this issue celebrates food as a lens through which identity and relationships can be interpreted. What does a person’s approach to food tell us about their values? As MFK Fisher famously wrote, sharing a meal can be more intimate than sharing a bed. Inside, we speak to culinary legend Martha Stewart, celebrate some decidedly non-essential food reading, from the electric terrines and microwaved hot dogs of ’70s-era Betty Crocker to the Toffee and Pine Cones whipped up by Salvador Dalí, visit chef Camille Becerra in Manhattan and learn about an intricately stylized and traditional Japanese method of food wrapping. Elsewhere, we meet burgeoning actor Lola Kirke, examine whether narcissism is truly a growing social concern or yet another way to silence people and learn what mundane personal habits reveal about our characters.