Sunshine + Microbes' Best Of 2020 Awards 🏆
Issue No. 64
The newsletter is taking the rest of the year off to enjoy the holidays, and we hope you do the same. Thank you for reading. Your support has helped us get through an especially trying year.
Can’t get enough? Jackie is teaching a free sourdough demo tonight on IG Live. We’d love to see you there! <3
If someone shared this newsletter with you:
IT’S THE END OF 2020!!! I think there are very few people on the planet who won’t be happy to kick this year’s butt out the door. But in a testament to the magic of being alive, many wonderful things were also sandwiched in between the terrible and farcical elements of 2020. People got married, had babies, made cool art, discovered new passions, strengthened friendships, had their eyes opened to sweeping injustice, and watched so much quality television. Not to mention all the very nice things we cooked for ourselves!
We are pleased to bring you our second annual Best Of list, featuring our favorite food and environment things from the past year. Have an extremely merry end of 2020!
love,
Jackie and Matt
🍳Best of the Kitchen
Best Quarantine Ingredient for Livening Up An Extremely Dour 2020
Chili Garlic Crisp
I have eaten roughly one ton of fried rice since March, every bite of which has been improved by this spicy, savory, crunchy condiment. This classic Chinese oil has many variations (like this! And this! And this!) For mine:
Combine 1 part chopped Sichuan peppercorns, 1 part thinly sliced garlic, 2 parts black sesame seeds, and 2 parts crushed red pepper flakes in 4 parts neutral oil.
Simmer on low until garlic is golden brown and fragrant.
Add salt to taste and store in an airtight container in the fridge indefinitely.
Best Bread-Specific Newsletter
I am always picking up ideas and tips from baking expert Andrew Janjigian’s bi-weeklyish newsletter. He includes recipes, deep dives into the science of baking, cultural and historical musings, poems, tool hacks, and fun facts!
Favorite Sunshine + Microbes 2020 recipes
Reader fave: Kosho
Kosho is far and away the recipe we’ve gotten the most positive feedback about. And that makes perfect sense. This Japanese chili and citrus condiment is super easy to make while providing high-impact flavor. There are very few dishes that can’t be improved with the addition of kosho, from a summery tomato salsa to a quick veggie curry to a salad dressing to roasted fish to tomato sauce and on and on.
Jackie’s personal fave: All-Kraut Latkes
If there has ever been a year in which I needed to eat fried things to make myself feel better, 2020 was it. Batter sauerkraut and fry into a sour, crispy, comforting fritter. One of the most satisfying things I can think of to eat.
Best Way for Kitchen Friends to Start 2021
I absolutely love teaching cooking and fermentation classes, but the pandemic put a pause on my in-person workshop schedule. While I have some outdoor in-person classes in the works for later in 2021, I’m kicking things off with a series of fun Zoom classes every Wednesday evening in January.
So come and cook with me! Or buy them as yay-2020-is-over gifts for your friends! January’s how-to class topics include homemade condiments, sauerkraut, vegan cheese, and salad secrets. And as a gift for being cool with this random shameless plug in the middle of our best of list, newsletter readers can use the code JACKIEDAYTONA for 10% off all purchases:
💖Best Inspiration + Activism
Most Likely To Change the Food System
Chris Newman is burning your idols. His cutting yet clarifying criticisms of the many failures of American agriculture will have you rethinking and expanding the meaning of sustainability. Newman is a Black and Indigenous farmer who wants to transform and democratize U.S. agriculture. Check out his writing on Medium, which pokes holes in the viability of small family farms, picks (deserved) fights with agriculture darlings, and champions the power of Indigenous land management practices.
The Essay I Won’t Forget in 2021
Latria Graham’s Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream (Outside magazine)
In 2020, it should be clear to anyone with eyes that people of color, and especially Black people, can have their lives jeopardized by just existing in the environment (whether watching birds or visiting a national park). That’s why Latria’s mother tried to hand her a pistol before her daughter headed out to a writing residency at the Smoky Mountain National Park. Out there, during a tumultuous, revolutionary year for racial justice, Latria reckoned with what to tell people in search of answers.
I check with my fellow Black outdoor friends, and they say they’ve gotten your e-mail and messages, too. They also waffle on what to say, telling y’all to carry pepper spray or dress in a nonthreatening way. I am troubled about instructing people who have already been socially policed to death—to literal, functional death—to change the way they walk, talk, dress, or take up space in order to seem less threatening to those who are uncomfortable with seeing our brown skin.
Read or listen to the full essay here. You can listen to an interview with Latria Graham about her essay here
Best Bake Sale
Bakers Against Racism was founded in response to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent nationwide protests against racial injustice. The idea is simple. Bakers organize a virtual bake sale and donate the money to a racial justice organization of their choosing. All those tiny bake sales across the country have amounted to over $2 million raised. We are currently in the middle of a Holiday Bake sale, so check to see if there is a participating baker near you!
Best Celebration of Food (and the People Who Make It)
Padma Lakshmi, the award-winning food writer and Top Chef host, uses her travel show as a vehicle for discussing U.S. history and the unique cultures that make the country’s cuisine so damn tasty.
The first episode “Burritos at the Border” goes to El Paso. Over plates of Tex-Mex, Padma doesn’t shy away from addressing the region’s complex political landscape (the episode also features some of Matt’s co-workers!). Later in the season, she visits communities like the Gullah Geechee people of South Carolina, indigenous people in Arizona, and a Peruvian enclave in New Jersey. Viewers enjoy profound interactions between people and cultures not seen on a food show since the days of Anthony Bourdain. With delectable food, to boot.
Best and Worst Photo of the Year
Noah Berger’s images of the California wildfires (Associated Press)
These luminous, dazzling, terrifying photos of the California wildfires show us the environmental challenges that still await us next year and beyond as we fight for a better world.
And perhaps no photo better summed up this twisted year than this one 🔥:
👀 Tastiest Distractions of 2020
Best Food Instagram
This fabulously weird insta curates photography and food art that will make you smile, laugh, or wonder “what am I looking at?” The account belongs to Mold Magazine, which explores contemporary food design and cutting edge food systems technology.
***Runner up: 70sDinnerParty — Jello molds, cottage cheese, and luncheon meats in all the wrong places.
Gentlest Nibble
Dog owners offered their pets a “small bite” of human food for an adorable TikTok trend this summer. Who had the gentlest bite of them all? This pug was the clear winner:
Most Memorable Food Lyric
“Macaroni in a pot” (Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion)
No need to explain this one. Either you’ve heard the Song of the Summer. Or not.
Best Couch Potato Binge
Please Like Me was an Australian comedy that aired from 2013-2016, but I discovered it on Hulu in early 2020. Created by and starring comedian Josh Thomas as a version of himself, Please Like Me is like a gay, Australian “Girls”, if any of the characters on “Girls” had redeeming qualities. Please Like Me is a painful, joyful, and hilarious coming of age story that will feel relatable for any slightly cynical but ultimately hopeful millennial. I laughed almost as much as I sobbed. And food plays an integral role in the lives of the characters, with most episodes featuring a pivotal scene around a table. Each episode title is food-related, and the opening credits of each episode feature a meal being cooked, set to this most excellent earworm. Go ahead and start at the beginning. It is so worth the trip.
Best Regular Human Bartender on TV
“What We Do in the Shadows” — an FX show based on the movie with the same name — follows century-old vampires as they try to survive modern life in Staten Island. But the show's best episode takes a delightful turn. One household member Laszlo (Matt Berry) is tracked down by a former landlord named Jim the Vampire (gloriously played by Mark Hamill) for back rent from almost 200 years ago. Instead of paying up, Laszlo flees for Pennsylvania “because it sounded like Transylvania.” There, he takes over a local bar (covering up all the mirrors, of course) and reinvents himself as a “regular human bartender” with a new name: Jackie Daytona.
From there, the episode parodies all the worst tropes of 80s movies.
Poppy soundtrack? ✅. Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” plays in almost every scene.
Low-stakes mission? ✅. Save the town’s volleyball team.
An over-the-top villain? ✅. Jim the Vampire still wants what he’s owed.
Have a safe and happy new year! 🎊
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Sunshine + Microbes team
Jackie Vitale is a cook and kitchen educator based in Stuart, Fla. She is co-founder of the Florida Ferment Fest. Her newsletter explores the intersection of food, culture, environment and community.
Matt Levin is a communications specialist at the ACLU of Texas. He edits Sunshine + Microbes and contributes other scraps to each issue.