For this issue, we do a mini-dive into the wild, weird, wonderful world of food: the new trends, the old reliables, the ubiquitous, and the rare.
Welcome to the September issue of the Highlight!
Victoria Stampfer for Vox
Elbert Ventura was executive editor at Vox. Prior to Vox, he was an editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education and managing editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.
Kicking us off is Kyndall Cunningham with a fun explainer on the mainstreaming of mukbangs — livestreams of people eating large quantities of food, sometimes while chatting, sometimes in dead silence. It’s a genre that’s gone big, and Kyndall explains why it has become our guiltiest pleasure.
Keeping on theme, Anna North reflects on the past, present, and future of the popular and polarizing go-to for millions of parents: the chicken nugget. Whizy Kim explains the American obsession with sauces of all kinds. Charlotte Lytton offers a peek into a future of only seedless fruits, and Keren Landman reports on the rise of “functional beverages” — new lines of drinks that promise not just to quench our thirst, but also boost our immunity, improve our gut, and make us calmer, among other tantalizing benefits.
Elsewhere in the issue: Allie Volpe has a helpful reflection on the idea of “making it” and why that looks different for everyone. Rachel Cohen examines a new cheap housing experiment in San Bernardino, California, that could be an answer to the US housing crisis. Marin Cogan writes about a quietly influential book that has changed the way cities think about crime, and Sam Delgado has a piece on the mass killing of stray dogs in Turkey and poses more humane alternatives.
Rounding out the issue is Oshan Jarow on what’s next after the FDA’s rejection of MDMA therapy. Finally, there’s a wonderful conversation between Noam Hassenfeld and Ethan Mollick on how we can use AI right now to help us with how we work and create.
Thank you, and happy reading!
—Elbert Ventura, executive editor
How the act of eating became mass spectacle.
By Kyndall Cunningham
Kids love to eat them. Parents love to fight about them.
By Anna North
Victoria Stampfer for Vox
From hot honey to buffalo ranch, we really, really, really love to make our dry foods wet.
By Whizy Kim
Victoria Stampfer for Vox
Gene editing could deliver a future of seedless fruit. Is that a good thing?
By Charlotte Lytton
Victoria Stampfer for Vox
From prebiotic sodas to collagen waters, beverages are trying to do the most. Consumers are drinking it up.
By Keren Landman, MD
Getty Images
You’ll never have life all figured out. That’s a good thing.
By Allie Volpe
Factory-built housing, ADUs, and community land trusts — all at once.
By Rachel M. Cohen
Thomas Abt’s Bleeding Out has become foundational in tackling urban violence across the US.
By Marin Cogan
We don’t need to pit dogs against humans.
By Sam Delgado
After FDA rejection, the industry is reconsidering its approach to approval.
By Oshan Jarow
How Ethan Mollick uses AI to help him write.
By Noam Hassenfeld
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