The first slice is the deepest

A love letter to bread.

Welcome to Quality Sheet, a weekly assortment of outside-the-box news, events, trends and offbeat oddities to indulge your curiosity. Subscribe for a midweek treat each Wednesday that'll make you hummm with intrigue and amusement.

---

Bread must be the David Attenborough of food. Everybody loves it, it’s eternally comforting and we’d be united in grief if it ceased to exist (unless you’re allergic). Which of us can’t recall a formative experience centered around its chewy goodness? My first love was the baguette. I liked them so much as a kid that my parents nicknamed me “mademoiselle baguette.” I remembered this over the weekend, when my teeth ripped apart the silkiest slice of sourdough I’ve ever tasted. I was feral. If you’ve read this far…this is a ploy to encourage you to support your local independent bakery. If you’d like to support one from afar, please click here.

Welcome to Quality Sheet! Let’s jump in.

🍬

Would you enter into a polyamorous relationship with 20 other people? If so, consider the polycule: a non-monogamous group “formed of people with overlapping deep attachments: romantic, sexual, sensual, platonic.” The New York Times speaks to a few people within one polycule in Boston, who share the social and economic pros and cons they experience as part of this norm-shattering web of connections.

🍭

E-jiao is a “​​vital ingredient in food and beauty products” also used in traditional Chinese medicine to boost health. Made from collagen “extracted from donkey hides,” high demand is devastating donkey populations in China and parts of east and southern Africa, Reuters reports.

🍬

Mexico City is sinking about 20 inches a year, which is causing problems for its infrastructure—including its subway system. The U.S. east coast is facing a similar worry, Grist reports.

🍭

Scientists are cracking the code underlying our tastebuds. Recently, they’ve figured out how we’re able to taste bitter foods. A study published by Nature last week reveals the receptor that enables us to taste lemons.

🍬

Speaking of taste, no one does a graphic flower print better than Marimekko. (The Finnish brand’s florals really are groundbreaking.) Apartamento Magazine steps into the mind and studio of Rebekka Bay, the brand’s creative director who is proudly pragmatic and unsentimental.

🍭

Side hustles can range from selling feet pics to editing postgraduate papers. Not every venture will take off…but finance expert Melissa Jean-Baptise gives some pointers to increase one’s odds of success and weighs up when it’s worth pursuing one, in The Cut.

🎁

Thank you for reading. Share to sweeten someone’s day—and have a lovely rest of your week!

Isabel :)

Get in touch/share links/follow me: