Welcome to Secret Breakfast / An exclusive newsletter, the best place to start your day by dissolving the Parliament, and making a food of painful experiences

Hi there!

This is Emmanuel Macron, the most photogenic world leader we have now in power since we lost Barack Obama and Sanna Marin.

Macron has just dissolved the French parliament after a crushing loss to the far right. At least he has something to drink and some friends.

What else do you need on a bad day?

Piero

Photograph: Tourcoing, France, The French president, Emmanuel Macron, mingles with people in a bar before the Coupe de France final between Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. Miguel Medina/Reuters

✦ Katie Benn, illustrator.

MAKE A HAPPY SALAD

The Sad Desk Salad Is Getting Sadder cries The Atlantic. The story: every day, the blogger Alex Lyons orders the same salad from the same New York City bodega and eats it in the same place, her desk.

It’s basically the story of The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella (there, we had a falafel and halloumi pita).

Salad chains are booming in cities and suburbs, offering fast, convenient options even with drive-thru lanes. While increased salad accessibility is positive, Yasmin Tayag worries this trend reinforces a culture of overwork, where people grab salads quickly just to maximize their work time.

Picture: Brooke Lark

A journey far beyond butter chicken

★★★★☆

Saag Paneer Lasagna, Classic Dosas, Keralan Fried Chicken Sandwiches, Pani Puri Mojitos, and a Masala Chai Basque Cheesecake. If you suspect that Indian cuisine far from India is not that Indian, here you have an interesting book about Indian cooking far from India. Meet the author in this interview.

Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora by Khushbu Shah
→ Shortplot: 🥘 🌶️ 🍛 🇮🇳

🔍2 Million of Recipes in one site 🇪🇸Disfrutar is the Best Restaurant in the World 2024, see what it’s like in this video! 🧃12 Refreshing Vegetable Smoothie Recipes That Don’t Taste Like Salad  (★recipes) 💃🏻The ‘hot girls have stomach issues’ social media trend makes sense 🪤What Does War Have to Do With Cheese? In Russia, Everything🌡️This might be the smartest meat thermometer in the kitchen 🇮🇹Making Amatriciana and Carbonara With Chef Sarah Cicolini 🍃The Benefits of Chlorophyll (spoiler: we still do not know) 👩🏻‍🍳These Chefs Are Elevating African and Caribbean Cuisines From Carryouts to Fine Dining 🏦Food Banks & Co: Canada’s 1st full-scale free grocery store to open in Regina 🥦The Child-Nutrition Myth About Disgusting Vegetables That Just Won’t Die 😱You wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to buy sp**m 

The Rise of Hyperpleasures 
Samuel C Heard / Mere Orthodoxy

If humans experience pain and pleasure on a 1-10 scale, then hyperpleasures are those activities which take us “off the scale,” so to speak. Sex, play, reading, conversation: ordinary pleasures have given way to hyperpleasures.

Heart of the batter: my lifelong love affair with fish and chips 
Daniel Gray / The Guardian

“Yet the mental health benefits of a moderate chip-shop habit are serious and many. Here is something calming and connecting, something shared and constant. Something ever-present upon a planet shuddering in chaos and flux. Whenever we see those two words separated by an ampersand lit up on some damp night, we chippy types are home, wherever we may be”.

➤ Last week's most clicked link was The World’s 20 best cities for food right now. And that's NOT all for today: hey, in last week’s issue I was so happy about “The Bear’s Menu in advance” idea, and open rates were so low. I bet on the losing horse, or bear, I think.

• SEASON 4 - ISSUE 188 •
Secret Breakfast is a newsletter
by Piero Macchioni

Think of it as The Morning Brew for food people, or just the most unconventional email you'll get today. In four years we have shared more than 2,000 recipes, hundreds of books, and countless hours of news, gluttony, and joy.

★★★★★
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