How Do You Eat? No. 3
The semi-regular series in which I ask writers around the world how they stock their kitchens.
The particularities of the mundane! We adore knowing how other humans do the dull tasks of daily life—and perhaps how they imbue them with a bit of novelty and joy. That’s why I started this semi-regular (perhaps quarterly) series where I talk to three writers in different cities around the world about how they get their groceries and their food lives in general. This time, I’ve added in writers who don’t focus on food to mix it up. These interviews are edited and condensed for length and clarity.
This installment of “How Do You Eat?” features Bettina Makalintal in Brooklyn, New York; Ines Bellina in Lima, Perú; and Lindsey Tramuta in Paris, France.
Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter at Eater who will be guest-hosting the Desk Salon Series with author Jill Damatac in June
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Household: 2 adults
One big restock per week:
I try to do one big restock per week, but inevitably—because I like going to the grocery store and it’s my one little impulse shopping thing that I allow myself now—I like going to the grocery store. More than that, I would say, I generally don't really strongly plan out what I'm going to make. I have a sort of set list in my head of things that will generally get me through a week.
So, for example, I know going into a week, I know I bought at least two bunches of kale. I want some sort of dairy. I want a couple of blocks of tofu. I want to restock any parm if I’m out of it. And then whatever vegetables look good, maybe, two, three-ish things.
I would say that I don't have a super-strong set list, yes, but I limit myself a little bit more based on, honestly, capacity: what I can fit inside a basket at the grocery store, or if I'm doing online shopping, I try to cap it at a certain price; I'm like, Okay, this is like, what I'm going to spend. And then once I hit that, I can't go over, or I have to reshuffle things.
It depends on the week. I think if I have a lot more time, or — though because it's so cold, I kind of hate leaving the house —if I'm going for a lot of walks, I'll go to one grocery store for vegetables, one grocery store for cheap pantry stuff. And then the shoppy-shop for other things. But I think when it's winter, or when I'm just a little bit busier, I'll either try to do everything at one store, or I like Fresh Direct, which I feel like is the best grocery delivery option of—good selection, price and the best number of options.
On meal planning:
I have that sort of loose checklist of things I know I like: I always like mushrooms; I can always figure out something to do with them. I know there's many ways that I'll use kale. For most of the week, it's really just impulse cooking and knowing that I like certain things and something will come to me during the week.
But on the weekend, on Sunday nights, my husband and I do a date night thing where we cook fun, new stuff every week. We usually do separate groceries for that, because that's usually stuff that we don't necessarily keep around. For this week, we ended up buying ají amarillo. We don't usually buy fish or shrimp, but we will buy stuff like that for just that one meal.
On work cooking vs. home cooking:
The past couple weeks I've been testing stuff for spring cookbooks, so then I have to structure my life a little bit more around that. I would limit it: For example, once a month I do a thing where I test a bunch of recipes, but for the most part, I try to keep cooking separate from work. I think in theory, I would like to do more intense cookbook reviews, but I just find that in terms of actually making that work with my lifestyle, it's not compatible.
On cooking for her Instagram account @crispyegg420:
I used to keep in mind—it's so obnoxious that this has ever been my thought process—but when I'm like, okay, you can tell that engagement is down or whatever. And I know that there's certain things that tend to do well, right? There have been times where I'm like, Okay, I should just post, like, a runny egg or something with cheese—that'll be a good thing to sort of revive a little bit of life into this.
But I also don't really like eating that way, so I don't think I necessarily do it anymore, but I don't post every single thing I cook personally, because I think certain things that I cook that just like—especially because I don't feel like explaining necessarily, and I'm not doing a recipe—don’t translate as well, like, just one picture where people don't understand what's happening.
It felt like there were more overarching food, cooking, home cooking trends, right? Like when everyone did the feta pasta. And it’s been a while since there's been something that sort of sucked everyone. For the most part, I've been able to kind of avoid stuff like that recently—though it does feel like and I've been talking to people about how everyone's doing saucy beans, right? And that, for example, definitely feels like something where, Would I have done that if I hadn't seen it on TikTok? Maybe not.
Ines Bellina, writer, translator, and author of “The Cranky Guide”
Location: Lima, Perú
Household: 4 adults
Moving home:
I moved back to Lima in June. I don't know how long I'll be here, but I am currently living with my parents, who are retired, and my youngest brother, who is 32. I haven't lived with my parents since I was around 19. There was a year when I lived in Panama with them after college, briefly, formaybe 10 months. But it's been a very long time since I've lived with them.
It feels even more intergenerational, because my other brother, his wife, and my two nephews live nearby, so we're doing a lot of the Sunday family lunch with them. I just feel like there's kids and grandparents all the time.
On having her mom shop and cook:
When I was in Brooklyn, I would decide, this is what I'm going to eat this week. These are the things I need to get for those things. But now, she kind of decides for us. She is always very open to getting fruit or snacks I want; she always asks, “is there anything that you want me to get you while I'm out?”
Most of the time, she's got it down. It's only recently that I've started making requests. When my mom goes grocery shopping, as opposed to me going grocery shopping in Brooklyn, she has to take into account my dad, who can be a picky eater. Me—I pretty much like everything, but my eating habits have changed a lot just by virtue of living in the States, and I hadn't noticed how much they had changed until I came back here. And then my youngest brother, who is 32—but he works outside of the home; I work from home—so my mom is always thinking, like, “do I have things that he can pack to bring to his office?” things like that. By the way, I know I'm sounding like the most privileged, spoiled brat.
My mom really is the best. She is so accommodating. But it has also been a negotiation—or not even a negotiation, I would say it's just that I had not really thought much about how my family's relationship to food was different from my relationship to food now, and the different habits that we had developed during these 20 years that we were apart. It took me a while to even analyze it, you know? I'm like, Why don't we ever have soups or salads at night? And it was because my parents now have certain dietary restrictions, things like that.
I had to flat out ask really simple questions, like, “Why don't we have raspberries?” to get the answers I wanted. In the States, I became that person who always loved having raspberries, strawberries, and bananas, and I had no idea why they weren't in the fridge. My automatic assumption was they must be crazy expensive in Perú. And my mom was like, “No, your dad and I just hate them.”
On Lima’s food culture:
Before the world knew that we had great food, Perú always knew. We really did not need the external validation. In that sense, we were already, like, “Our country has the best food in the world,” but we're also, I think, a nation that feels consistently overlooked, just in general—we're kind of small. We're not the bigwigs like Brazil, Mexico, or Argentina. I think we have a bit of a chip on our shoulder about that. And so when we suddenly start getting attention for Perú, I understand why people have grabbed onto it.t's finally something we can brag about. I feel like our national self-esteem is usually at the bottom, and all of a sudden it's like, well, we win at this, yay. But on the other hand, obviously no one is going to Central every single week because they have a hankering for it—that just does not happen. I've been there; it's amazing. It was a whole educational experience. But I do not need to go again, because it is not the type of restaurant that you go to multiple times.
There has been a lot more financial stability in Perú in the last 20 years, so you do see a lot more people going out to eat. It's become this whole thing.
Up until maybe I was 20, it really was only reserved for special occasions. In the past 20 to 25 years, it has become the central focus of social life. But having said that, most of the going out for food, I feel, is still focused on the things that we traditionally went out for, which is mostly ceviche—cevicherías have always been around, still a big hit. Ceviche is one of those things that people don't necessarily make at home. It's something you go out to eat for, because you need really fresh fish. It needs to be done right away—cooked and served right away.
And I think a lot of it is also in our cultural imaginary: It's where you hang out with friends, right? A cevichería—you go out; you eat with friends there. Pollo a la brasa, chicken rotisserie places, are also big hits with families. Going out with your whole family is also a big reason to go out, especially on Saturdays or Sundays. Chifa, which is the Chinese-Peruvian cuisine, is very ingrained in our national food culture. Again, it’s something you go out to eat, usually on Saturdays and Sundays.
Anything outside of that is maybe not frequented as much. That is more for date nights or because you want to explore something new. But the main three big places to go out to eat have been consistent throughout my lifetime.
On Sunday lunch:
It's very common for Peruvians to gather with their extended families on Sundays.
Usually, Sunday lunch involves—I want to say a massive meal, but not in the sense that there's an appetizer and then a full entrée or something like that. My mom will bring out a bunch of different dishes that we all put out on a plate, that will usually involve rice, always—that's just Peruvian. This is where she might do something that takes a longer time to cook, maybe a roast, or something that is more work intensive. Some Peruvian dishes just take a lot more preparation to do them well, like ají de gallina. And there's usually a side salad.
Sometimes we will order in Chifa. She makes enough for us to have seconds, if need be, which isn't necessarily the case during the week. Dessert is a big one. We don't have dessert often, but usually there will be either ice cream or a pie or a cake—not fruit, which is usually what we have for dessert during the week. My mom will go out of her way to go to a bakery and pick up something, and we will sit down at the dining room table, which will be completely set for everyone that's coming:usually my parents, my brother and his family, sometimes my youngest brother’s, girlfriend. Every once in a while, there might be a cousin or an uncle, someone that kind of pops up.
It's usually a big one- or two-hour event. It's not just the eating. There's also the sobremesa, so even after everyone's done eating, people will still linger at the table, talking. Even after we all get up from the table, there's usually some soccer match that needs to be watched. So we're hanging out together, from maybe 12:30 until 5 p.m. It takes over my whole Sunday, which is great. I've been missing that.
Lindsey Tramuta, author of The New Paris: The People, Places & Ideas Fueling a Movement; The New Parisienne: The Women & Ideas Shaping Paris; The Eater Guide to Paris; and “The New Paris Dispatch”
Location: Paris, France
Household: 2 adults
On moving to Paris from Philadelphia 18 years ago:
I grew up in the suburbs of Philly, and then went to Temple University, and have been here for a very long time. I still retain some bizarre brand of Philly pride that only surfaces, you know, at key sporting events, certain moments. But I don't know that it ever really felt like home. When I first came to France, it was sort of like, Oh, I think I was born in the wrong place.
On her culinary education:
I'm kind of the black sheep of the family in a variety of ways, but no one would have pegged me as someone who would become interested in France, nor in food, because I was quite a culinary xenophobe, as my parents remind me, when I was growing up. I blame them for not ever forcing me to eat certain things. I basically discovered the full breadth of the food world here, in Paris,nearly 20 years ago. I do feel like I missed out on some things in the U.S., but I also didn't grow up in a place where the produce was next level, exactly.
On imports:
We happen to be in a place where we have access to really good grains and really good vegetables. So we shop —fortunately or unfortunately—we do a lot of shopping during the week. Earlier I realized we had no fruit, so I went to my local fruit stand and got a whole bunch of things and tried to find things that were French grown. Here, certain fruits only come from parts of Africa or much further afield, like bananas. But I saw that he had grapes from Namibia, and I was like, no, no, but I will get those clementines that are from Corsica, at sort of the end of the season, and then stuff from Spain.
Unless it's organic, I generally don't choose Spanish produce. Historically, there's been a lot of pesticide use—and that's not to say that that doesn't happen in France, but if I'm going to not buy something that's relatively local, I really don't want it to also be coming from a place that has extensive pesticide use. And so I think among food buyers, fruit and vegetable buyers here, there have been enough TV reports that look into the big, almost greenhouse-style operations in Spain, where they can grow strawberries all year long, or whatever, but to do that, you know what that involves?
How often she grocery shops:
Three or four times a week, because I'm not doing big hauls. And then we reach a point where we're like, We don't have anything to constitute an actual meal in the refrigerator. And then we are like, We need to do better about this.
Often I feel like, in Paris, we're assembling things haphazardly. I use the New York Times cooking app kind of religiously, because once I've mastered those, then I don't have to think too hard about what I need to get, but that does mean they're just the same ones on rotation.
But when we are out of the city, which is where we have a house, about an hour and a half outside of Parisin a small village, and we have to do sort of bulk shopping, we go to what would be a Trader Joe's, except there's not a lot of packaged foods. They don't have anything like toilet paper and accessories. It's literally just, you know, meat, cheese, vegetables, and some dry packaged goods. And there, I feel like we're much more efficient because we don't have anywhere to go out to on a last-minute basis, and we're not dining at restaurants when we're out there. So I think the reality is we shop this way because we know we have so much at our disposal a block away. Or if we decide we want to go out to eat at the last minute, we have those options. But outside of Paris, it becomes American suburbia, essentially.
We're in the 11th arrondissement, which isn't really that different from most arrondissements, in the sense that there are supermarkets, but there's also small food businesses that create a little village and are meant to help create this 15-minute city.
Paris was always sort of built that way, so I can go in a less than a mile radius and have access to three different amazing cheesemongers, a greengrocer, a supermarket that's not great, but then anotherproduce shop that only sources from what is it, like, a 100 kilometer radius outside of Paris, because enough can grow here. And then 12 to 15 minutes down the road are even more options. So it's just that we live in an area where I can also get my coffee beans. Unless I want to go to a different neighborhood for something very specific, in which case I would take the metro or bus or bike, but I would say I bike a lot less out of fear of accidents. That's a separate issue. But yeah, I really don't need to take a car at all.
On the pantry goods:
Lentils, chickpeas, eggs, skyr—for protein without going into, you know, total psychotic protein-obsessed territory. I love to have soy sauce, and if I can, white miso, and vermouth, for flavoring when I'm cooking. And always the staples: carrots, onions, garlic, onions of all varieties. There's hardly a day where we don't cook with them. And then some canned tomatoes, because tomatoes here, fresh tomatoes here, really have a short season, and they're often not that good anyway, in my opinion. So at least if we're going to cook things that, you know, require that flavor, we have good Italian imports. And then cheese, of course.
Other than that, you know, it's funny. As you ask the question, there are really only a few hardcore non-negotiables. And I would say pasta is among them, too, because we'll eat a lot of either pasta or grains or bulgur. We usually have couscous, too, on hand.
On cooking responsibilities:
Definitely not structured. Oh God, it's time. I need to be thinking about dinner. What are we making? And we split the responsibility. And I would actually say that he probably cooks more than I do, which is a significant source of tension. I like things that are very flavorful, but that can be stewed or mixed together. I prefer cooked things, so I would say that—we focus on seasonality, but there are things that we can get all year, like the chickpeas and the lentils and whatever. And those are also good cold when it becomes nicer out. I think I'm a little bit more inventive when the summer comes and we can eat more raw things. And those things, those vegetables and fruits, are more interesting. But I definitely feel like I get into a rut in the winter. After I've made the chickpea and bean stew like eight times, what else is there exactly?
News
No salon this week because I’m traveling. We’ll be back on schedule next Monday!
This month, the Desk Book Club is reading Black Food Geographies by Ashanté M. Reese. We will have the Zoom discussion on Sunday, March 30, at 1 p.m. EST. I sent the reading notes and link on Friday. (The schedule is a bit off because I just returned from traveling.) You can buy all the 2025 Desk Book Club picks at this year’s partner bookstore, D.C.’s Bold Fork Books, for 20% off with the code in the header (or email me).
Join me for the fourth installment of the Desk Salon Series on Sunday, April 6, featuring Clarkson Potter senior editor and writer Layla Schlack: paid subscribers have free access with the code in the header (or email me) and anyone else can buy a ticket for $10. There will be ten of these over the course of the year.
There are workshops happening on food writing and food media, and you can find them at my website. Paid subscribers have 25% off to each, using the code in the header. (Or, once again, email me.)
I'll drop everything to read these (and just did)
I love this series. I find it helpful to consider if there is anything I can change with my food shopping and cooking.