Rachel Sugar

New York

contributing writer @theatlantic. Also @nymag, @nytimes, @voxdotcom, @taste_cooking I like dogs that look worried. rtsugar at gmail.

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Articles

The Revenge of Seed Oils

1 week ago | theatlantic.com | Rachel Sugar

Robert F. Kennedy’s boogeyman will get a boost from tariffs. In the never-ending quest to figure out what we are supposed to eat, a new boogeyman has emerged: seed oils. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pointed to seed oils—a category that includes common varieties such as canola, soybean, and corn—as a major culprit behind America’s chronic-disease problem.
It's a Good Time to Be an Egg Hater

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Rachel Sugar

It's an awful time for omelets in America. Because of rising bird flu rates, egg prices are soaring: Cartons of a dozen that were once under $2 throughout the country now cost $5.90 on average. In New York City, bodegas are selling loosies, three eggs for $2.99 a pop. The restaurant chain Waffle House has implemented an extra surcharge of 50 cents per egg. Some supermarket shelves are empty. What was once a staple has become a source of panic. But not for everyone.
Stranger & Stranger Is Shaping the Modern Cocktail Bar’s Backbar

1 month ago | punchdrink.com | Rachel Sugar

Close Thank you for subscribing! Email If, sometime this century, you have been to a bar or wandered into a liquor store, it is likely you are familiar with Stranger & Stranger, even if you don’t know that about yourself. It is likely, even, that you have interacted: Why, in your quest for spiced rum, did you buy the Kraken and not the Captain Morgan? One possibility is that you have a cultivated palate and know exactly what you like. The other is much simpler: You wanted spiced rum, and the...
A Great Way to Get Americans to Eat Worse

1 month ago | theatlantic.com | Rachel Sugar

The wonder of the American supermarket is the way it exists outside of seasons. Stroll into any major grocery store on a dreary winter day, and you’ll find a bounty of fresh summer fruits and vegetables waiting for you: avocados, tomatoes, berries, bell peppers, cucumbers, squash, and green beans. The American supermarket does not, however, exist outside of economics. These fruits and vegetables are largely grown in Mexico, meaning they are roped up in President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Bares dão alternativas de "Valentine’s Day" para os solteiros nos Estados Unidos

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Rachel Sugar
The Restaurants and Bars Not Celebrating Valentine's Day

2 months ago | nytimes.com | Rachel Sugar

Fait La Force is not going to win Valentine's Day. For one thing, it's a brewery, which, at the risk of overgeneralization, does not signal romance. Its Nashville taproom is open and industrial, has no candles or prix-fixe menu, and the food - sandwiches from a local shop - is notoriously difficult to eat in an alluring manner. "We're not the upscale fancy date night, like go-out-for-a-nice-dinner spot," said Parker Loudermilk, the brewery's co-owner and founder.
Why Après-Ski Cocktail Pop-Ups Are Everywhere, Minus the Skis

Jan 23, 2025 | punchdrink.com | Rachel Sugar

You should never make assumptions, but it is a reasonable bet that nobody at BK Chalet, an après-ski-themed pop-up at the Saloon at Clover Club, in Brooklyn, has come directly from the slopes. The slopes are—optimistically—approximately two hours away. The Chalet is on a major urban thoroughfare, and also, while it is chilly here, in the age of climate change, there is generally no snow. But you can pretend.
I wanted to be confident. Then I started having doubts.

Jan 13, 2025 | vox.com | Rachel Sugar

Receiving a performance review, for a job that I was good at, I learned that the problem with me was not my output, but rather my confidence. Rachel needed to “trust her own instincts,” I read, thinking of every time I had consulted another person for their opinion, every time I had joked about what I didn’t know. In the next quarter, the hope was that I would “gain the confidence” to ask for less “direction.” Where this confidence should come from, it did not say.
The Nonalcoholic Drink Terms to Know, From Damp to Nootropic

Jan 10, 2025 | punchdrink.com | Rachel Sugar

For most drink categories, there is generally some degree of consensus: We can all agree what beer is. We share a general understanding of what we mean by “wine.” And, thanks to strict legal definitions surrounding the spirit, we know exactly what makes bourbon bourbon. But the class of nonalcoholic—or N/A, or nonalc, or spirit-free—beverages is a developing frontier.
Dinner Is Terrible

Jan 6, 2025 | theatlantic.com | Rachel Sugar

There’s no such thing as an easy weeknight meal. A quiet monologue runs through my head at all times. It is this: dinner dinner dinner dinner. The thing about dinner is that you have to deal with it every single night. Figuring out what to eat is a pleasure until it becomes a constant low-grade grind. It’s not just the cooking that wears me down, but the meal planning and the grocery shopping and the soon-to-be-rotting produce sitting in my fridge. It is the time it sucks up during the week.