Lucky Peach Issue 11: All You Can Eat

by David Chang (Editor), Peter Meehan (Editor), Chris Ying (Editor)

Lucky Peach is a quarterly journal of food and writing. Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes.

Issue 11 is our ALL YOU CAN EAT issue. We eat and eat and eat some at a country club in Boca Raton, at a series of wedding feasts in the Republic of Georgia, in the parking lot outside of the Iron Bowl. We attempt to beat the buffet, see how people stuff themselves at sex parties, hang out with Yu Bo, the best Chinese chef you’ve never heard of (“All Yu Can Eat”), and learn about ruminant digestion (“All Ewe Can Eat”). Gabrielle Hamilton demonstrates the many ways to enjoy the celery languishing in our crispers; novelist Padgett Powell shoots (then stews) the ubiquitous squirrel. Plus, we take stock of what hunger looks like around the world and of what's for dinner at a prison in Westville, Indiana. Too much? That’s the point.

Genres: Food, Food Writing, Foodie

168 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2014

Reviews

[Hans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is packed to the gills like a never-ending country club buffet (see pg. 100 to kick off that culinary career at a country club).

Thanks to Lucky Peach, I learned that:
1. Horses have three toes.
2. Sex parties often feature buffets.
3. Aramark's 2005 contract for providing food to prisoners in Indiana breaks down to $3.717 per prisoner per day. That includes the cost of materials (food) *and* labor.
4. Prison food in Indiana does not taste good. (See #3)

Really appreciate how Lucky Peach creates and extends their quarterly theme. They twist, pun (see "All Yu Can Eat" or "All Ewe Can Eat") and extend the theme with an eye towards strong content rather than treating the theme like a precious object.

Lots to love in this issue. My favorites:
--"The Order of Good Cheer" - Adam Gollner's piece about the roots of food cultures in Quebec.
--"Wedding Crasher" / "Georgia on my Mind" - Gideon Lewis Kraus / Christina Nichol dive into the (non-U.S.) Georgian culture. (I'm looking forward to reading Christina Nichol's new book Waiting for the Electricity!
--"Fixed Menu" - Kevin Pang explores the world of prison food. The ability to eat what you want to eat when you want to eat it seems like a little thing…until it isn't possible. Also, the food is terrible.

--Plus huckleberries, too much celery, squirrel meat, Pennsylvania, a man eating an airplane, fiction, job training food truck, hunger in a world of plenty, food challenges, and so much more.

Damn, I better stop looking back at the issue or this review will be 170+ pages long. Just go pick up the magazine. You'll be happy that you did.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool articles about China, Georgia (the country) and food insecurity

[Sammi Lim · Rating 4 out of 5]

P.38 - Dave held forth about how he would have orchestrated the alcoholic feng shui for such a party. "At least fifty kegs, stationed at the three points of egress..."

P.45 - Ending a story with one word. Exp: Insane.

The Order of Good Cheer or: ANOTHER WORLD
Summary: A look at famed restaurants in Quebec and Montreal + a historical flashback to how French-Canadian food culture became an ode to gluttony or l'excès.

P.49 - French toast... suspended in lagoons of maple syrup.

Places to Eat in Canada:
Quebec: Cabane à Sucre Eu Pied de Cochon
Montreal: Au Pied de Cochon; Joe Beef; The Beaver Club in The Queen Elizabeth Hotel
What to eat: Oreilles de crisse (ears of Christ)

It's nice to read material that makes me reflect inwards instead of thinking "Who should I forward this to?"

Reading this issue makes me a little nauseous compared to The Plant Kingdom issue. Constant mention of overdoing it, no doubt!

[Arielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

God, this was a good issue. I got really excited about almost every article, with the exception (unfortunately) of Sadie Stein's piece about eyes bigger than her stomach, which seemed disjointed and poorly edited. The one about prison food, particularly, was absolutely fascinating, and the one about swinger parties I wished could have been like six pages longer.

[Aileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best issue of LP since I started my subscription. The pieces about the Georgian supra, Québécois cuisine culture, prison food is shit, and food scarcity stand out. Fuschia Dunlop's article is quality, as always.

[waits4thebus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This magazine gets better each issue. The articles were tighter - and spaced well between the short- and long-form. Great layout. I loved the interspersed cartoons and art, as always. One of my favorite food-writing diversions from my regular reading selections whenever an issue arrives.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is issue was okay. Got an idea for a post on Beaver (don't ask) and found a recipe from Prune that I didn't copy but wished I had. So, that means I'm only a year behind on keeping up with LP.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly enjoyed the piece Wedding Crasher by Gideon Lewis-Kraus, which gave me all sorts of giggles.

[Kristina Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

All you can ear -- that conjures up all kinds of images, and this issue conjured up all kinds of stories around this theme. One of th more enjoyable issues, it was full of good stuff.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my FAVE Lucky Peaches in a loooooong time.