Online comfort food

Now that we’ve lived in a global pandemic for over a year, it’s safe to say the well of content available online is starting to dry up, and with much of the world still in lockdown, we can’t ignore the fact that our relationship with entertainment has changed.

Enter here the wonderful world of online comfort food: people (celebrities and normies alike) creating content that is creative, vulnerable, or just plain enjoyable. If that sounds like your cup of tea, I've got a few recent favourites to recommend. 

Cooking with Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh, the British actress best known for her role in Ari Aster’s Midsommar and as Amy in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, is a new favourite in Hollywood, and her Instagram (@florencepugh) is one of my favourite places to be. Particularly popular is her ‘cooking with Flo’ series, which involves Pugh recording herself—usually in her partner Zach Braff’s lavish LA kitchen—preparing a variety of dishes for her Instagram audience, from a Sunday roast, to tzatziki, to the perfect cup of tea. If it sounds simple, that’s because it is – but Pugh, with her velvety voice, staunch Englishness, and incredible charm, is undeniably engaging.

Whitney Port’s reaction to The Hills

Whitney Port, the former MTV reality star turned designer and content creator, is perhaps best known for her role on The Hills, the culture-shifting reality show which aired from 2006-2010, in which she ‘played’ the work BFF and confidante of the show’s star, Lauren Conrad. Now, Port and her husband Timmy Rosenman are rewatching and reacting to episodes of the show for their YouTube audience. From their rendition of the iconic theme song at the start of each episode to critiquing cringey outfits and spawning inside jokes, Port and Rosenman make it feel like you're watching with friends who also remember just how ubiquitous empire waist dresses and thick headbands were. They’re endearing, funny, and genuine, and the videos have been a great source of entertainment for me in the past months.

NYT cooking

I recently found myself with an overabundance of fresh peaches to be used up, and rather than let them go to waste, I decided to turn them into cake. While searching for a recipe, I stumbled upon a recipe on the New York Times (NYT) Cooking website, where I was transported to a world of delicious food with a wholesome, distinctively New York feel, enabling my vision of an alternative life where I’m drinking red wine and preparing braised white beans for my cool, arty friends in my Brownstone apartment. 

Unfortunately, the site is only free to access for 28 days when you subscribe to the email service. However, this ended up being a great decision, because I now receive ‘what to cook this week’ emails every Sunday afternoon, as well as other recipe ideas throughout the week. It’s a nice place to be (even if I’m yet to actually cook anything).