This post was originally published on Substack
Hi!
Welcome to …and the meal. This is a newsletter about food—eating it, learning about it, and finally, cooking it myself.
The name of this newsletter is a translation of …y la comida se hizo, the title of a series of Mexican cookbooks written for home cooks. Each volume is organized by a certain theme (easy meals, quick meals, meals for celebrations, et cetera).
My original idea for a food blog was to cook through every recipe in the series as a way to stay connected to my Mexican heritage and to try my hand at making foods I’d never cooked before. “Like that movie Julie & Julia?” my mom asked. Uhh, sure. Just like that. (Note: I have never seen the film and did not know what the premise was until I looked it up on Wikipedia. There is truly nothing new under the sun.)
For now, that particular idea is on hold. Not because I found out Julie & Julia exists, but really because, as of February 17, 2021, we are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (and the extra-contagious B117 variant was just detected in Milwaukee) and the luxury of heading to the grocery store for a one-off ingredient is… not something I can afford right now. Also, my car is currently buried under snow. I’m not going anywhere.
Still, I love food, and it’s time I wrote more about it. For me, food is the thing around which community is built and nurtured. I’m carving out this space on the internet so we can nerd out about it together.
Like a good pot of pinto beans, this newsletter will need some time to simmer, and perhaps some tweaks here and there, before it really comes into its full identity. All the same, I hope you’ll join me here. We’re going to have a good time.