Welcome to Specialty
a newsletter about the special things in life
Hi and thanks for subscribing to Specialty, a newsletter about the special things in life.
The idea for Specialty hit me while browsing bottles of artisanal soy sauce, trying to select one, that, deep in my heart and stomach knew, would end up cherished in a corner of my pantry until the 2022 midterms. Or longer. I wanted to showcase the splurges (and some savings!) your pantry is worthy of.
Long before the pandemic, I was a collector of specialty ingredients. That is, the truffle paste I acquired on a work trip Italy, the dried peppers from Guatemala, the expensive pasta I bought at our local supermarket when I was a little tipsy and not quite prodigious enough to always buy the sale brand, the black vinegar from a specialty shop in Chinatown, etc etc, all sat unused, but beloved. I was saving them for some unknown, very vague “special” occasion that well, turned out to be the world ending.
Staying at home with nowhere to go and nothing to do not only encouraged me to get creative in our kitchen and create some delicious joy in a difficult time, but it also led me to ask: Why? Why was I collecting food, which literally goes bad, to use, when? When Tegan and Sara come over for dinner? Because if they do, we have the Internet, we can buy new special stuff. And that’s the whole point of this newsletter, to celebrate savoring the special in our daily lives.
As I write this, and then I cook with an ingredient I know cost more than many food workers’ hourly wages, I know there’s a lot of privilege behind cooking with specialty ingredients. Oftentimes, that’s merited - you’re paying for the labor and handiwork that went into crafting something much better than its commodified equivalent. Our food system is unequal, unsustainable and frankly, absurd. Food shouldn’t be a luxury, and even luxury foodstuffs should be easily accessible to those interested. We all deserve a little treat for our palates, whenever we feel that we need it.
In that vein, I hope to use this newsletter not only to help share some of my favorite worth-the-splurge products, but to look into the way that makers are (hopefully!) creating a better, more reliable, more equitable food system for all of us. If all goes well, I hope to launch a paid edition of this newsletter in the near future (with recipes!) and be able to use some of those profits to donate to causes helping with food insecurity.
Thanks for reading! I’m looking forward to sharing some of my favorite tastes with you.
*Pantry is also a Brooklyn term for a utility closet with some wire organizers from The Container Store
That Raaka bar is so good!!