Hurricane Dorian | Mississippi's Land Theft | Bon Appetit!
Issue No. 8
Last week was a rollercoaster. The preparation and frantic decision-making leading up to a storm is always a chaotic nightmare. Calm before the storm? No such thing. Thankfully Florida was spared from Hurricane Dorian, but our Caribbean neighbors the Bahamas are now facing a long road to recovery after the Category 5 storm sat atop the island nation for a full day.
The relief efforts that mobilize after natural disasters always remind me of how great humans can be when we pull together. I am a fan of World Central Kitchen, which provides much-needed hot meals in disaster areas. The organization, founded by renowned Chef José Andrés, is already on the ground in the Bahamas. I supported their work through a donation. If you’re looking for a way to help with recovery efforts, check them out.
This week’s newsletter will be shorter than usual. A gaggle of my family members evacuated from our east coast hometown of Stuart to Captiva, where I currently live on the west coast. Their impromptu visit was a reminder to count my blessings. We were so lucky to be together and out of harm’s way.
love,
Jackie
Earth, in Pictures
THE BAHAMAS: Chef José Andrés’ organization provided the video below of the Bahamas post-Dorian. The aerial photos come from local Bahamian news sites Our News and the Nassau Guardian.
If you can afford to give to the recovery, please refer to Andres’ World Central Kitchen or check this guide on Hurricane Dorian Relief Efforts.
Fresh Links
Our favorite food and environment reads from around the internet. Give’em a read👇
🌾The great land robbery | The Atlantic
Vann R. Newkirk II published a staggering cover story on post-Reconstruction Era policies that ripped farmland away from approximately 1 million black families around the Mississippi Delta. Illegal land pressures created by government loan programs and other racist schemes dispossessed African Americans of millions of acres of land. These actions occurred within the last century as black-owned farms reached their height in the early 1900s. Then, “economic forces, racism and white economic and political power” brought that to an end.
Newkirk asks too what the economic and political landscape might look like today if not for the land theft. Would the racial wealth gap still be as wide as it is? Would Mississippi have remained a majority-black state? What would national politics look like “if the center of gravity of black electoral strength had remained in the South after the Voting Rights Act was passed”?
Read the full story here.
(You can also listen to the article via a link after the article’s first paragraph).
🍹🤔A philosopher’s guide to the art and science of mixing the perfect cocktail | The Daily Beast
Tell me if you’ve heard the one about Aristotle and Plato walking into a bar. David Wondrich gives philosophical discourse on why today’s mixed drinks are so boring. In short, there’s not enough creativity. An Aristotelian approach repeats patterns and replaces the strawberry in your daiquiri with the exact precise amount of a different fruit. A more Platonic approach would allow for more playfulness and inexactitude between each step:
This is the kind of thing that drives a dedicated Platonist nuts. There is no ideal Caipirinha—there’s just a technique. Muddle a lime up with some sugar, throw in some cachaça and ice, and done. With sugar, booze and ice all in play, it seems like the Caipirinha barely has a set of specs at all. But that doesn’t mean it’s arbitrary: it does follow a pattern, but one of use, not theory. The proportions depend on who will drink it and what the occasion is.
…
The ‘Ti Punch is just as situational. In fact, in Martinique there’s a saying about that you’ll hear the minute you start drinking these things: “chacun prepare sa proper mort”—“each prepares his own death.” Like the Caipirinha, the roots of the drink are all about DIY and suiting yourself.
Seek Platonic recipe's for a Caipirinha, a Ti Punch and a daiquiri here.
🇵🇸Palestinian cookbook celebrates a rich cultural heritage | PBS News Hour
Food writer Yasmin Khan discusses her new book “Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen” in this short interview with News Hour. The cookbook compiles some 80 Palestinian recipe. Moreover, she investigates what it means for a community to cook their traditional dishes while under Israeli occupation.
Her hosts in the West Bank and Gaza were delighted to delve into what’s going on in their kitchens. Khan said Palestinians are so used to being portrayed as terrorists or victims and the cookbook presented them an opportunity to celebrate their culture and share “some of the joy and beauty that exists within this fraught situation.”
Listen to the full interview here.
We’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled programming next week, but in the meantime, check out the Sunshine + Microbes archives and try out some of our previous recipes.
Bon appetit!
Issue 1: Summer salad
Issue 2: Homemade yogurt
Issue 3: Cornflake-crusted avocados
Issue 4: Avocado salad with dried fruit and nuts + salt-preserved citrus
Issue 6: Multigrain pancakes
Issue 7: Fruit scrap vinegar
Inside Jackie’s Kitchen
[What happened as imagined by Sunshine + Microbes, featuring authentic British slang]
Person #1: (In a whisper) Did you bring the powder?
Person #2: Yeah, I said I’d get that vegan cake powder, innit?
Person #1: Thanks. I’m proper chuffed.
Talk to Us
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Sunshine + Microbes team
Jackie Vitale is the current Chef-in-Residence at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. and co-founder of the Florida Ferment Fest. Her newsletter explores the intersection of food, culture, environment and community.
Matt Levin is a freelance reporter based in Colombia. He edits Sunshine + Microbes and contributes other scraps to each issue.