Eat This Newsletter, for your delectation.

- 16,000 calories per calorie: isn’t that rather inefficient?
- NuFood: ready for water lentils?
- Marmalade, membrillo: what’s the difference?

And more, at https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/etn-265-past-and-future/

I think my problem with Douthat and this essay is that I just don't find myself attracted to systems of belief, any systems of belief. To be a part of life, yes, but no more than a part, and a part with no special talents beyond self-destruction -- which is easier maybe if life eternal beckons.

Latest episode: Food facts are not the answer to fear of foods

Charlotte Biltekoff, author of Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge, on how industrial food and real food talk past one another.

https://eatthispodcast.com/real-food

I got over the grave disappointment of Apple’s Books messing my Notes and Highlights for long enough to discover that a solution had been close at hand all along: Calibre!

https://www.jeremycherfas.net/blog/a-farewell-to-books

Grave disappointment. Cleanfeed has removed the ability to record left and right channels from its free tier, and there's no way I can afford €28 a month for separate tracks. I guess I need to rewrite my podcast instructions for guests. Pity, it worked well.

I bought a pair of “cycling" insoles for my non-cycling shoes (trainers) and on the first two rides, coming up the long hill to home seemed a lot less effort. Can that possibly be the result of the insoles? Or self-delusion? Not just a jump in fitness, I am sure.

Thanks to improved crop varieties, “From 1961 to 2015, global crop output was higher by 226 million metric tons”. Is that a lot?

Eat This Newsletter runs the numbers and is not impressed. Or might just be mistaken. You be the judge.

https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/eat-this-newsletter-264-curated/

As I continue to mull over Pixelfed, these suggestions from Matt Haughey make a lot of sense. Will they still do as after I am there? I expect so.

Brian has an interesting approach to inserting microformats from front matter that I could pretty easily emulate in Twig as I do my resign. Need to think through whether it would increase flexibility or tie things down.

Food, folklore and St Brigid

St Brigid’s Day, 1 February, traditionally marks the beginning of spring and the start of the agricultural year. There are special foods and other ritual celebrations, some of which delve in the pagan past.

Listen at https://eatthispodcast.com/brigid