Every month, I pick a dish with a story behind it, and I illustrate the whole thing. The history, the politics, the strange accidents that got it into your kitchen. Then I make it into a collage. I'm Anna Lena Feunekes, an author-illustrator from NL.
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We are going on a rosemary-scented trip from Greek exams to Tudor weddings, because rosemary has been inside human memory for five thousand years and modern science only just worked out why!
I'm taking you on a wild ride from poisoned posh people to tomato gangmasters, to show you how the tomato has been deceiving us, and we ourselves. Includes illustrated recipe art and history deepdive!
From a veggie-shaped nose, to a 500-year recipe gap: chickpeas are older, stranger, and more enigmatically loaded than your grocery store lets on (+ a fab chickpea pancake sandwich!)
A full process video, just for paid subscribers, plus a teaser for everyone else
From Roman logistics to royal kitchen gardens to the Brabant sandsoils: white asparagus has never just been a vegetable. This newsletter was a blast to make, as well as the artwork!
A city in ruins, a surplus of American wheat, and the world's most adaptable pancake
Chuño, the Irish Famine, and broligarch tariff wars: how the world's most biodiverse crop became boring, fragile, and a tool for subjugation.
What happens when you spend an afternoon folding dumplings instead of doomscrolling (spoiler: community, meditation, and really good food!)
Everyone’s doing that thing where they promise to exercise daily or read 52 books or become fluent in Swedish. Me? I’m suggesting something way more realistic: spend 45 minutes making something.
From ancient African kingdoms to Balinese water cooperatives: rice cultivation built civilizations on cooperation, not conquest (+ a Nasi Goreng recipe, because theory without fried rice is sad!)
Just in case you were looking for something creative to do this winter...
From mushrooms to miso, umami is the great equalizer (with a recipe so good that it'll make your meat-eating uncle weep into his mashed potatoes... just warning you!)
Bonus newsletter! A local community project taught me so much about food science and biodiversity, I just had to make an extra newsletter to tell you all about it and show you the artwork.
From ancient medicine to guild-protected luxury: how gingerbread became the OG edible art (with a vegan illustrated recipe that would've gotten you arrested in 1500!)
If you've been looking for holiday gifts or housewarming presents for family and friends who love to cook, this may just save your butt.
From medieval currency to modern comfort food: the surprising journey of cardamom (with 2 illustrated recipes worth their weight in gold!)
Kabak Tatlısı is what happens when pumpkin decides to ditch its hearty reputation and join the dessert hall of fame
I think you'll love adding these to your kitchen.
Remember when I said I was going to take matters into my own hands instead of waiting for someone to give me permission to make the things I want to make? Well... I actually did that.
I'm going to be ballsy and say, I like the Roman Empire more than all the old dudes bragging about it on the internet. Watch me illustrate Roman history facts while I prove it, and let's catch up!
