Letter from the Editors Vol. 1
What is a pocket food? To put it simply, it is food-inside-of-food. Here at TWINAP, we are operating under the assumption that every country, region, state, city, neighborhood, one-side-of-the-street-versus-the-other, and even home-to-home (you get the picture) has their own pocket food. We’re on the hunt for all of them.
Mentioning pocket foods often leads to someone sharing a specific memory, insisting that we go to _____ to try the best dumplings in the city or someone remembering their grandma sitting around the table stuffing _____. Talking about food is the best excuse to get to know someone and to understand what is important to them. We hope TWINAP will allow us to strike up conversations with people who are doing things we admire, and to get the lowdown on their favorite pocket.
“Our appreciation and understanding of the rest of the world is greater, more honest, and undoubtedly more delicious thanks to the people who share memories, recipes, and food from homelands far away.”
Thinking about the pocket foods available in America today allows the diversity of our country to exist and survive inside the wrappers of Korean Mandu, Pakistani samosas, or the masa of our beloved tamales. We want to know about the stories bundled into those pockets and to understand how our country has drawn strength from the people who make them.
America is known for innovation, which would not exist without the rich diversity we absorb from the people who come from all over the world to call this place home. Our appreciation and understanding of the rest of the world are greater, more honest, and undoubtedly more delicious thanks to the people who share memories, recipes, and food from homelands far away. TWINAP allows us to celebrate pockets and the people who make them as if they were our own.
Because they are.
And don’t think we haven't thought about Hot Pockets and Pop Tarts, which may very well represent the first homogenization of pockets across the globe. Please join us for a moment in our land of childhood nostalgia as we toast to one America’s finest mid-century food inventions with fresh homemade pop tarts. We’re here to talk about all that, too.
America is at her best when we are lifting each other up. We want to do that by providing a platform to share traditions and recipes for the world’s greatest pocket foods, and by showcasing the creations that come from better understanding the cooking techniques and ingredients from places far-and-wide.
Pocket foods are surely tasty, but our world is more interesting and connected when we understand the traditions, cultures, and stories tucked inside them. So get your dough and start rolling.
Welcome aboard the Pocketship!
Mackenzie + Lauren
