“You had every intention of being depressed forever, but as it turns out, there's work to be done, meals to eat, movies to see, errands to run. You meant to be in ruins permanently, your misery a monument, a gash across the cold hard earth, but honestly, who has the time for that? Instead, you survived - apparently, you both did - and things are shockingly okay.”

-Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory

POSING IN BONDAGE

BY JAPANESE BREAKFAST

WHEN THE WORLD DIVIDES INTO TWO PEOPLE
THOSE WHO HAVE FELT PAIN
AND THOSE WHO HAVE YET TO
AND I CAN'T UNSEE IT
ALTHOUGH I WOULD LIKE TO

[music video]

"Food is everything we are. It's an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It's inseparable from those from the get-go."

-Anthony Bourdain [source]

"It was comforting to hold her work in my hands, to envision my mother prior to pain and suffering, relaxing with a paintbrush in hand, surrounded by close friends. I wondered if making art had been therapeutic for her, helped her navigate the existential dread that came with Eunmi's death. I wondered if the late bloom of her creative interests had shed light on my own artistic impulses. If my own creativity had come from her in the first place. If in another life, if circumstances had been different, she might have been an artist, too."

-Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart

this book had a profound impact on me (and by extension saprophytic) following my own mother's death in september of 2020. so rarely do i ever feel seen and deeply understood in relation to my experience with grief. it's simultaneously heartbreaking and comforting that these are the circumstances through which i feel such a deep connection with this book.

some of my fave comments from friends who playtested

DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON (2023)

BY RYOKO KUI
CH. #97 - FINAL CHAPTER

one of my favorite manga series that finished serialization in 2023. its exploration of the connection between food and grief was another impact on the story of saprophytic.