Queer Kitchen Connection #18 ☃

Hey Taste Buds!

I’m really grateful for all of you. Truly. The way some people can show up in my inbox and chat; the way some folx can support me and my work monetarily; the way others take the time to read and process these newsletters, whether they tell me about it or not. I’m grateful for every one of you.

It’s been a hard year for Food Focused Nutrition, and I’m still figuring out how to meet my financial needs—even basic needs have become challenging in the last few weeks. While I plan to lean into my community-building successes (online on Twitch, and in-person with gathering a COVID-conscious group to play D&D), I will also keep putting myself out there in ways that I hope will help people realize the value of working side-by-side with someone like me in their kitchen.

Maybe you know someone who needs a lunch buddy on Tuesday afternoons? Maybe you feel like building houses out of graham crackers to introduce friends or family to me? Maybe you aren’t sure what to say, but we could set up a time to chat together for inspiration or to introduce someone you know to my work. Maybe you forward this newsletter to a few friends. Word of mouth has always caused the most growth in my work, and I would appreciate any support you can spare.

I’m not much of a holiday person, but I hope you all eat nourishing foods with loved ones whose presence is also nourishing.

Be well,

Jex

A photo of Jex, a white nonbinary person with short brown hair and wearing glasses and a black chef coat.

Send Foodz

Food pictures, stories, and connection from my kitchen (and yours)!

A bowl with a round waffle at the bottom. A layer of chocolate-hazelnut spread outlines the waffle squares. Two curled scoops of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream are on top of the waffle.

I was recently asked my favorite flavor of ice cream. That’s like asking me how I like potatoes best…ALL the flavors/preparations! I narrowed it down to 5-8 flavors, but start adding other things (like a chocolatey waffle) and that makes it impossible to narrow down again! I love food combinations (like nachos, are we surprised?) almost as much as I enjoy favorite foods (like potatoes or ice cream).

This BBQ mac ‘n’ cheese was some of the best we’ve made in a while. I love being creative with mac ‘n’ cheese mix-ins, because something about pasta with a cheesy sauce makes it a perfect base to embellish with other flavors! In this case we added some smoky-flavored seitan and some BBQ sauce…YUM.

A large blue-rimmed bowl of pasta shells with a pale yellow, creamy sauce and square chunks of seitan stirred in. A spoon is tucked in the back of the bowl, ready to scoop a bite.

A plate of nachos layering tortilla chips, nacho cheese sauce, refried beans, salsa, lettuce, tomato, pickled red onion, and Greek yogurt. Framing the plate are a mug with Ace Pride flag colors and 4 ace playing cards, and a multi-color napkin.

National Nacho Day was on Nov. 6th, so I ordered some discount nachos with the nacho cheese on the side. The nachos were fine, definitely would have been better with the nacho cheese…but instead I saved the sauce for my homemade nachos the next day. TADA! My delicious homemade nachos immediately became the best I’ve ever made.

Taste Bud Contribution

A piece of marinated fried spam on rice wrapped in seaweed, with an extra piece of spam on the side and some teriyaki marinade to dip and seaweed strips to snack on.

“I get a food box from the food bank every 2 weeks. In this box, I was blessed with both spam, and microwaveable sticky rice! My late spouse used to sing the praises of spam Musubi, and I decided to try making it. Great success!”

~A Brave Adventurer

Want to send foodz? Fill out this form with a photo and story, and we'll try to include it in the next Queer Kitchen Connection!

What’s Cooking?

Upcoming special events—Food Focused Nutrition-related or otherwise!

Graham Cracker House
Food-Play Adventure

Sunday, December 14, 3-5pm EST

Live on Google Meet

What can we construct this year? In my childhood, gingerbread houses were a Big Deal. We had a family friend come over every year and help us with elaborate designs. We made stained glass windows with melted candy canes. We built Snoopy’s dog house (with Snoopy on top). We made a to-scale model of a house. We built a geodesic dome once. These were all wonderfully fun things…and they aren’t what I want anymore.

I want the freedom to play and create my own designs—and modify them as I go. I want the joy of snacking on my building materials, enjoying them now AND later (a great sadness to me is when gingerbread houses harden too much). And I always want to play around with new foods as building materials and see what works and what doesn’t.

Will you join me? We’ll make a quick vegan royal icing together, possibly discuss some building plans, and then…see what happens!

Registration closes Friday, 12/12.

Details + Registration Here!

Here’s what we created in a previous year. :)

Want Event Reminders?

We all get busy! If you’d like to get reminder emails about registration for Food Focused Nutrition events, reply to this newsletter and I’ll add you to my list for personal reminders.

I’ll send a reminder once per event, one week out from registration closing.

Hope to see you soon!

The Intersection

I'm always working on making Food Focused Nutrition more accessible with baked-in, intentional inclusion. What's the latest step in my journey?

I submitted to the Weird Gay Eats zine! I’ll share a link to the full zine when it’s released!

Dear Neuroqueer Taste Buds, this excerpt is for you:

Here’s an example of my own weird food: I microwave cold cereal. I’ve never been encouraged or given permission to do so, but I realized that I hate the coldness of the milk, and I wanted something warm and cozy. So I turned my cold cereal into soup. And while I usually dislike soup, cinnamon cereal with warm milk is a crunchy, warm cinnamon roll with extra milk. Before this warm-cereal discovery, I typically ate cereal on top of ice cream, or as a dry snack; neither very often. I’m really proud of finding a way that I can stand to eat cereal, a way that I enjoy, and a way that doesn’t mean the box stays open for months and goes stale. (Welp, I still have shame about food waste going on. I’ve never been bothered by the staleness of cereal, and yet here’s the “you’re wasting food by not eating a whole box of cereal in 1-2 weeks” thought, popping up when I least expect it.)

So many food practices are viewed as weird, and while I don’t have much hope about changing the field of dietetics and reducing the number of judgemental dietitians out there, I do hope to make a difference for my clients. Because despite the title of this zine, your food isn’t weird and the way you eat it isn’t weird. It’s perfectly you, different from others–“weird” perhaps–because it needs to be to support you, and that’s worth celebrating…

When I sit down with my clients, I am an expert who knows all the roadways on the map of nutrition. And I’m sitting across from an expert in their lived experience with food who maybe doesn’t know the names of all the places on the map or how to get there. Some dietitians may direct people exclusively to Healthy Eating 101 just off the highway, or to Mediterranean Diet on Gold Standard Blvd…but maybe they aren’t actually headed there, or maybe they’re on foot or taking public transportation. I adjust the route and destination based on where my clients truly want to go and how they can get there–like any good GPS. (Are you looking for Reducing Food Waste where it intersects with ADHD, or trying to find the intersection of Eat Enough Food and ARFID without veering off onto one of many Food Shame avenues?)

Read the rest when the Weird GAY Eats zine is released!

On a green background is a red starburst "bang" shape, as in a comic book, with lines and stars emitting from it. Within the shape is text that reads, "Support the Pay It Forward fund!"

All contributions to the Pay It Forward Fund support folx in accessing low- or no-cost services with Food Focused Nutrition. Learn more or share my post about the fund on Instagram or Facebook!

Suggest-ipe

Because the way I see it, all recipes are merely suggestions!

Coconut Chia Pudding

A glass cup and spoon with half-eaten thick white pudding with black speckles from chia seeds. Small chunks of pineapple are stirred into the pudding. The cup is on a wooden table with a thin white power cord lying across it beside the bowl.

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can coconut milk
5 T chia seeds
1 T sweetener of choice
½ t vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

What to do:

Stir together all ingredients with a fork.
Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours; stir every 8-12 hours if you think of it.
Stir again before serving.

Additional serving ideas:

Add crushed pineapple and shredded coconut on top for a pina-colada-type flavor!
Consider adding a jam or other fresh/canned fruit you enjoy.
Perhaps a swirl of peanut butter or chocolate-hazelnut spread would be tasty, but the textures may not jive. Let me know if you try it!

That’s all for now!

Queer Kitchen Connection is an every-other-month newsletter from Food Focused Nutrition.

I want this newsletter to be an invitation for us all to foster more connection around food.

My dream is that Queer Kitchen Connection will be the start of a conversation, and I welcome you to taste, savor, and share in the creation of community with direct replies to the newsletter.

Author Jex Calvert, RDN, Food Focused Nutrition
“Edible-in-Chef” Ashley Bovin, Ease Up Consulting

Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!