Hey everyone! I won’t bury the lead- I have really great news, which is that I’ve just closed on a massive new project. And while I can’t give away all of the details just yet, I can say this: it is VERY much aligned with Ruined Table, and I am planning a ton of fun stuff around it.
I’ve always felt strongly about cooking. It’s the only artistic medium that uses all five senses of the physical world. Terminator 2 will never SMELL like garlic butter cooking in a cast iron pan. Georgia O’Keefe’s Summer Days, while stunning, could never SOUND like a hunk of pork hitting that cast iron to sizzle and brown before sliding in the oven and slow cooking for 6 hours. Never in a million years will the musical Cats FEEL the way that slow-cooked pork does when it succumbs to the pressure of your hands as you pull it into chunks. And when you slather it with mayo, stuff it in some crusty bread with a dash of hot sauce, some thinly sliced red onion and a plethora of pickles, well, all the sculptures in the world couldn’t compete with the party that will happen with your TASTEbuds.
A good meal is also ephemeral. Once it’s eaten, it’s gone. You can’t record it and release it on a streaming service. You can’t print it and hang it on the wall. It is ever-changing, ever-evolving. Ingredients will taste a little different each time. The mood of the person who makes it might affect the outcome, the humidity-level in the air might too. That’s what’s wonderful about food. It’s meant to put you in the moment. To focus on the bite, because you’ll never experience that same bite again. And nobody else will experience it either. It’s just for you.
Food taps into the spiritual, too. When you make your grandma’s cinnamon rolls, it’s like she’s there in the kitchen with you. A bite of your dad’s homemade crunchy tacos can time-travel you straight back to childhood, to the fist time he ever made them for you. The energy it creates when friends, or even foes, share a meal cannot be dismissed. When we come together via cooking, we create a space for all of us to be our messy selves; a liminal, food-centered space that allows for open conversations, hard truths and if we are lucky, lots of fun and laughter. (We are usually very lucky.)
I started Ruined Table as a way to help people combat loneliness, find love of all kinds and move past the hatred and vitriol we are increasingly faced with. The new project I’m working on will continue this mission, and, since my preferred artistic medium is food, I can guarantee it will be delicious.
As I become laser-focused on bringing this project to life, I’ll need to take a hiatus on the Ruined Table dinner party series. I’ll be back in a few months with more zany dinner party themes, and in the meantime, I will be doing a retrospective of the dinner parties from my recipe card collection. (Which is fully sold out, by the way!) As subscribers, you’ll be the first to know all the juicy updates on this project, and if you are a paid subscriber, I will figure out some extra special perks just for you, don’t you worry.
Thanks so much for being here. And now, a recipe for a transcendent pork rib sandwich - a deep cut from my TV Dinner recipe card series. <3
Stay messy,
McBroom
Can't wait to hear about the new project! Love all things Ruined Table!
I can’t wait to hear about the new project!! I admire your work and your writing about cooking and all of the senses rings so true. Will you be releasing your recipe cards for purchase again soon?!