CAKE ZINE explores the rich history of cake through an esoteric and hedonistic lens.
A sensation that practically exploded out of the DIY and extravagant baking scene that took on a life on Instagram during and after the pandemic, CAKE ZINE is the creation of writer/editor Aliza Abarbanel and writer/baker Tanya Bush who take us on a tour of history, pop culture, literature and art through dessert. It's a slim volume, but extraordinarily rich, and we love it.
About the new special issue, 'Steak Zine', from the publisher:
Welcome to Steak Zine. For this pocket-sized special issue, Cake Zine is setting off into carnivorous territory. We're serving up 208 pages of non-fiction and fiction exploring the cultural impact of red meat, including:
- The last days of Acropolis, Portland’s beloved strip club-steakhouse, by Sophia June
- A profile on the women going viral by eating raw meat online by Ella Quittner
- A night at a fictionalized steakhouse kaleidoscoped through the roles of maître d’, bartender, server, chef, and guest, by Leah Abrams, Isle McElroy, Lillian Fishman, Stephanie Wambugu, and Hannah Kingsley-Ma
- Examinations of the enduring escapism of Outback Steakhouse and Fogo de Chão by Ruby Robina Saha and Adam Dalva
- A trip through Nebraska to trace how historic stockyard closures in the late 1990s have affected those serving up beef in the Beef State, by Jamal Dauda
- A wistful look back at a romance fueled by ribeye and red leather booths, by Emma Specter
- NDA-risking testimony from a lab tech at a plant-based food start up who went from vegetarian to carnivore in the noble name of research, by AUTHOR REDACTED
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Tracing the roots and uncertain future of Hong Kong’s sizzling steak by Madeline Leung Coleman
- Plus the steak heists prompting retailers to put meat behind lock and key, the body horror of cannibalist cinema, revisiting molecular gastronomy’s embrace of meat glue, the social tensions behind ordering well-done meat, the trauma of growing up on an Australian cattle ranch, and much more.
