Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Feast.
- Top Story - June 2022
My Mom's 90s Era Pasta Salad and My Newman's Own Dressing Obsession
Ever since I was old enough to eat salads, I have been obsessed with Newman’s Own oil and vinegar salad dressing. As a child of the 90s, my mom often served dinner side salads, and my iceberg lettuce and carrot shreds would be doused with the best that Paul Newman had to offer. My salad bowl would resemble an oil and vinegar soup because I’d use half the bottle in one sitting. By the time I reached elementary school, my mom had to start buying the dressing in bulk due to the sheer quantity I was consuming.
Amy WritesPublished 2 years ago in Feast Summer Yummies I Can Still Taste
The first day of summer has passed, and summer is finally upon us! With that said, it's time for those bikini bodies to come out to play. We're also going to ruin them in the process.
Jason Ray MortonPublished 2 years ago in FeastCuban Delight
Sergio ran across the hard-packed dirt and slid silently behind a tree. From his vantage point, he could see Carlos’ house. Carlos was at the door, shaking out a small area rug, but looking up to see if Sergio had arrived yet. Sergio let out a soft whistle, and Carlos smiled. Sergio knew that Carlos had gone back into the house. Faintly, he could hear Carlos’ mother calling to the boy to not be gone too long.
Mayra MartinezPublished 2 years ago in FeastSteak Sliders Anyone? No, I'm Not Talking About Any Old Run-of-the-Mill Burger
It was a lovely day. The wedding was over three years in the making thanks to Covid-19, so everyone in attendance was ecstatic to see the greatly anticipated day go so smoothly.
Madison NewtonPublished 2 years ago in FeastLate Night Toast
Growing up, I struggled to make friends. The Locals in my hometown were set in their ways, and there was no changing it. Being a more open-minded child made me sort of a social outcast. But, I had one friend I could rally on to be there for me no matter what, my grandfather Doc. My grandfather was a great man. He was always there for me, no matter what. He was also very ill with kidney failure. A concept I didn’t quite understand until I was much older. Because he was so sick, he had to take an array of medications at various times of the day and night. Every summer, I would spend two weeks with him in July. Maybe more, depending on my mother’s summer plans. Despite going to Dialysis every morning, he never let his sickness stop him from taking me on many adventures. Boy, did we have fun! We would go to the theater to watch plays. We go to the video rental store and spend hours deciding what movies to watch that night. Then we would head to the nearby mall to buy all toys and books I could carry in my tiny arms. My favorite part of the day was going to the thrift store in town and conjuring up little stories for the trinkets we came across inside. When we got back to his house, we would eat dinner, and spend the rest of the night watching the movies, or old TV shows like The Munsters and Bewitched. As the evening hours approached, we would move the party outside. We sat on the porch swing watching the sunset over the nearby riverbank. The colors were as stunning as my grandfather’s strength. As the stars began to pop out, we went back inside to wash up for the night. Around nine o’clock, we would all head to bed. I would sleep on the folding cot near the foot of his bed because of the limited space in the house. This is where the battle of wills began. While he and my grandmother slept, I would watch TV to fight the urge to sleep myself. It wasn’t a hard fight, though. Growing up, I was always a night owl, so staying up past my bedtime wasn’t the issue. But staying awake until two in the morning could be challenging for a kid. I would sit there on my little cot, trying my best to keep my eyes open. No matter how badly I wanted to, I knew I couldn’t fall asleep. At long last, two o’clock would come. The first sign I knew it was time was when the TV would click off. My grandfather had it set on a timer so that I wouldn’t fall asleep leaving it on. The next clue was the part I was waiting for all night. I heard him shuffling to get up in bed.
M.L. LewisPublished 2 years ago in FeastIntertidal Magic
I am not a native Pacific Northwesterner. My husband and children have that birthright; for me, I fell in love in my twenties with this misty region where snow-capped volcanoes and rocky mountains mingle with temperate rainforests and orcas frequent the inland sea. It is home to giant tides, where the vertical height of the water can change by sixteen feet within a single day- it can creep over shorelines to shape beaches at one point, and twelve hours later it will draw back to the point that entire bays and sandbars appear, the waterline now more than a thousand feet from shore. It is here, within the mysterious intertidal zone, that my favorite mysteries of the Northwest lay waiting to be discovered. It is also home to one of my favorite delicacies, intertidal clams.
Penny FullerPublished 2 years ago in Feast- Top Story - June 2022
Food, Man, Food…
I am not one of those people who has a million skills. Most days I feel like a barely functioning adult who will take every gold star I can get, so long as I earned them honestly. That out of the way, I know food. I considered going into the service industry for a living and decided not to because I realized it would make me hate doing something I enjoy, which would have drastically skewed my outlook on summers and what they bring. Fresh sliced watermelon that was picked at just the right time, so it’s juicy and sweet. Cold cocktails with friends in the hot dry evenings of the Southwest. Ice cream with my kids after a long day of working in the sun. All of that is so intertwined with Summer in my memories that I can almost smell them on the long days waiting for the sun to set in the western horizon, starting somewhere around the middle of May, when New Mexico starts to really warm up.
Travis RawlinsPublished 2 years ago in Feast The Skewered Pork Barbecue
Summer tastes like an abominably spiced-up, sizzling-hot pork barbecue to me. Interestingly, I do not remember how many times I have said that, but it is more than a few times. To be fair, summer also smells like a lot of other things to me; freshly-cut grass, salt water, suntan lotion, scorching sun on white sand, sun-bleached sheets on a cool bed, and scalloped potatoes—and I can barely believe the sheer coincidence between the first option in this essay prompt and my actual, real-life olfactory relationship to summertime. Oh, and how can I forget Shalimar; the favorite—and quite frankly, exclusive—fragrance of Mrs. Denali.
Sarah ElishaPublished 2 years ago in FeastJust Right
My favourite summer food is chocolate. This is because my favourite food is chocolate. In the winter time, chocolate is warm hued riches, a gratifyingly fatty sparkle of the exotic, a hug tinged with eroticism even as it holds you safe like a loving parent. In the summer, chocolate is….the same. But also, a little sickly and prone to melting. Like me, chocolate was not made for hot climates, and I, alas, was not made for chocolate, every dose plunging me into hours of lying still in darkened rooms, my head splintering in ultra slow motion. This is not an optimal way to enjoy the bounty of summer, and so let me turn my attention to other foods, if not rivals, then other runners, worthy of note.
Hannah MoorePublished 2 years ago in FeastEncebollado: Summer's Aphrodisiac
It’s ninety degrees in Montañita, Ecuador. The waves are high and strong as tourists try to ride it while locals play an ardent game of Ecuavolley. Like volleyball except it’s played with a soccer ball and with three players in each team.
The Best Fruit Vegetable
I grew up on a love for tomatoes - green tomatoes, baby tomatoes, red tomatoes, I ate it all. I put tomatoes on a lot of things that generally would go good with tomatoes on it, such as pizzas and salads, tacos and burritos. I used to eat sliced tomatoes with salt on them because I never originally liked them plain and sliced, and salt added flavor to them, but then somehow I grew out of wanting to put salt on my tomatoes anytime I would slice them if I wasn't eating them whole. I could also eat containers of the baby tomatoes all day, because they are a great snack when you're not wanting to spoil your appetite entirely, but they're just that perfect summer snack and hit the spot every time.
Mac N Cheese
I love mac and cheese. It's the easiest recipe to learn how to make as a child. I mean, the first thing you know is how to pour your cereal into your bowl and then your milk into your bowl without spilling it. You're a kid! After you accomplish that, you think you can conquer anything.
Irene MielkePublished 2 years ago in Feast