I came out as a snob. In the pages of The Guardian.

My first-ever piece for the English outlet was on why I quit gas stoves.

I have a half-formed conviction that I’m going to tell you about. It goes like this: We all know the climate situation is dire. We know we should be doing everything we can to help — and most of us take all the measures within our reach.

But we also usually have a couple things, or maybe more, that we justify as our inviolable luxuries. For me, one of those indulgences, which I held onto long past when I knew it was bad for my health and toxic for the planet, was cooking on gas. In other words, if you haven’t heard, I was a snob.

To be clear, the climate emergency is not an individual action problem. We get out of this mess by changing our behavior — and fossil fuel companies have long pushed that narrative as part of their denial-delay-deflect dance. BP, it cannot be repeated enough, invented the carbon footprint. 

Instead, the most powerful thing we can do is act together to build power and make policy. But it doesn’t have to be an either-or. There’s no reason we cannot simultaneously change our lives. 

My decision to give up gas was not one of a moral awakening. I only quit due to a frantic pre-lockdown apartment search. I shared that story in The Guardian this month in the hope that my own very tardy awakening might open someone else’s eyes. It ran under a headline that, as the son of two punsters, I wish was my own: “I was a kitchen snob who would only cook on gas. Now an induction hob is my new flame.”

Sometimes the revolution is gray. This is where the magic happens —usually with a pressure cooker.

The piece covers most of my feelings about gas stoves, but there’s a lot I couldn’t squeeze in. There are, for instance, dishes which will not be quite the same without the flame. For instance, I hope to one day make baingan bharta — the smoky, spicy Indian eggplant dish — half as well as my mother-in-law. Charring over a burner is ideal, even if my chances of matching hers are slim. (This example, incidentally, was cut by the editors from my original draft. Sorry ma!)

If you’re an elite cook, you might read my account with skepticism. I’ll be the first to admit that my culinary credentials are weak. But my wife, Roshni, has long earned rave reviews for her cooking. And not just for friends and family, but for yoga retreats and other events. She’s currently part of an artists collective, Mango + Okra, that has done food-centered installations at museums and art spaces in Barcelona, where we live. She most often cooks from our kitchen — and the calls keep coming. 

The piece also focused on the personal, in large part to push others infected with, but the more collective benefits are no less profound. I am deeply happy to no longer be contributing, no matter how small my share, to demand for natural gas — and therefore the ongoing push to build more pipelines through Indigenous lands and low-income communities, or upstream power plants or export terminals. Not to mention fracking that can leave the earth under your feet unstable.

In the end, it was of course impossible to fit everything I wanted to say about quitting gas into an 800-word piece. My editor at The Guardian helped me find the version that best fit the column, even if we had to kill some of my darlings along the way. My thanks to her for the guidance, not to mention saying yes in the first place.

Gas propaganda has been around for decades. Matthew Paul Argall/Creative Commons

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What do you cook with — and why?

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Take Action

drop | Go electric. Replace your gas stove. Or make a budget to replace it in the future. Or tell your landlord you want a switch. Or make a date with a friend to try their electric hob. It might become your new flame.

wave | Stop a pipeline. Find a local project and lend a hand in any way you can. Money, time, Instagram post. I donated to the Pipeline Fighters Hub for this issue.

Got even better ideas? Let me know. I’m new to this.

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Revolutionary Letter #3 | excerpt

hoard matches, we aren’t good
at rubbing sticks together any more
a tinder box is useful, if you can work it
don’t count on gas stove, gas heater
electric light
keep hibachi and charcoal, CHARCOAL STARTER a help
kerosene lamp and candles, learn to keep warm
with breathing
remember the blessed American habit of bundling

– Diane di Prima

Read in full at poets.org. 

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Worth Your Time

Have you heard the incredible new podcast Mango and Gnocchi? It’s funny and moving, enlightening and sensual. If you can’t come to Barcelona, it’s also a lovely way to spend a little time with my wife, Roshni, who created it with her business partner. 

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Gratitude

This newsletter is a collective project. My proofreader extraordinaire is Steve Kay and my editor-in-chief is Roshni Kavate. All errors are mine alone.

In the last issue, I shared my gratitude for the LA Times editors I worked with, but failed to wish them well in their labor dispute with ownership. I hope the staff, which includes several friends and acquaintances from my time at The Daily Californian, find the best possible resolution soon.

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On Substack

I am extremely overdue, but when I do make my final decision on whether to stay on Substack, I will let you all know. Either way, there will be no need for changes from your side.