Chantal Braganza

an illustration of the author
When it Comes to Cookbooks, Who's a Critic?

 A good cookbook can be mind-opening, read for or looked at for pleasure, despite having middling recipes. An excellent one can be a tool and art one in the same.

The Year in Thrift

As I moved into a house where I hope to stay forever, I spent a lot of time with things other people left behind. 

'Telling the Story of Addiction Doesn’t Always Save You from the Experience Of It': An Interview With Leslie Jamison

The author of The Recovering on archival addiction narratives, excavating how things get better, and sugar. 

The Year in Cultivation

One thing I love about many types of guardianship in food is that it requires you watch, but not too closely.

The Year in Escape

How do you decide when to call somewhere home, and which one takes precedence if more than one place fits the bill?

A User's Guide to Zadie Smith

Whether writing about Brexit or defining the painful and ecstatic parameters of joy, Smith has a near preternatural understanding of the fictions we repeat to ourselves in order to function daily.

A Grief Like This

To be newly pregnant is to feel uniquely unsafe. Here is one way to fall in love with an idea.

Is Journalism Bad?

Are you locked in an endless power struggle? From conflicts and confrontations both institutional and personal, to managing your own privilege without being a dick, Scaach-22 is here to help.

No Names, Many Histories

Anthropologist Gabriella Coleman wanted to write the definitive story of Anonymous. Her new book explains why that was an impossible goal.

I'll B Ur Mirror: Seeing Yourself in Prince Rogers Nelson

Prince revels in confusion, defying definition and willfully obscuring his past—and, often, his present. How is it, then, that he helps us understand ourselves better?