FERN’s Friday Feed: The noblest of things
Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
A bee’s life
The Threepenny Review
“I left a couple of frames of honey in the box, letting the few remaining bees eat their fill as their days ran out. I found the body of the queen, the blue spot still on her back. The queen, the only source of new eggs, had died, for whatever reason. The moths had gained entry, and the colony was doomed by attrition. As they died off,” writes David Fowler, “there were no fresh replacements, no-body to succeed them, and they just petered out. Bees maintain a handful of larvae intended to serve as backup queens. But clearly, they had not been able to get a succession plan going in time. Bees, it seemed to me, are so meticulous and careful in their actions. Even so, something greater than all their preparations and industry and cleverness had surprised them and cost them everything. For all the richness to be squeezed from knowing of a bee’s life, I sometimes think there is even more to be learned from its demise.”
Eat your vegetables like an adult
The Atlantic
“Powdered greens are hardly a new concept: Dehydrated, pulverized vegetables, sweetened with natural sugars, have been stirred into shakes and smoothies for decades. But AG1, formerly known as Athletic Greens, is one of many powdered-greens brands that are having a moment,” writes Yasmin Tayag. “Powdered greens claim all sorts of benefits, such as more energy, stronger immunity, and a happier gut. But above all, they promise convenience—a ‘hack’ for eating vegetables … Yes, swirling powder into liquid is less strenuous than massaging kale. And drinking food is a faster way to choke down something foul-tasting. There was a time when eating vegetables was challenging and disgusting, but not now. Greens have never been so cheap, tasty, or accessible. There are so many better ways to eat veggies than slurping them down like baby food.”
Why British suffragettes went vegetarian
Literary Hub
“On the 4th of April 1908, The Times carried a short article on the ‘Release of Woman Suffragists.’ Early the previous morning, forty women—who had been sentenced to 14 days imprisonment for ‘disorderly conduct outside the Houses of Parliament’—had been let out of Holloway Prison. Waiting for them at the gates was a large crowd of supporters … Led by a brass band, the women marched, singing activist songs and shouting campaign slogans, through the city streets. This defiant procession ended, according to The Times, at the ‘Eustace Miles Restaurant at Charing Cross where the released suffragists were entertained at breakfast.’ This was no ordinary restaurant. Spread over three floors and housing a gymnasium,” writes Elsa Richardson, “it was the most popular vegetarian eatery in Edwardian London. It is significant that the first meal these prisoners chose to eat, voluntarily and as free women, was a meat-free one. As well as being somewhat surprising, it also sheds light on how political histories have been shaped by what we choose to consume and not consume.”
Sharks vs. fishermen
Ambrook
“Fishermen around the world have long contended with ‘depredation’ — the partial or complete removal of a hooked fish before it’s landed, by sharks or other marine predators. But in recent years, many U.S. fishermen, especially in the Southeast, have reported an uptick in depredation by sharks — including commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. There has been a particular uproar about the issue among recreational fishers,” writes Katarina Zimmer. “Many blame the uptick on conservation measures taken to protect shark species, some of which are only now starting to rebound after years of overfishing. Many have complained to fishery managers to no avail, and some are now more likely to go after sharks themselves or are advocating for greater shark harvesting. But experts say shark recovery likely isn’t the only culprit — fishing practices play a role too. Scientists and fishery associations are now working to find solutions that will allow peaceful coexistence between sharks and fishers.”
Where bubble tea has gone into hyperdrive
The New Yorker
“As a nineties kid who grew up drinking bubble tea, I long ago wrote the drink off as a cheap indulgence, whose satisfying sugar rush quickly metabolizes into lingering regret. That changed last fall, when I visited China for the first time in years and encountered the country’s new generation of milk-tea chains—establishments that sell not only beverages but also imagined worlds. At Chayan Yuese, a chain whose aesthetic celebrates the culture of antiquity, the staff greeted me as xiaozhu (‘your ladyship’). I ordered a ‘valley orchid latte,’ and a brochure in the style of ink-wash painting instructed me to start with the ‘mountain peak’ of the drink’s milky foam, before eventually reaching the ‘foothills’ of richly mixed Ceylon tea,” writes Han Zhang, “At 3Bro Factory, the nostalgia fast-forwarded to the Communist era: in a red-and-green space designed to recall a state-owned factory floor, it served bougie drinks, such as a silky blend of milk and Tieguanyin oolong. If a Brooklynite had shown up in Novesta plimsolls and a two-hundred-dollar worker’s jacket, I wouldn’t have batted an eye.”