Hi Everyone,
This post marks the official launch of my new newsletter, Pandemic Kitchen. Thanks for subscribing and for reading! Being a writer often means sending stories out into the void without ever really knowing if people are reading them, or find them useful or interesting, and the fact that you signed up to hear from me directly is as much of a vote of confidence as someone can hope for.
The name Pandemic Kitchen was born while standing in line at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) earlier this year, at the tail end of a reporting trip to Paso Robles. It was right at the time when people were beginning to realize the degree to which Covid-19 had spread across the U.S. and the virus was just beginning to dominate conversations. In Paso, many people wondered if the virus had reached their community, but there weren’t yet any reported infections, people hadn’t yet begun to distance or wear masks, and it was basically pre-pandemic life as usual. By the time the final night of the trip rolled around—which featured a large dinner at someone’s home—people were no longer shaking hands and I was extremely under the weather, a fact that I was trying not to broadcast too widely. I spent the entire evening sweating and feeling like I was going to fall over, with a headache I wasn’t able to shake for three consecutive days.
When I later got tested for Covid (with both blood work and the nasal swab) my results came up negative on both counts, so it would seem I did not actually have the virus. At the time I was quite worried though, and while standing in the boarding line at LAX I could overhear many loud, clearly anxious conversations where people were wondering if they themselves were infected. And, thinking about how much time I was going to be spending cooking in the coming months, I registered the domain name Pandemic Kitchen before my flight back to the east coast took off. Within days of being back in New York everything began to shut down, and a few weeks after that the city was the epicenter of the national outbreak.
While I’ve managed to stay busy during the pandemic, Covid-related shutdowns and travel restrictions have dramatically impacted the work that I do, and I find myself with stories that right now simply don’t work for many of the publications I’ve written for before. And, similarly to millions of other people, I’ve found myself spending astronomically more time in the house and in the kitchen. It turns out the name “Pandemic Kitchen” is a particularly good one.
While I’m sure this newsletter will morph and change over time as I find what resonates, right now it represents an opportunity to write about things which up until now haven’t really been a part of my professional journalism, and to post stories I think a great that I haven’t been able to place. I anticipate I’ll include original recipes, cookbook and kitchen equipment reviews and recommendations, stories about mental health (particularly as it relates to food and cooking), industry analysis (ie, complaining), and links to both my own work and writing from other people. I also anticipate that at some point I’ll introduce a paid subscription tier, although I’m not sure when I might do that or what it would look like.
In the mean time, comments are open on these posts and I’d love to hear from you. If you’ve read anything good lately or cooked something that’s turned out particularly well, let everyone know! And if you have any questions or requests for certain kinds of stories I’d love to hear from you. I’m also available on both Twitter and Instagram, which are both good places to reach me, particularly with questions. And if you know anyone that you think would also like to receive this newsletter, let them know!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you’re all staying safe and eating well.
Best,
Jake