Hello, hello!

Some weeks I sit down on a Wednesday evening with a proper theme, all researched and tidy. This week I opened my camera roll instead and decided to share my week in pics!

So that is what you are getting. Five photos, in the order my phone found them.

My Week in 5 Photos

1. The bunny that came with the house

I am house sitting and the garden came with a resident. He turns up at the edge of the pavement and chews away on his favourite plants! Not a flicker of fear. I guess Chewy isn’t that scary to him.

2. Courgette, this month’s cookbook club ingredient

August’s ingredient for the #UseYourCookBookClub is courgette/zucchini. Please join in! Want to know more details? Message me!

3. It absolutely chucked it down

DC in August does not do gentle rain. It arrives warm and sideways and personally directed at you, and then twenty minutes later everything steams. I got caught out but plodded on! Nothing gets in the way of Fifi and a meal!

4. Mansaf at Ayat

Ayat is the Palestinian restaurant that built its name in NYC and it has finally opened in DC a few weeks ago, so of course we went with friends and of course we ordered the mansaf. Lamb collapsing off the bone, rice, that tangy jameed yoghurt (kashk/whey) poured over everything, toasted almonds and parsley on top. It is a dish built for a table of people, which is exactly how we enjoyed it.

📍 Ayat, 2112 Pennsylvania Ave NW

5. Peruvian mountain corn, and my hand for scale

Look at it. Choclo, the giant Andean corn, and each kernel is roughly the size of my thumbnail! I spotted this at a market and was in awe. I put my hand in the frame for reference!

So that was my week. Rabbit, marrow, monsoon, mansaf, mountain corn.

Now tell me yours. Open your camera roll, look at the last five photos and send me one! (PG only)

TGIT,

Fifi x

THAT’S IT! WE’RE DONE HERE!

Big hugs from Hungry Fifi HQ.

Hey readers. Big thanks to everyone who hearted the last newsletter. It genuinely does something to me when you do that 🫶

There’s a thing people say that used to make me twitch. Are you doing good?

My inner pedant wants to correct it every time. You’re doing well, thank you. Doing good is something else entirely.

Except lately I’ve stopped correcting it, because the sloppy version is the better question!

The list that started this

TIME published its 10 Most Influential Social Good Companies of 2026 back in April, and I only clocked it because one of my favourite platforms was on it.

Bookshop.org. For those who don’t know it, it’s the antidote to the Amazon-ification of reading. You buy online, an independent bookshop gets the money. I use it constantly and I’d encourage you to as well.

Some other fab companies on the list…

Who Gives A Crap. Toilet paper. Fifty percent of profits to sanitation projects. Proof that the least glamorous product in your house can quietly do more good than most things with a mission statement on the label.

GiveDirectly. The model is almost rude in its simplicity. Give cash to people in need. They know what they need.

Sanku. Fortifying flour across East Africa with the nutrients people are missing. Flour. The most ordinary thing in the world, doing an enormous amount of work.

Costco. Not the entry I expected, but I appreciated that they doubled down on employee and supplier diversity while many companies quietly backed away from those commitments.

To read the full list

Food people doing good

I’ve written about trying to be a ‘better foodie’ before, so here’s a few new ones.

Too Good To Go. Restaurants and shops sell you their surplus at the end of service. You eat well and something doesn’t go in the bin.

Olio. Neighbours giving food to neighbours. Half an app, half a small revolution on your street.

Wajba. newly launched in Bahrain, which means the Gulf has a homegrown version for a waste not app.

Is there an app that I should know that is similar to these? A website? Something else?

A shout out

Talking of doing good, my heart is bursting a little for Luminary Bakery, a social enterprise bakery I work with in London.

Luminary helps women who have faced multiple disadvantages rebuild their lives through training, employment and an incredible support structure.

Shop this cake!

If you’re familiar with British food shops, you’ll know those little black and gold Great Taste stickers carry some serious weight. Products are blind-tasted by panels of judges alongside thousands of others, so this is a very big deal.of judges alongside thousands of others, so this is a very big deal.

I love this because it gets to the point of this entire ramble.

Doing good doesn’t always have to be a grand gesture.

Sometimes it’s built into the plumbing of a business. Into who you employ. Where you buy your toilet paper. What happens to the food left at the end of the day. Which bookshop gets your money. Who gets given an opportunity.

Goodness as infrastructure. Goodness as habit. Goodness built into the ordinary.

And those small, repeated choices can ripple much further than we ever see.

There’s a Zulu phrase I love: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. It’s part of the idea of Ubuntu, our humanity is bound up in the humanity of others. Or, as it’s often put: I am because we are.

So perhaps the grammatically questionable version was right all along.

Are you doing good?

I want to know.

Sorry for the ramble, as ever.

Fifi x

If you made it here: well done, good taste. Hit the heart, share it forward and consider upgrading if you’d like access to the full archives and my curated eating maps. I promise they’re worth it x

Hello, hello!

No grand theme this week, or so I thought.

I typed up my list, read it back and realised almost everything on it is about finding things. Lost things, buried things, things somebody else gave up on. I won’t be unpacking what that says about me 🕵️

On we go...

5 Finds: Because the internet is keeping me up late at night

1. Mudlarking

Have you heard about mudlarking? Well now you have!

Found this one on one of my late night Reddit reads and I have not stopped thinking about it since. Mudlarks walk the Thames foreshore at low tide, pulling Roman coins, Tudor coins and centuries-old clay pipes out of the mud.

An entire history of London, dropped, lost and quietly waiting under everyone’s feet. PS there is mudlarking all over the world, but the reddit has quite a bit from the UK.

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2. Until Found

Obsessed is the word. @until.found0 documents one person’s daily search for “a real diamond” on instagram, photographing everything they find on the street along the way... some of which gets cast in silver and turned into wearable pieces.

This one hits all my interests; hunting, shiny things and treasures!

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3. TransferTravel

TransferTravel is a marketplace where people sell the trips they can’t take anymore... nonrefundable flights, hotel stays, whole holidays... to people happy to take them on at a discount.

One traveller’s heartbreak, another’s bargain. I heard one lucky person bagged a Silversea cruise for a huge discount. I will be watching closely.

4. Psychographic

New word I learnt this week. Demographics tell you someone’s age and postcode. Psychographics tell you what they value, what they fear and why they buy the fancy olive oil.

Turns out there’s been a word all along for the thing I’ve been doing on instinct for years.

5. @pure_earcare

Weirdly fascinating. Gross. Cannot look away.

Maybe don’t watch at the table. Click to take a peep.

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That’s my five... now tell me yours. What has the internet fed you lately? Hit reply, I read every single one.

TGIT,

Fifi x

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On Thursdays, I send out Thursday Fives, a quick, fun and eclectic collection of five things that have caught my fancy.

Thank you for being here, and happy eating!

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Thank you for being here.

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On Thursdays, I send out Thursday Fives, a quick, fun and eclectic collection of five things that have caught my fancy.

Read more

Read more

Last month I found myself in Genoa for a wedding.

Not just any wedding, but the wedding of my Genoese-Persian cousin, proof that us diaspora do really do turn up everywhere!

I’ll admit it: Genoa wasn’t a city that had occupied much space in my imagination. I had visited once before, but like many people, I knew it mostly as a jumping-off point for Portofino and Cinque Terre.

But after a few days wandering its alleyways, eating my weight in focaccia and discovering that Christopher Columbus once called this place home, I left wondering whether Genoa might be Italy’s most overlooked city.

If you’re done with ‘obvious’ Italy, then a few days here is non-negotiable…

Things You Should Eat Immediately

Some local specialities you must seek and try on arrival! Luckily you will find these at pretty much every trattoria or restaurant.

• Pesto alla Genovese

• Ligurian Focaccia, but dunk it into your cappuccino like locals here do (I tried it, and yes - it is a must)

• Farinata - somewhere between a chickpea pancake, a crêpe and a flatbread, but really its own thing

  

• Pansotti - pillowy stuffed pasta with walnut sauce

  

• Anchovies, and well, anything seafood based

• Trofie - a pasta shape from the region

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Three Walks Worth Taking

1. Get lost in the Caruggi - One of Europe’s largest medieval city centers packed with narrow labyrinth like alleyways, discreet ancient palaces and hidden piazzas.

2. Head to Boccadasse, an old fishing village with cute little spots to eat, drink and enjoy the views.

3. Explore Mercato Orientale, Genoa’s busy indoor marketplace, perfect for shopping for goodies and sitting to enjoy a bite or two.

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Before You Go

• Book a walking tour with friendly Antonio here

• Check out the newly launching MarMar Genova perfume, celebrating the scents of the city (and developed with the help of my cousin!)

• Read up on the city’s ‘window tax evasion’ which has meant lots of beautiful trompe l’oeil everywhere

And because I love my paid subscribers very much (and because nobody should have to suffer a mediocre meal in Italy), I’ve put together a Google Map of some top foodie spots in Genoa.

You can access the map here:

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