Our 10 Best Stories From Supper Club's First Year
One year ago today, The A.V. Club birthed its food culture coverage to the world. Our goal for Supper Club—a hat-tip to our Wisconsin roots—isn't to explore the latest restaurant trends or high-five celebrity chefs. We aim to celebrate high and low foods with equal reverence, indulge in our curiosities, maybe teach you how to make cocktails for your next gathering.
It's been fun exploring food culture with you all, and we're even ecstatic to announce one of our stories will be appearing in the forthcoming Best Food Writing 2017 anthology (we can't say which one yet!). Today we're sharing our 10 favorite stories from the past year. Thanks for reading. We raise a brandy old-fashioned in your direction.
Salt grinders are bullshit, and other lessons from growing up in the spice trade
A.V. Club deputy managing editor Caity PenzeyMoog grew up in a family of spice traders, and shares a lifetime of pungent stories and lessons. [April 6, 2017]
A food critic explains why Pizza Hut remains the paradigm of pizza
Jeff Ruby, the dining critic at Chicago magazine, explains how Pizza Hut and his Wichita upbringing shaped his pizza worldview. [April 11, 2017]
What we know as “curry” has a long and curious history
Michael Snyder explores the etymology of curry, "a bastard with many potential parents and no clear pedigree." [Sept. 26, 2016]
Japan’s cult food drama The Lonely Gourmet is essentially pornography
Matthew Amster-Burton looks at a strange but wonderful Japanese television drama that toes the line between culinary exploration and smut film. [Sept. 21, 2016]
Balut, the terrifying hard-boiled duck fetus that’s also a tasty aphrodisiac
Our Manila correspondent M. Paramita-Lin reports on a frightening-looking street food that Filipinos can't stop eating. Some of the photos are, uh, NSFW. [Oct. 31, 2016]
The only rule of Wisconsin brats is that there are many rules
Son of Kenosha Nick Leggin offers a primer on how Wisconsinites prepare their beloved bratwursts. [June 14, 2017]
The A.V. Club’s guide to the best cookbooks of the century so far
An entirely subjective and personal ranking of the greatest cookbooks published in our young century. [Aug. 1, 2017]
I quit all meats and fast food—except for the Filet-O-Fish
Separately, the ingredients are bland. Together, staff writer Alex McLevy says, McDonald's Filet-O-Fish is a special kind of alchemy. [Sept. 13, 2016]
How WWI food propaganda forever changed the way Americans eat
Dave McCowan looks back 100 years, when the U.S. government embarked on a food propaganda campaign in the name of patriotism. [March 15, 2017]