Mess Hall Returns!

Plus an early bird subscription discount for original MessHeads

Hello my long lost newsletter subscribers—

Mess Hall has been lying dormant for the past year and a half (!!), and I’ve missed it. Maybe you have too? I’ve missed having a place to write about the things I think and talk about the most (cooking and eating). And I’ve really missed having an outlet for casual, semi-personal writing. So I’ve decided to bring it back, on a new platform. Yes, the rumors are true: I’ve started a Substack.

The new and improved Mess Hall 2.0 will be similar to the tinyletter you knew and (hopefully) loved, with a more rigorous editorial schedule and a wider variety of posts. Here’s how it will work:

Unpaid subscribers will receive a monthly essay about home cooking: why we do it, how I’ve been doing it lately, and how it interacts with our lives and culture at large. Pretty similar to the old stuff, but…better? Better! (It’s 2022; I’ve grown!)

Paid subscribers will receive two additional posts a month. These will be a service-oriented grab bag of recipes, cookbook reviews, deep dives, interviews with cookbook authors (watch this space!!!), and recommendations for things I love to cook, use, eat, read, and so on. You’ll also be able to submit any cooking-related questions you have, to be answered in semi-regular, advice column-style posts. (Think less Thanksgiving hotline, more Dear Abby in the kitchen.)

For you, the original MessHeads, I’m offering an early subscription discount: all this week, a yearly subscription will be $40 instead of $50. (A $5-a-month subscription will always be available as well.) I hope you’ll consider it. And if you’ve enjoyed this newsletter in the past, maybe you want to share the good news with your friends/family/roommates/coworkers? It would make my day.

The first essay will be in your inboxes later this week. For now, I’ll leave you with something good to make for dinner tonight, and something to listen to while you do.

xx
Marian