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Don’t mistake passion for hate in Susan Pants’ inaugural issue of her indie food zine The Not So Lazy Susan – Issue One: With Alotta Issues. It’s just that the writer loves chow so much that she tends to get a bit worked up. (Don’t we all with stuff that we heart.)
The publication’s opening piece, “I Love Food: A Hate Monologue,” reads more like a manifesto as Miss Pants contrasts personal food love (the essences, including tastes, smells, and visceral associations) with food loathe (the powers-that-be industry, genetic modifications, and governmental interventions).
Though the author voices valid and well-written concerns, the essay does get a bit soapbox-y, especially when she lumps Facebookers into the category of novice food critics who are “clogging the information super highway with their unrefined palates and sloppy opinions of food and new hot foodie spots.”
(read more about The Not So Lazy Susan, including the part where she disses Sam Fox, after the jump)
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The zine’s other substantial piece sees Susan taking Phoenix-area Sam Fox eateries (such as True Food, Zinburger, and Culinary Dropout) to task.
Susan’s argument is that Fox — founder of Fox Restaurant Concepts, which boasts eateries in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Texas — spends a motherload of cash on restaurant design and promotions and not enough on the actual grub. Not sure if that’s true, especially since there’s an absence of hard figures to support this claim, but there’s no doubting that she isn’t feeling Fox’s boutique-style dining spots.
The zine’s remainder is padded with some list-style pieces about absinthe, gardening 101, and a crockpot recipe for chunky butternut soup.
Length, including front and back covers: 12
Representative sentence: There’s not much in the body copy that stands out, but the headline “Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder” is definitely a winner.
Cost: Free
Spots to Pick Up: Jobot, Fair Trade Café
