✧ push picks #061 ✧

Gina Rae La Cerva is a writer, painter, and researcher originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I've been teaching a food memoir class online for the past few years, and have found that writing about our food stories can be a really powerful and beautiful practice of self-inquiry. I wanted to expand accessibility and access at a lower price point, so I created a self-directed 21 Day Food Writing Journey. It launches in January 2025 but is open for pre-orders now. This course will deepen your connection with yourself, your memories, and your origins. It offers a new way to process your feelings, dream into your food future, and check in with yourself—all in less than 20 minutes a day, delivered to your inbox. Writing about food may seem silly in these tumultuous times, with existential threats around every corner. But food is actually an ideal entry point into the much larger subjects of who we are, where we come from, and how we wish to live. It inherently connects us to our emotions, our bodies, and our daily lives, as well as to our ancestors and environments.  You may even find that by the end of the course, you will have completely transformed your relationship with food and found new sources of nourishment. 

I’ve also recently started a substack called Feed Me Figs. Subscribers will receive “Food For Thought” writing prompts four times a year: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. These questions and meditations will help you deepen your relationship with food, and track changes in how you eat, think about yourself, and feed others throughout the seasons. Beginning in December, I will send out a weekly writing prompt to help you stay present and grounded during a time when you might be facing holiday meals with people who sit on the opposite side of the political spectrum or who trigger difficult feelings. The “Food for Thought” questions are like mini check-in exercises that encourage moments of self-reflection and release. You can sign up here. 

There's no shame in eating our feelings, but let’s also feel our feelings by writing about them!

My friend Dara Horenblas is making a beautiful film called American River about formerly incarcerated people finding freedom, connection, and themselves on a whitewater rafting trip. What I love about this project is the intersection between environmental conservation and rehabilitation, that we can always restore ourselves in nature, and the promise of reimagining our systems so that both people and the wild world can thrive. Dara is currently fundraiser in order to finish the film. You can donate through the Filmmakers Collaborative Network For Good so contributions are tax-deductible. More about the project and a link for donating are here. 

Tampopo is a 1985 Japanese comedy film about a band of rogue ramen makers billed as a “ramen Western”. It is a sensual, bizarre, uplifting, and delightfully delicious film.

I spent the last few years renovating a house, a process that was extremely stressful at times. There were some days when I had to go back to Home Depot 3 or 4 times because I needed something in the middle of a project, or the tool I was using would break, or I’d forget something because I really didn’t know what I was doing. I discovered one of my favorite ways to cope was to blast pop-radio while I went through the roundabouts on the way to the store. When this Glass Animals song would come on, I liked to sing along, and would sometimes replace the lyric "heat waves been faking me out”  with “heat waves been FREAKIN me out " to sing about my climate anxiety. I was also going through a breakup so the song really resonated, and I'd take extra spins around the roundabout on my way to buying more screws. Pop music roundabouts got me through a really challenging time in my life. 

How Communal Living Makes Cooking, Easier, Cheaper, and Better on Bon Appetit.

My next book is about eating alone, how it’s a relatively new phenomenon in human evolution, the effects of it on our bodies, and the ways our culture often encourages isolation. I’ve been reading a lot about the opposite as well—the ways in which people are trying to bring more community into their mealtimes.

I have become really interested in pollinator insects lately--North America has over 4000 species of native bees, which really makes my brain explode. New Mexico, where I live, has over 500 species of native bees, a mind-boggling amount of biodiversity. This past summer, I became really attuned to wildflowers because they are the primary food source for all these native bees. I’m still learning to identify the wildflowers of New Mexico, but I particularly love noticing the very tiny flowers when I go out for hikes in the mountains. I also love the bright showy datura that blooms at night with the most amazing scent. And all the cactus flowers, in fanciful reds, yellows, and fuchsias. I recently found a white bee asleep in a daisy and it was the cutest thing ever. When you start looking, it’s really incredible just how many flowers there are in the world.