The 1920's Bakery

The owner tells him to get a job as a cook, and figure out the recipe for his rival’s famous clam chowder.

The first day, the son comes home with a basic list of ingredients that the rival uses. They try making it, but it doesn’t turn out the same. The owner sends him back.

The second day, the son comes home having watched the rival chef prepare the chowder. They try again to make it, and it’s close, but the consistency is off, it’s too watery. They try to figure out what they’re doing wrong, and the son realizes that he was distracted for a minute while the chef did something.

“He must have added a secret ingredient, one not on the list, while you looked away!” concludes the owner. He sends his son back for a third day, this time telling him not to take his eyes off the chef for a second.

The son comes back the next day excited.

“You’ll never believe what I saw!” he says. “He did have a secret ingredient, it’s a piece of paper!”

“A piece of paper?”

“Yeah, he keeps a stack of printed paper in the kitchen. It’s a bunch of Wikipedia articles he’s printed out, of various movies. When he makes the chowder, he tears out the synopsis of a movie from one of the articles and puts it in. It’s the strangest thing, but that’s the secret ingredient.”

Do I miss some foods I can't eat anymore without getting sick? Sure, but that's not what really bothers me. What bothers me is being excluded from a huge portion of human social life of which food is a crucial component. What bothers me is the stress and social stigma of trying to figure out what I can safely eat. What bothers me is the amount of extra work and cost that is required of me to identify, obtain, and prepare safe foods. What bothers me is people treating my needs like a nuisance, as though I chose to be like this - as though their brief inconvenience to check an ingredients list is unreasonable, when I deal with this every day of my life forever.

I don't miss the food that much. I miss not having to worry about what I eat. I miss freedom. I miss when trying new foods and new restaurants was fun instead of a minefield. I miss not having to plan my entire life around the need for safe foods.

I drew @vicaly 's mermaid Leshycat! Can't resist the buff sea snake. While I saw various designs of Big Shape Leshy™, Vicaly's one is the one that made me go "WAIT I can give him pecs and a jawline???" so a crucial elements of my current design. Say thanks Vicaly.

I said before that I really like the heat trope... But I always avoid the icky lack of consent and play it for comedy hehe (and softness) I was gonna draw smut but my love for comedy striked again...

These're really rough sketches. I'm not entirely happy with them