> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://secretbreakfast.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Something Fresh, Something Wet 🧊 - URL: https://secretbreakfast.com/something-fresh-something-wet/ - Published: 2026-07-08T11:31:41.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-08T11:31:41.000Z - Author: Piero Macchioni - Tags: newsletter ### Welcome to Secret Breakfast / The best place to wrap your head around the idea that Summer is made for cooling dishes, jelly popsicles, and lonely mouths Hi there! All quiet here. Enjoy the issue! *Piero* --- ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2025/01/quote-transparent-1-1.png) ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2026/07/bottura.png) ✹**Massimo Bottura**, [chef](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massimo%5FBottura?ref=secretbreakfast.com), nailed that. --- ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2025/01/book-transparent-1.png) ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2026/07/9781784746681-jacket-large.webp) #### Hungry for hunger “Lonely mouth" refers to a Japanese expression. It means you feel like you want to eat something, but you don’t know what it is. A constant hunger that will never be sated. Well, we enter in the Nigella Lawson book-club wit this. A territory where, I'm quoting, "family dysfunction meets fine dining; a "novel about sisterhood, secrets and the things you can’t swallow down". Ok, it sounds good, a bit generic, but it's also our kind of stuff, isn't it? [****Lonely Mouth**](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/480651/lonely-mouth-by-maley-jacqueline/9781784746681?ref=secretbreakfast.com) **by Jacqueline Maley** ****→ Shortplot:** 🍽️ 🫦 🧑🏻‍🍳 🥧 ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2025/01/White---22--1.png) ## Dining with the Alien ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2026/07/home-style-cooking-1.jpg) Photograph: Sacha Goldberger. **Invasion Day One. Dawn, 2018 (We are not Alone: Uncertain Archive show)* at [Les Rencontres de la Photographie - Arles 2026](https://www.rencontres-arles.com/fr?ref=secretbreakfast.com) (via [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/jul/07/best-of-arles-photography-festival-2026-in-pictures?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) Science fiction has spent a century imagining what aliens might eat once they land here. Guinea pigs swallowed whole. Cat food devoured like a delicacy. Human blood, taken straight, no glass required. But almost **none of these stories show an alien actually cooking**. No fire. No seasoning. No waiting for something to rest. Maybe that's the real gap, for me. **Not the fear of being eaten. The fear of being eaten without ceremony**, like fuel instead of food. What would change if a writer gave an alien species our instinct for ritual? Not hunger. Appetite. Anyway... ### A Random Top 10 about What Aliens Eat, According to Sci-Fi 1. [***V***](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%5F%281984%5FTV%5Fseries%29?ref=secretbreakfast.com). A guinea pig, swallowed alive in one gulp. The jaw unhinges like a snake's. Generational trauma guaranteed. 2. [***The Twilight Zone*, "To Serve Man"**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To%5FServe%5FMan%5F%28The%5FTwilight%5FZone%29?ref=secretbreakfast.com). Kind aliens hand humanity a book. Title: *To Serve Man*. Twist: it's a cookbook. 3. ***Star Trek***. Klingons eat [gagh](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Gagh?ref=secretbreakfast.com). Live worms, served while still writhing. The more they move, the fresher they are. 4. ***The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy***. [The Ameglian Major Cow](https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Ameglian%5FMajor%5FCow?ref=secretbreakfast.com) walks up to the table and introduces itself, explaining which parts of it taste best. It wants to be eaten. It insists. 5. ***Coneheads***. Beldar and family devour "mass quantities" of whatever's around. The finishing touch: rat poison, used as a table seasoning. 6. ***ALF***. Eighty-five years of obsession with one target: the family cat, Lucky. On Melmac, a cat isn't a pet. It's a menu item. 7. ***District 9***. The Prawns, alien refugees in Johannesburg, go into ecstasy over canned cat food. 8. ***The War of the Worlds* by H.G. Wells.** [The Martians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian%5F%28The%5FWar%5Fof%5Fthe%5FWorlds%29?ref=secretbreakfast.com) don't chew anything. They inject human blood straight into their own veins. The 1897 novel that invented alien food horror. 9. ***Doctor Who***. [The Adipose](https://www.doctorwho.tv/characters/adipose?ref=secretbreakfast.com) are literally made of collected human body fat. 10. [***Alien Nation***](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien%5FNation%5F%28film%5F1988%29?ref=secretbreakfast.com). The Newcomers get drunk on sour milk. The spoiled kind we'd throw out. To them, it's a fine whisky. *I think we could easily get to 100 examples, but I'll stop here.* --- ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2025/01/op-transparent-1.png) Juicy content from food creators ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2026/07/watermelon.jpg) [Watermelon Mint Salad](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZfmGGZtWBu/?ref=secretbreakfast.com) by Sine Siemkowicz --- ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2025/01/Hunger-1.png) ⚪️My yearly suggestion for summer Ajo Blanco, as in Almond White Gazpacho (★[recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/ajo-blanco-spanish-bread-almond-cold-soup-recipe?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) 🍜Cold Korean Soy Noodles (★[recipe](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZu0NFZksj7?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) 🍋Japanese Shio Ice-Cold Lemon Noodles (★[recipe](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZf7dE4RQUz/?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) 🇺🇸[The Best New Food and Restaurants in NYC](https://www.grubstreet.com/article/the-best-new-food-and-restaurants-in-nyc-in-2026.html?ref=secretbreakfast.com) in 2026 so far 🍗DIY Chicken Jalfrezi that packs two of your 5-a-day and a solid vitamin C hit (★[recipe](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-jalfrezi?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) 🥗I agree with this: [fast food's newest rival isn't another burger chain, it's the grocery store](https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-chains-face-growing-competition-from-grocery-stores-2026-7?ref=secretbreakfast.com) 😎[6 Ideas for a No-Stress Summer Dinner Party](https://food52.com/story/6-ideas-for-a-no-stress-summer-dinner-party?ref=secretbreakfast.com) 🧳[Traveling through grocery stores](https://www.thelabmagofficial.com/the-way-to-travel-is-through-the-grocery-stores/?ref=secretbreakfast.com) is fine for me 🍧Fizzy Cherry Coke Jelly Pops (★[recipe](https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ-YKQOCZww/?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) 🧊[Cold packs on your wrists](https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ice-packs-on-wrists-to-cool-down-hack-37562603?ref=secretbreakfast.com) and f\*\*k off the heatwaves 👽Monkfish steamed liver and the benefits of [ordering the weirdest thing](https://www.ugraindia.com/the-best-thing-on-the-menu-is-the-one-youve-never-tried-a-lesson-from-an-osaka-izakaya/?ref=secretbreakfast.com) on the menu ☕️Vietnamese Coffee Popsicles (★[recipe](https://food52.com/recipes/72574-vietnamese-coffee-popsicles?ref=secretbreakfast.com)) ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2025/01/White---19-.png) ### [The Hidden Rules of Fine Dining](https://daily.jstor.org/the-hidden-rules-of-fine-dining/?ref=secretbreakfast.com) **Laura Clawson / JSTOR Daily** Restaurant critics reward technique, creativity, and authenticity unevenly across cuisines, and that unevenness ends up deciding which food traditions get prestige, and higher prices. [](https://www.foodandwine.com/good-guys-spritz-recipes-11724234?tag=travel&hid=b65c06b8bb54449e12b2324cde45cf069f804769&did=17544041-20250504&utm%5Fcampaign=faw-top10%5Fnewsletter&utm%5Fsource=faw&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcontent=050425&lctg=b65c06b8bb54449e12b2324cde45cf069f804769&lr%5Finput=969bf86e4d337bb74ec41d7fc4fcb4cbce448adc9ea58fc46f58a8b14ca494da) --- 🔥 Last week's most clicked link was about [Tinto de Verano](https://oohlalaitsvegan.com/tinto-de-verano/?ref=secretbreakfast.com). And that's all for today. --- ![](https://secretbreakfast.com/content/images/2026/07/sorry-1-1.jpg) [The Bear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FBear%5F%28TV%5Fseries%29?ref=secretbreakfast.com), final season, S05\. It was not a 100% "Tomatometer fresh" show, it ends like an average Bradley Cooper's cooking drama, but episode 7 worked something on me anyway.