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Is Calvin Trillin Behind the Green Cart Program?

Filed under: Headline Shooter Tagged: A. J. Liebling, books, Calvin Trillin, Carl Rose, cartoons, David Remnick, E.B. White, food, Leo Carey

Probably not, but the proposed New York initiative to sell fresh fruits and veggies through vending carts in poorer neighborhoods does sound like a step toward the ideal Trillin imagined at the end of his not-online rhapsody on Singaporean street food: a movable market full of delicious, unmysterious (except in the good way) eats for all New Yorkers. But let's not put the cart before the hors d'oeuvres. On a more serious note, will the carts take food stamps?

WARNING: FAMILY MEMBERS, PLEASE STOP READING HERE. SERIOUSLY. I MEAN IT. ALSO RESTAURATEUR [YES, THAT WORD IS SPELLED CORRECTLY] FRIENDS. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

This seems like a swell place to mention that the new anthology Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink, edited by David Remnick (with help from young man of books Leo Carey) and just out from Random House, is a pip, exceeding even my expectations, and you know that's saying something, right?

In fact, with sheepish apologies to A. J. Liebling, I can report that the book is in fact better than food. Come on, have some excerpts. Then go back for seconds—the book will last months and months and people will steal it from your house when they stay over. Although it's pretty heavy and it might make their luggage suspiciously bulky.

Fun fact: The anthology's working title was I Say the Hell With It. I objected to the change when I learned of it, but now I think the final title is properly celebratory of culinary pleasures familiar and foreign; our young leafy-green-loathing friend has a dismissive attitude less fitting for such a world-embracing, gleefully descriptive cornucopia. More New Yorker-themed book gift suggestions to follow; add your own in the comments!

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Who we?

Emdashes, founded December 2004, is a place where keen and dedicated readers of The New Yorker, past and present, can find related news and commentary: about people, subjects, and ideas within the magazine, and events and conversations outside its pages. Learn more about us and our contributors.

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This site is neither owned nor operated by The New Yorker magazine or Condé Nast Publications.

A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

Tell me more

They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

Primary sources

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Edited by Martin Schneider, designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

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