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When Karen, who makes her home in Austin and writes for Entertainment Weekly, first sent us her essay, its focus was almost entirely on her childhood, and how it was darkened by her mother’s mental illness. Hunger — physical and emotional — ruled those days; she was never consistently, satisfyingly fed. Mooching lunch from classmates, lingering at play dates in hopes of a dinner invitation, Karen wrote with a matter-of-factness about those days. She concluded her essay with her father’s simple menu of roast chicken, boiled rice, beets and steamed frozen corn that was heartbreaking in its final instruction: “Serve family style.”More

Neal Pollack is known for his book, Alternadad, and his fantastic new yoga detective serial, Downward-Facing Death. He’s published a novel about Jewish basketball players in the 1930s, Jewball, and a rock and roll novel called Never Mind the Pollacks.
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Writing funny is hard. Writing funny about a subject people take very seriously is something I am rarely brave enough attempt. But Barbara Ruskoff is a bold writer. She has one of the most eclectic set of credits of any of our contributors; she’s interviewed MC Hammer and written contribtions to books ranging from Before the Mortgage to Matzo Balls for Breakfast and A Girl’s Guide to Taking Over the World. So if you’ve ever wondered why people keep Kosher, and what it means, Barbara’s essay “Kosher. Or Not.” will answer all your questions. Or not. But it will certainly make you laugh.

When my late mother-in-law, Nancy, was bed-ridden with her final illness, Tony and I moved temporarily into her house; to distract myself from worry, I decided to clean and organize Nancy’s kitchen. A talented cook, generous with her friends, Nancy’s kitchen shelves brimmed with gourmet foodie gifts, squirreled away willy-nilly. Each cabinet was a treasure chest of mismatched items: a silver tray, three pounds of artisan pasta, a sampler box of exotic salts.
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