Telling the Right Story Along with Hunting Tips You May Never Have Thought You'd Need
Tumbling through the week to get to Saturday.
Saturday News Digest, V1/E28
What Was That All About?!
Stumbling In the Dark and Landing in India
The Hunting Season
What Was That All About?! A bump in the road.
Everyone received Tuesday’s story on Wednesday. It even hit late in the afternoon, a good 30 hours after my usual deadline. Economic Advice from the Past discussed old cookbooks written for the working class and the poor to provide them with cost-effective recipes and money saving advice. I’ve collected such books, and been thinking about the subject, for more than 20 years. A piece about them would be very timely, too, considering the state of all our food bills. So what made Tuesday’s/Wednesday’s story so hard to write?
The problem popped up in the third draft when I realized that readers should know that the books under discussion were from the limited viewpoints of American and English authors who were writing from the perspective of being white and from fairly privileged backgrounds. Why wouldn’t I include voices from other traditions and foodways with their own recipes formed from a heritage of want? What about Black Americans? Their crucial contribution to American food is based on their hundreds of years of deprivation. How could this piece not even mention them?
The next two drafts tried to do just that but slammed into the limits posed by platforms such as Substack. The fact is, a more in-depth story is a book-length project. The question then became if I didn’t show other nations and Black food cultures, the piece would be putting out in the world an incomplete portrait. This would place Economic in the “damn if you do, damn if you don’t” position. I have been accused many times of overthinking and pummeling a subject, especially ones that present real writing problems. This was certainly one of them and not to be taken lightly.
By now it was Wednesday morning and the only option before me seemed to cut my losses which would mean not publishing anything at all. I went for a long walk to figure the problem out. A woman talking to herself is alarming for people passing her by but a walk such as this is only meant to observe the interior landscape and not the exterior. I returned home decided on an imperfect solution: acknowledge to readers the limitation of Economic in not including the entire breath of the creative dishes people invented to feed themselves in times of want.
20 years ago I submitted a proposal to my editor to write exactly the book I’m talking about here. It contained a chapter similar to Wednesday’s post and then wandered around to other people, times, and places. My editor read it through then told my agent, who relayed it to me, what she thought about such a book.
“Who’d want to eat that stuff!?”
I would still like to write that book.
Stumbling In the Dark and Landing in India Oh, the places you will go!
My main frustration with Substack is that interesting writers who do not pull in thousands of subscribers are very hard to find. I try anyway and somehow I came upon Harsh’s Writing by Harsh Thakkar. His stories cover a lot of ground considering the subject matter is drawn from whatever is bouncing through his brain, or his memories, or his week’s observations and pet peeves. Taken together, Thakkar’s stories crack open everyday life in India in all its complexity and beauty, a subject I am woefully ignorant of. Reading him gives an alluring, familiar view. He’s a good fellow to wander about with, too. And then there’s Bollywood. You can never get enough of Bollywood.
Enjoy one of Thakkar’s recent post about his relationship with Dhokla, a popular rice-based street food. The piece is about so much more and you may not comprehend what the actors in an accompanying short video are talking about. Then again, it’s in the universal language of cinema and you’ll be immediately entertained.
The Hunting Season
A whole bag of unsolicited advice 
The problem with having antlers on the hall table and another pair poised above the dining room door is that people think you hunt. This leads to an expectation that you know about hunting rifles. Knowledge of a crossbow was suggested by one visitor but then he smiled and said you didn't have the arms for it. You start telling them your antler story but, in truth, they're just hoping for a chance to talk about their own adventures. It’s amazing how many people warm up to you when you give them a chance to talk about their hunting exploits.
Recently, you’ve had quite a few people coming through the hall who have been generous in sharing their stories. There’s too many now hanging out in the brain and think sharing them may help:
Stay along the industrial road loop along Staten Island's western shore. Not only is there a major deer population but you won't get arrested for hunting within city limits.
The thing about squirrel hunting that many people don't know is October is a very good time to be out and about looking for them. Most of them are young and haven't learned the ropes of gathering nuts quick enough to not be caught out in the open. It’s possible you can bag enough for a good stew in like a half-hour. A favorite spot is the Poconos where there seems to be a large amount of nut trees. Also, there’s ducks, if you like ducks. There’s a lot of them, too, in the Poconos.
Here’s a tip you probably didn’t know: you want to wait until there is a day when the moon is visible in the late afternoon. For some reason, white tail deers take this as a good time to strut right out from undercover and do not care at all who’s around.
(A verbatim quote) “Turkey’s are a fuckin’ pain in the neck. They don’t care, they’ll come right up behind you, look you in the eye, and say, ‘Go ahead, I dare you.’ I swear that’s what they say. You have to know how to shoot with both arms for a fighting chance before they waddle away from you. Go to the supermarket and get a Butterball on the way home. It’s less trouble.”
Write this down: MeatEater has the best game recipes you can find anywhere. Hands down. The best. They’re all from men, too. That doesn’t mean anything but it’s a fun fact people would like you to know.
Have you been talking to my husband?! But I admit to being a little compulsive
Your book proposal from twenty years ago sounds like a good idea to me especially with our current inflation. You are too hard on yourself! Every article does not have to be comprehensive.