a little treat
A little tinned fish tattoo on my left forearm by Georgina Leung
To celebrate the everyday
Bowls of popcorn made by my husband, who now claims to have developed the perfect wok-popcorn method, eaten while watching reality tv.
Agak agak
Anna Sulan Masing
Oddbox has got me into routines with some of its regular features, which has made me realise that all I do, when cooking, is make a dressing. As a kid it was my job to make the dressing for the salad - my mother and sister were amazing cooks, so I let them do The Magic, but I would take pleasure and pride in my salad dressing talents. This has led to the fact that all I do now is make dressings. And that is all you need to do to fake being a good cook - cover food in an uncooked sauce of salt, acid, fat and heat. Steam some broccoli, cover in a standard french dressing that is also mixed with gochujang and a heap of chopped coriander, and babes, you feel F A N C Y.
Over the last six months I have been making variations of a red cabbage coleslaw. My theory with dressing is that you keep those four elements somewhat equal measure. These are some of the examples I use for the elements, choose your fighter (including ones not on this list, ofc):
Salt is… salt / soy / miso (I cheat and put ummami into this category)
Acid is… white wine vinegar / white rice wine vinegar / shaoxing / citrus
Fat is… any oil I have to hand
Heat is… garlic / chilli flakes / mustard / red onion (don’t ask why, it just is in my brain)
I often use a combo of these ingredients. Making a dressing is also a great way to work out your palate, it is low stakes experimentation. If it’s shit, throw it out and start again. You can keep tasting and adding to it to get to the balance - if you make an enormous amount of dressing, use the next day! The Malay term agak agak means a little bit / a guesstimation / more or less / to your taste… as does secukup rasa, which literally translates ‘to taste’ - it is this vibe that you need when making a dressing. It is a daunting idea to trust your own senses, which is why dressings are the best way to experiment.
So, dressing for red cabbage salad / slaw -
Equal measure white miso paste and english mustard. A crushed garlic. Salt. Splash of rice wine vinegar, splash of shaoxing. A squeeze of lime, and whole of the lime for it’s zest. Sesame seed oil (maybe a dash of olive oil too). Into a little tupperware and SHAKE SHAKE! I also like to put lots of chopped herbs - mint, coriander, flat leaf parsley - in with the thinly sliced red cabbage.
Reading/Listening List
Point of Origin, ‘What do we mean when we say food anthropology’
Listen to Chloe talk about how she views nourishment as a wellness practice with Wild Within tonight (16 June) at 7:30 PM GMT (the live conversation will also be recorded to view later)
Makan: recipes from the heart of Singapore, bu Elizabahe Haigh
Liz a dear friend of both of us, and I (Anna) have been reading this book a lot this week. Although Singaporean, a lot of the recipes have similarities to Malaysian food, and it is a trip down memory lane. The stories are great, and the recipes are delicious.
Horticultural Appropriation: a zine that looks at why horticulture needs decolonisation
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat. A great way to understand how to cook to your palate.
New on Sourced
Anna talks to journalist Doug Bierend about his new book that explores fungi. Through the lens of water, the discuss the misconceptions of fungi, how rot is integral to life and the building of networks
Writer and photographer Yvvone Maxwell explores migration and embodying everyday rituals in a beautiful piece for Water season, It Travelled With Me, Within Me
Part 2 of our audio mini-series ‘Who Feeds London?’ is live. Listen to Budgie Montoya (chef-owner Sarap BAon) share what cooking Filipino food means to him, how food nostalgia endures pressures to assimilate and pandemic restauranteur-ing.