Vittles #2
210 x 260 mm, 156 pages
London, UK
Founder and publisher: Jonathan Nunn
Editors: Sharanya Deepak, Rebecca May Johnson, Adam Coghlan and Odhran O’Donoghue
Design: Dan Biddulph
‘Modern Food and Culture’
Beginning life as a London-based food Substack in 2020, the new print biannual Vittles had already made a name for itself prior to landing on our shelves earlier this year. After establishing a strong voice online, addressing food more as an object of political agency than merely a meal on the table, the challenge lay in translating this to suit the medium of print. Deftly combining polemics and restaurant tips, part of the debut issue’s success lay in the incorporation of a nostalgic visual language that leavened the hard line of much of the content within.
Following a sell-out debut issue, the much anticipated sophomore edition is here; this time the focus is on ‘Bad Food’, the maximalist and kitsch cover appropriating the loud design of mass produced, processed food packaging. Inside, features are sub-divided into a ‘trifecta of badness’: ‘Bad Cooking, Bad Taste and Bad Foods’, addressing everything from the distinctly white phobia of day-old microwaved rice to multi-purpsoe seasoning Maggi’s manufactured Nigerian origins. There’s also a trio of bastardised recipes to loosely replicate at home—Burrata Arsik, reimagined Feijoada and ‘No-Masala’ Mackerel—combining cultures and consistencies. Plus, the addition of a crossword—a quippy taxonomy of London’s dining culture.