Substack Reads: Radical chefs, Hollywood lay-offs, and rethinking the internet
This week: meet the unsung star of food TV, find out if web3 can save the internet, plus, why no one wants to be a writer in Tinseltown anymore
Much has happened in the last week: Biden wrapped up his tour of Asia, London’s Chelsea Flower Show hit the UK, while the streaming wars slide continued.
Substack writers from across the globe have been following these stories, as they happen, some of which we’ve selected for you to read this week. We hope you enjoy them.
Speaking of stories, did you know that, as well as writing, Substack hosts some of the world’s most exciting podcasts? We’ll be flagging some of the best ones right here, every week, so you can listen, as well as read, your favorite stories on the go.
As ever, thanks for dropping by!
FILM
Getting fired, the Hollywood way
With the streaming wars slide, pseudonymous comedy writer Kit Sargent explains why no one feels safe in TV-land any more
I remember the first time I got fired. It was the tail end of the dot-com bubble, and everyone was scrambling to court Gen Y viewers through original content start-ups with names like “Xoom!” and “Lunchbox Comedy” and “Blorp.” Sure, we were getting notes on comedy from a 50-year-old guy who wore a backpack and a leather bracelet and called Los Angeles “El Lay,” but the money was good. Plus there was a cool open-plan office and free Diet Coke.
In retrospect, the biggest red flag about those internet companies was that the internet never worked. As the months went by, our headquarters started shrinking. By the end, we were working out of an office park near a Trader Joe’s. I was one of the last people to get canned. It was the kindest, gentlest introduction to losing your job imaginable. Later we would find out the place was rife with mismanagement and skeezy double-dealing, but don’t worry, our boss got his comeuppance. He’ll spend the rest of his life surrounded by friends who own their own jets while he has to settle for renting his.
I moved on and eventually got a job writing for TV. The show was canceled almost immediately. I got a job on another show. And another. All canceled. This is pretty normal in television. Stressful, but normal. Even before Peak TV, conversations between writers were remarkably similar to now:
“No, we didn’t get picked up. Now I’m on New Relationship Smell. Waiting on the back nine. You?”
“Just started up on Your Place or Mike.”
“I heard that was a great pilot.”
Then you’d both look longingly across the room at someone who worked on The Simpsons.
POLITICS
Has America’s position on Taiwan changed?
Hosts of American Prestige podcast, Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison are joined by academic Jamie Lin as they dissect President Biden’s debut tour of Asia
TECHNOLOGY
Web3’s mission to make the internet a better place
Li Jin turns to the philosophy of John Rawls to find new principles to shape a fairer, better internet
One of the most powerful narratives surrounding web3 is that it is a movement toward a better, fairer internet. Specifically, web3 proponents envision an internet in which users can wrest back power from a small number of extractive, centralized institutions, and in which everyone with an internet connection can participate on a level playing field.
But web2 started with a similar promise of empowering individual creators and removing intermediaries — a promise left unfulfilled. Now, standing at the precipice of a new era of the internet, we should ask ourselves: Is web3 actually democratizing opportunity? And if not, how can we better design platforms and governance systems to promote fairness?
HISTORY
The Black Creole chef who paved the way for food TV
A celebration of the late, great Lena Richard
—Kayla Stewart in The Bittman Project
In her time, Richard was a respected figure in the city, impressing Black home cooks and white housewives alike. In addition to founding culinary schools, she published a collection of meticulously crafted and tested recipes, culminating in a self-published book, “Lena Richard’s Cook Book”. A compendium of more than 300 recipes, Richard captivated readers with her direct instructions and insightful perspective on various regional dishes, like shrimp fricassee a la Creole, oyster chowder, and pralines. “Lena Richard’s cookbook is different in that it really builds upon scientific base measurements,” said Young.
Her work caught the eye of publisher Houghton-Mifflin who reissued her book in 1940 with a new title, “New Orleans Cook Book.” While this edit removed Lena’s name from the title (her photo has since been added in the 1999 reissue), she was deeply attached to the book, traveling as far as New York City to promote the text.
“This was the first time that a Black woman was sharing recipes of her own creation and the creations of other Black women… in her community,” said Young. “There was an important distinction in the shift of power because Black women were so often barred from accessing the capital necessary to publish cookbooks or the connections to printers or publishers to get their works out.”
Snapshots of her career were captured in the New York Times and the Times Herald Tribune, further increasing Richard’s visibility. In addition to her publishing work, she led several restaurants, including the Bird & Bottle Inn in Garrison, New York, during a stint of living in New York just after publishing her cookbook. She also operated several restaurants in New Orleans once she returned to the city, such as Lena's Eatery, which opened in 1941, and the Gumbo House, which she founded in 1949.
As her popularity grew, doors opened, including television. From 1949 until her death in 1950, Richard used her cookbook and culinary knowledge as a foundation for her 30-minute cooking show, “New Orleans Cook Book” on WDSU. She and her assistant, Marie Matthews, became the first Black faces to grace food television, disrupting an industry that, even after Richard’s death, prioritized white faces and voices in food.
GARDENING
Made in Chelsea
This week, the world’s most famous flower show opened its doors to Queen and country. Dan Masoliver stepped inside
—Dan Masoliver in The Earthworm
It’s Day 2 of Chelsea Flower Show week, which means one thing: medals.
Personally speaking, the awarding of medals seems a little out of step with the majority of people’s experiences of gardening and growing. Of course we want to create comfortable, beautiful spaces, be that on a balcony, a courtyard, a small urban plot, a sprawling estate, or even inside a bedroom. But by what objective measure, really, can we say that one space is better than another?
Those who take home a gold won’t think twice about any of this, of course, but to anyone whose show garden or display (floral awards are also handed out to the nursery owners and growers in the Great Pavilion) falls short of the judges’ gold medal standards, it can really sour their entire Chelsea experience. An experience that began, let’s not forget, months and months before the show started, and that often involves a sponsor or charity partner investing heavily in the project.
Unfortunately, not everyone shares my opinion that the awards aren’t all that important. As such, there is an awful lot riding on the results, which have the power to make or break a young designer’s career.
Yesterday, I caught up with five of these young designers, all Chelsea first-timers whose show gardens appeared in two of the “smaller” design categories.
ARCHITECTURE
The great big cover up
How Singapore’s covered walkway network is a masterclass in urban planning
—James Carrico in Plans in Perspective
Always measured in meters rather than feet, these steel shed-like armatures were deployed alongside the (also) swift construction of the MRT. Perhaps most commonly known today as connectors between transit stations and housing blocks, covered walkways are a fixture of middle-class commuting life in Singapore. And they have proliferated extensively since the late 1980’s, with an extraordinary milestone achieved in 2018: 200 linear kilometers of covered walkways completed.
If one were in search of a paragon of the Singaporean government’s communally minded technocratic prowess, look no further than the Covered Walkway. Or more precisely, behold the incomprehensible complexity of 200km (and counting) of covered walkways and linkages. It is unquestionably a utilitarian symbol of the People’s Action Party’s ability to provide a comfortable, high-quality built environment through skillful coordination and implementation across sectors. Such a conclusion must have been on the minds of the users who made the hilarious Facebook group: “Singaporeans supporting the government because of covered walkways.” Is there truth within satire?
CARTOONS
Going solo
When you have a little time to yourself there’s just one question: to panic or not to panic?
—Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell in Cartoons by Hilary
I started to lose my mind, casually. The first panic attack was in the middle of a late afternoon nap, after coming home from working in the Slamdance office, which I did for years. I woke up suddenly, terrified, and I had literally no idea who I was. I couldn’t tell you a thing about myself. I started sweating, my heart was racing. I walked around the apartment, staring at photos of my life, trying to jog my memory, to get any clue as to my existence. But nothing worked. I was shaking, so scared this was my new life, like I had just washed up on shore like The Majestic. I dialed the last call I had made, it was my friend Corie, but she didn’t answer. Somehow I decided to just go back to sleep. When I woke up again, I was fine. I’ll always wonder what would have happened if Corie answered the phone. Would I have been like, “Hey Corie! Real quick, who am I?” And she would’ve been like “Your name is Hilary and you really love Nora Ephron.”
Substack Reads is a weekly roundup of writing, ideas, art, and audio from the world of Substack. Posts are recommended by staff and readers, and curated and edited from Substack’s U.K. outpost with writer Hannah Ray and editor Farrah Storr.
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Very interesting set of stories here. I love that they come from different niches too. Great stuff.
Wonderful articles and such a variety. Thank you for choosing these. A perfect balance.