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9.03.07 & 9.10.07 Issue: A Cornucopia, a Smorgasbord, and Similar Metaphors
Filed under: Pick of the Issue Tagged: food, Hardy Rodenstock, Jane Kramer, John McPhee, Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, William Shawn
In which various Emdashes contributors note what we liked in a recent issue of the magazine—usually that of the previous week, but, as you will see, not always.
Some weeks ago, when Emily and I were still roughly on POTI (what we call “Pick of the Issue”; it’s like POTUS, but without veto power) schedule, The Millions likened The New Yorker’s annual food issue to Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. This take on the subject has never occurred to me, but it’s pretty charming. Do any of you feel that way?
Having now tamped expectations, I will say this year’s food issue was a good one. It arrived right on the heels of William Shawn’s hundredth birthday, for which I used the occasion to wax appreciative about him. Naturally, then, I was tickled to see an extensive article, dedicated to William Shawn, by John McPhee (a writer I must read more of) about the strange animals that McPhee and others have eaten. It didn’t, in the end, have much to do with Shawn, but that didn’t prevent the piece from containing quite a few eyebrow-raisers, which is inevitable when you explain the process of fricaseeing mountain oysters. (Clearly, this genre writes itself.)
I loved Patrick Radden Keefe’s Reporter at Large about flamboyant and improbably named apparent oeno-charlatan Hardy Rodenstock. Excavating an imbroglio heretofore limited to a self-regarding coterie is the kind of thing The New Yorker does best. Jane Kramer’s look at Claudia Roden, the esteemed British writer on Middle Eastern cuisine, seemed a bit cramped in places, but by the time the dust settled, I was glad I read it.
Now I’m hungry; off to plumb the fridge. —Martin Schneider
About us
Hello! We're a small band of culture writers, editors, and artists based in New York and Los Angeles. Emdashes, which spent its formative years as a New Yorker fan blog, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Reviews: theater writing (for Time Out Chicago)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
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- Carolita Johnson
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Comments
The Food Issue POTI is the absolutely amazing pic by Josef Astor that illustrates Adam Gopnik’s “New York Local.”