No Panic, It's Organic 🍋
Welcome to Secret Breakfast / The best place to start your day with organic vegetables and crazy honey, edible sparkles and anchovy-infused martinis, to start a Phoenician scheme and cool the fire of anger
Hi there!
Scrambled eggs are served while you're reading a book in the bathtub.
A bottle of wine icing in the bidet sink.
Maybe some toasted bread and a pot of coffee are missing.
Welcome to the new Wes Anderson movie, The Phoenician Scheme, in theaters on May 30 (trailer here).
Today that's enough to make me believe in a better future.
Happy week!
Piero
✹Andrei Codrescu, New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City.
How Much is The Fish?
Just like Cordelia Cupp's unwavering devotion to tinned mackerel and sardines in The Residence provides comic relief throughout the series, The Fishwife Cookbook elevates humble canned seafood into sophisticated culinary territory. The volume transforms ordinary pantry staples into impressive offerings, from anchovy-infused martinis to salmon dips that outshine conventional party fare with minimal effort. Though salt levels require careful attention when cooking with these preserved treasures, this playful collection deserves shelf space alongside the eye-catching tins that inspired it.
The Fishwife Cookbook: Delightful Tinned Fish Recipes for Every Occasion by Becca Millstein and Vilda Gonzalez
→ Shortplot: 🐟 🍋🟩 🍣 🐡
When the food makes you crazy
⚠️We're in the spoiler territory here. ⚠️ The White Lotus Season 3 Finale had this incredible scene where Piper, portrayed by Sarah Catherine Hook, says something about how the vegetable food served in a certain place didn't taste organic.
The internet buzzed with excitement over that (more spoilers available on Reddit) and the newly discovered ability to determine if food is organic.
Sure as death, food was and is believed to have the power to change you. In which way? Pick your favorite!
Foods Believed to Cause Madness
🌾Salem, 1692. Young girls writhe on the ground, backs arched unnaturally, eyes rolled back in their heads. Their piercing screams echo through the village as horrified onlookers whisper of demonic possession. Years later, researchers would point to ergot-infected rye as the likely culprit—a fungus that produces compounds similar to LSD—not witchcraft. The moldy grain, consumed in daily bread, unleashed hallucinations and violent convulsions that sparked one of history's most infamous witch hunts.
🍯Beyond ergot, other foods have earned reputations as madness-inducing culprits. In ancient Rome, "crazy honey" or "mad honey" caused soldiers to abandon battlefields in disoriented terror. This crimson honey, produced when bees pollinate rhododendron flowers, contains grayanotoxins that trigger hallucinations and dangerous heart arrhythmias. Meanwhile, the unripe akee fruit of Jamaica contains hypoglycin, a compound that disrupts glucose metabolism and leads to what locals call "Jamaican vomiting sickness"—violent seizures and profound mental disturbances that can progress to coma and death.
🍅The most feared, perhaps, was the humble tomato. When introduced to Europe in the 16th century, the tomato was widely believed to cause madness and was called "poison apple." Wealthy Europeans ate from pewter plates high in lead content; the tomato's acidity leached lead from these plates, causing lead poisoning with symptoms including confusion and aggressive behavior. The tomato itself was innocent, but the resulting lead toxicity created a convincing illusion of "tomato madness" that persisted for nearly 200 years before the fruit was recognized as safe on proper dishware.
Foods Believed to Promote Gentleness
🍵In a 12th-century Tibetan monastery, monks sipped steaming cups of lavender tea before their evening meditation. Their movements became more deliberate, voices softer. This ritual wasn't merely spiritual—the monks understood what modern science now confirms: certain compounds in lavender reduce cortisol levels and activate parasympathetic nervous responses. These biochemical changes fostered the calm, compassionate demeanor essential to their contemplative practice, transforming not just their meditation but their interactions with all living beings.
🍼Throughout history, cultures worldwide have identified foods that seem to temper aggression and nurture gentleness. Ancient Ayurvedic practitioners prescribed warm milk with saffron and cardamom to "cool the fire of anger" in temperamental patients. The milk protein casein breaks down during digestion into casomorphins—compounds that act on opioid receptors to produce mild feelings of well-being. Japanese tea ceremony masters have long celebrated matcha's L-theanine content, an amino acid that increases alpha brain wave activity associated with relaxed alertness and empathy. These traditional practices reflect an intuitive understanding of how certain foods affect temperament.
🐟Modern research has expanded this ancient wisdom. Studies show omega-3 fatty acids from fatty fish and flaxseeds significantly reduce aggressive behavior by modulating serotonin and dopamine pathways. Tryptophan-rich foods like turkey, bananas, and dark chocolate increase serotonin production, promoting feelings of contentment and social bonding. Perhaps most surprising are fermented foods like kimchi and kefir, whose probiotic bacteria communicate directly with the brain through the gut-brain axis, potentially reducing anxiety and fostering prosocial behavior. This emerging evidence suggests our ancestors were right: what we eat shapes not just our bodies but our capacity for gentleness.
🫂How to make someone feel seen and heard 🍽️The Best Restaurant in America 🤏🏻What Happened to ‘Appetizers’? 💸Inflation Has Impacted How 86% of Diners Choose to Eat Out 🥖Keanu Reeves cutting a baguette with a katana 🍀The Green Sauces Matrix 🍪Everybody Will Ask You for These Cookies (★recipe) 🍌A Banana That Won’t Brown So Fast 🟢Pistachio Is the Flavor of 2025, Thanks to the Dubai Chocolate Bar (★recipe) 🥣This 3-Ingredient Dip Is One Favorite Afternoon Snack (★recipe) 🧠The brain remembers what gave you food poisoning 🇮🇹How to Make Lasagna From Scratch (★recipe) 🍟Steak Fries: Deservedly Reviled or Underappreciated Edible Spoons? ✨Say Goodbye to the 14-Course Tasting Menu (paywalled) 🤖AI-enhanced 3D printing cooks food with infrared precision 🏴The Little Scottish Village Hidden in Italy 💤50 Ways to Rest
Bring Your Own Deep Fryer: The Life and Meals of Actors on Tour
Grayson Samuels / Taste
Off-Broadway actors use food, and hotel-room “kitchens”, to make life on the road feel a little more like home. Love that.
Help us to create a more inclusive future
The Standard
This open letter from 70 female chefs is directly addresses the pervasive issue of sexism within the hospitality industry. By sharing their experiences of inappropriate behavior and unequal opportunities, and by pointing out the underrepresentation of women in prestigious awards, the chefs aim to break the silence surrounding these issues.
