From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy—my essays on subjects in food culture, politics, media, and more—come out on Mondays.
Paid subscribers receive Friday bonus posts, including: From the Desk Recommends…, collections of links, as well as giveaways and playlists, on the first Friday of each month; The Monthly Menu, chronicling my eating and cooking, on the second Friday; and take part in The Desk Book Club discussions on the third Friday (with Zoom discussions to follow). On Monday afternoons, we have the Weekly Salon in the chat.
Monthly, I run The Desk Salon Series, where I invite writers, editors, and other culture workers for an hour-long discussion that is recorded and transcribed. Paid subscribers have free access to the live conversations as well as the recordings.
Paid subscribers also have access to commenting and The Desk Cookbook, an ongoing collection of pantry-driven, plant-based recipes.
Personal
On MyselfWho even is Alicia Kennedy?
On Flavor and questions of identity.
On Long Island Or, on being a writer from a scorned place.
On Griefand its metamorphoses.
On Marriageand why I'm engaged.
Popular
On MarthaStewart in the cultural imaginary.Both Joyful and KilljoyEverything is bad and good, all at once, and we have to navigate this together.
On MartinisSix years of one chic drink to rule them all.
On Selling a LifestyleThe food content ouroboros.
On OnlineA meta note to start 2021.
On Brothersand 'The Bear.'
The Culinary Tourism Series
On Culinary TourismThe first lecture in the class I'm teaching this semester.
On Food DestinationsThe construction of desire.
On AcceptanceThinking through traveling via flavor.
On GlossCan travel magazines tell the truth of a place?
On PerceptionPuerto Rico, from without and within.
A Puerto Rico ItineraryWhere I took my Culinary Tourism students during their week here.
On Place📍Seeing somewhere as home versus destination.
On Cookbooks As Culinary TourismWhat can we learn from them?
A Culinary Tourism Bibliography 📚Everything we read in class, as well as what we didn’t.
The “Food Is Political” Series
What Could ‘Food Is Political’ Mean?The start of a 4-week series on food politics.
A Foundation for Food PoliticsWhy I return to these three books again and again.
On U.S. CuisineAll-American food is corporate food.
On Mixing the Personal and Political in Food WritingA conversation with 'National Dish' author Anya von Bremzen.
Of Recipes & ResistanceThinking through the question of "what is a leftist recipe?"
On Women’s WorkA personal note, and a reading list.
No Meat Required Publishing Series
On Publishing a BookNo Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating is out on August 15, 2023.On BlurbsI’m obsessed with my book’s blurbs—but do they mean anything?On Book DesignOr, specifically the design of my book.
Interludes
My dispatches from the road.
Maps
Google Maps lists of recommendations from trusted sources in cities I’ve visited during the last few years. My specific New York City guides are in the works.
Recipes are for paid subscribers only. This also includes pantry guidance and tool recommendations. Consider it a never-ending cookbook.