The hunt

In one sense, you are never not sourcing. Sourcing is a practice, something that goes hand-in-hand with seeing, such that you refine “what’s good” and never turn your brain off. You are always thinking of the next meal. The next meal is always here.

You go to the bodega to get 81¢ tortillas and find dragon fruit at the checkout. Dragon fruit does not exist where you live. It’s a little wilted, but it’s there, so why not.

Sourcing requires that you have many options for your food. One laughs at the mere thought of going to only one grocery store. Most towns, after all, have at least an H Mart, and you need that for all of the stuff that the main place doesn’t have. In addition, most towns have a farmers market, or farms, where you can get everything that is in season, everything that is a little gnarly, that acts without apology. Patel Bros is clutch, too.

Sourcing also requires the internet. Tea, spices, anything that requires a pond hop to get reliably, and (mortifyingly, increasingly) coffee are internet things. Good tools are for sure an internet thing.