The Sunday Digest 129
"Sun went down in honey and the moon came up in wine."
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.
Sunday Read › Too Many People Talked About Tuna Fight Club
by Amelia Nierenberg for The New York Times
A few years ago, I went to a ticketed event at The South Congress Hotel in Austin that featured a chef breaking town a full tuna so guests could enjoy fresh sashimi en masse. With sushi being one of my core food groups, it seemed like a no-brainer way to spend a Sunday evening.
Until we got there.
Had I been able to see the process behind everyone’s phones, I’m sure it would’ve been a different experience. But once the fish was put on small plates? Well, everyone began swarming to get their first bite of the freshest tuna they’d ever seen. Hyenas.
I didn’t realize it before we arrived, but there’s something dark about watching a group of people cheer for an animal to get broken down in public while recording it all for their Instagram stories. I left hungry. I left dismayed. I left knowing that I’d never attend an event like that again.
And this week’s read only solidified that notion. Here’s an excerpt:
But toward the end of last year, the event quickly took on the tone of TikTok, after flashy food influencers made video after fawning video. Reservations are now sold out through July.
The new attention could be the downfall of the experience.
The pop-up became “more entertainment than immersion,” Mr. D’Sylva said. Instead, he said, he wants to mostly cater to sushi lovers and locals — and steer Fight Club back toward an “if you know, you know” experience. “We’ve got people coming for social currency — who don’t even eat fish.”
That would be a tough dietary restriction for Tuna Fight Club, an unusually boisterous example of “bromakase,” a manosphere subversion of the tranquil omakase culinary tradition. “They’re not our customers,” Mr. D’Sylva said of the TikTok crowd. “And the customers that support our entire business? There are no tickets left for them.”
Read in full here (it’s a gift link from me, so no account needed).
The Sunday Haiku: Of course, it was under the bed.
Do you know where
the Apple TV remote is?
Whyyyyy is it so small?
Things I Saved This Week
Additional Reading
Earlier this week, I babbled about how we’re all going to be wearing boat shoes by July which you can read here.
My sister, Betsy, continued her ‘Uniform’ series this week, but more importantly, announced she’s running for Missoula’s City Council. You can follow that here or check out her new website.
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Hate to be this guy, but the haiku authorities have been contacted.