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Bring on the Pringles. What are you going to be doing on Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., EST? According to 538’s hour-by-hour guide, polls will have closed in the continental U.S. and Hawaii by then, with voting still ongoing for another hour in parts of Alaska. Almost no matter what happens, it’ll be a harrowing night for many. The American electorate is bitterly divided. The two largest political parties have presented dramatically different visions for the future—and equally different narratives about the present moment. The race will hinge on a few dozen close contests, with a number of outcomes possible.
Which brings us to what we’ll be doing at exactly 11:59 p.m., EST on Tuesday: logging onto pringles.com and ordering some snacks to get us through this contentious time. Just before the clock strikes midnight, Pringles will launch a limited-edition line of Thanksgiving-dinner-themed crisps, while supplies last. The flavors: turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. In ordinary times, a cylinder of potato chips flavored like holiday favorites might turn our stomachs. But these aren’t ordinary times.
Feast of words. You may not have heard of M.F.K. Fisher, the renowned food writer known for her 1941 essay collection, Consider the Oyster, but there’s no way to escape the influence she had on food writing writ large. In an essay for Vice Munchies, Ruby Tandoh reflects on how Fisher’s voice changed the craft, most notably in a shift from high-falutin’ preoccupations with taste and etiquette to a “focus on the self.” Tandoh’s essay coincides with Consider the Oyster’s republication this month, and points out that class, race, and politics are still notably absent from most contemporary food writing. Fisher may have established the “culinary selfie,” but as Tandoh suggests, it still has room to grow.
Seafood, submerged. Okay, okay, we’re late to the party on this one, but have you seen photos of Norway’s forthcoming underwater restaurant? The building’s exterior is angled so that it looks like it’s sliding into the ocean, and guests dine in front of a massive window that looks out onto the ocean floor. Its concrete walls are a meter and a half thick, and the developers behind it have told journalists it’ll be most striking during choppy weather. Sounds like a good place to hunker down for Tuesday’s election returns—too bad it won’t open until early 2019.
