Lucky Peach Gender Issue Review Part II

Ok, we continue.

Next feature (continuing on the male side): The First Cut is the Deepest
-Okay, this one is a little gross, but culinarily, it is the most interesting of the issue so far.  It discusses the capon industry.  (A capon is a rooster that is castrated as a chick.  They grow big, mild, and tender.)  The article talks about what to do with all of the extra testicles.  This is a little nasty, but I sincerely believe that as custodians of meat, we need to understand the nasty parts of the business, too.  And after that, there is a food feature with a chef from Quebec, and I am really, really into Quebecoise cuisine these days.  Good recipes, even if one of them is rooster-testicle cassoulet.


-Food Ain't Nothing but Sex Misspelled- This is a series of vaguely pornographic drawings featuring food and sex.  Kind of a waste of paper.


And then, the feature that bridges the gap between the male and female sides, appropriately, an article about sea creatures that spontaneously change sex.  Not interesting in the slightest, once you get past the initial shock of the concept.

And then I started the female side:

-As Alice Sees It- A short piece on Alice Waters and being a woman running a restaurant.  Not that cool. I feel like it would have been better to interview a woman who is in the kitchen NOW, not the 1970s.  Her story has already been told.

-Great Chefs Around the World- By Naomi Duguid (one of the all-time great cookbook authors OF THE WORLD), a short piece celebrating the accomplishments of Burmese housewives, who make literally everything from scratch, every day, with no gadgets or anything.  Makes one feel great respect for women, but the sexism is a little hard to swallow.  Not that that is the fault of the article, she is just reporting the way it is.

Then a piece on the Haenyo Divers, Korean old women who dive for abalone.  Not super interesting, but it is cool to read about such a roughneck job that is traditionally girls-only.

Next, Pussy Rules- An interview with a big bad black lady that works the night shift at The Wiener's Circle in Chicago.   This was cool to read, because these girls are LEGENDARY.  Being from Chicago, I have heard all about this place, its been around forever.

And I will end on this one,

Dick Soup, by Fuchsia Dunlop.  She is an authority on regional Chinese cooking (she is British, but whatever).  I like her writing and have a bit of a crush.  Anyway, she wrote a long article about eating soup made from animal penis, which the Chinese are into.  Kind of a funny article, with a recipe that starts out by calling for Stag Penis.

NEWSFLASH!!!!!  In deference to you, I have been scouring this magazine for anything actually insulting or offensive, and this is the first I have found.  The article itself was well-written and respectful, but I protest it going onto the women's side.  Penis soup is made of male parts, and traditionally eaten by men.  And yet, they put in on the female side of the issue, presumably because female readers are more interested in having dicks in their mouths?  Which is, admittedly, heterocentric.  So I admit, darlin, I did find one thing that was actually disrespectful for gays, lesbians, and anyone else who might have a non-traditional stance on dick-sucking.

Thats all for now.