Whoa, you weren't kidding. I was prepared for a low-effort Medium post given the formula "what a slight variation on trend X taught me about topic Y". Instead,

Whoa, you weren't kidding. I was prepared for a low-effort Medium post given the formula "what a slight variation on trend X taught me about topic Y". Instead, this is by turns an essay about: Chinese life under effective lockdown, the nature of creativity, the history of food, and actual recipes. And it does all of those things well!