Some email list house cleaning for the New Year...
Love to eat and cook? Want to be involved in a community that loves to eat and cook? Like to read my words? This is a great place to be. Liked my band, but hate me? No worries we have options...
“The way you make an omelet reveals your character” - Anthony Bourdain
Ok first thing is first…
If you are receiving this, it’s because of a few different possible reasons. You probably -
Bought a book that I, Aaron Lunsford wrote.
You purchased merch from my very cool band, As Cities Burn.
You bought a ticket to see my very cool band, As Cities Burn, play a show.
I, Aaron Lunsford, managed the email lists for As Cities Burn and for my writing and book buying people under the same Mailchimp account. So what does this have to do with you?
Basically, if you want me to fuck off and die, just scroll down and hit that unsubscribe button. However, if you are obsessed with food and cooking and all things of that realm, then you will want to hang around.
The launch of this substack, Whole Meal of Food, is the beginning of the solution to a few problems I’ve been trying to figure out how to solve. The first of which is what is the best way for me to go about writing about the subject I care about the most in the world - food. If you haven’t checked it out, my instagram is basically a diary of cooking and eating life (@aaronmichaellunsford) so if you need some time to see why you should trust me or listen to me as it pertains to what you do in your kitchen, go follow me and come back and see me here when you are ready.
Secondly, I wanted to find a productive way to cultivate a community that was interested in talking about food and cooking and striving to learn and get better in the kitchen. Or maybe you don’t even like to cook, but you like the idea of it or you just like to eat. I have lot’s of fast food hot takes I can offer that could help guide you on a daily basis in your consumption of mediocre, yet satisfying cuisine.
Lastly, I realized I spend a lot of time answering phone calls and text messages from friends begging that I help them troubleshoot whatever particular kitchen nightmare they had happened upon while trying to prepare dinner for their family, or seeking advice on where to eat something delicious in an unfamiliar city.
So, the goal here is to consolidate all of these - writing, community, and “teaching” -into this substack where it can evolve into whatever it needs to be.
How will this all work?
There are two version - free and paid. The free version will provide significantly less value of course, but will still be a good time, although with not near the frequency or level of interaction as the paid version. That said, I’m happy and grateful to you for reading the free version!
What do I get if I’m a paid subscriber?
Ok here is the breakdown:
$5 a month or $50 a year will include -
Monthly Online Cooking Class
Access to Q&A Threads
Bonus Recipe/Technique Posts
What is the “Kitchen Friends” subscriber?
This is the premium version ($100 per year) that includes the above plus access to a private text group for cooking and eating discussions and basically full access to getting questions or issues you may be having in the kitchen answered relatively fast. I will monitor the thread and respond often. If my friends that call me all the time with food questions don’t subscribe to this, I will be very upset.
This will also be a great way for people who are really into this whole cooking thing to connect and learn from each other. What could be better than a private text group where everyone is excited about BBQ basically all the time?
Also, yearly subscribers can get 10% off as a “founding member” deal from now until February 9th. Our first cooking class will be February 10th. That will count for January’s class and then we will do a second one at the end of February to count for that month. I’m delaying the first class just to give people the time to sign up and understand what this is all about.
So what happens next? How frequent will the content be posted?
Well, I want this to be a project that evolves as the community sees fit. Because it’s hard to know at the outset what it is that people will want or value, I don’t want to pigeon hole us into something that will eventually change. So, for now you can expect weekly recipe/technique posts, the monthly cooking class, Q&A threads and at some point possibly a podcast, although that will be available to free and paid subscribers.
So today is Saturday, tomorrow you will receive your first food related piece of content (free) and we will go from there. Once I start getting paid subscribers, paid content will start.
If none of this interest you, even for free, go ahead and hit that unsubscribe button and good luck to you. You will always be welcomed back with open arms. If you are bummed that this isn’t a newsletter on how to be a good drummer, I’m sorry. I’m sure there are some actually good drummers out there that can help you. I’m a much better cook than I am a drummer. If you are bummed that this isn’t a newsletter with deep thoughts on songwriting and lyrics and guitars from Cody, just remember that I’m the only member of ACB that was ever willing to bother writing anything for you to read or respond in a snarky manner to your facebook comments so just go with it. Let’s fucking cook.