Erin Dorney is the author of I Am Not Famous Anymore: Poems after Shia LaBeouf (available now from Mason Jar Press) and co-founder of FEAR NO LIT. Her writing has been featured in Amazon’s Day One, Passages North, Bone Bouquet, Juked, Hobart, Paper Darts,The Found Poetry Review, The Pinch, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Birdfeast, among other publications.
Here, she talks about existing solely on snacks, never trusting a salad bar, and abandoning vegetarianism for Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip.
On her all-time favorite meal:
For all of 2017, my partner Tyler and I stopped eating meat. I didn’t cheat at all—I even spit out a mouthful of donut when I realized it had bacon in it (which is more than I can say for him…). For the entire year I was thinking about one night… Christmas Eve. That was the night I knew I would break… for my mom’s Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip. It’s literally one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard of and/or eaten: cream cheese, shredded chicken, wing sauce. You bake it and scoop it up with tortilla chips. That was the first time I broke all year, and it was so worth it.
It also RUINED my digestive system that night. But I don’t regret it for a second. I’m back on the no-meat bandwagon now and I’m dreaming about chicken wing dip for Christmas 2018… truly I am salivating as I write this.
On what the light looks like during her favorite meal of the day:
Really sunny. When I’m working from home, stopping for a midday break is really important. By 11:30 or 12 I desperately need to step away from my computer and I’m stressed about what all needs to get done by the end of the day. Cooking helps with my anxiety, so I’ll assess what we have, look up some recipes, and go from there. My biggest meal is definitely in the middle of the day and it’s great—I’m cooking just for me so I can make everything exactly how I like it.
On snacking while writing:
Just water.
On her go-to late-night snacks:
Sometimes I exist entirely on snacks. Here is a list of my favorites:
- Babybel cheese
- Doritos – the purple kind
- Popcorn made on the stove with coconut oil
- Dark chocolate
- Hummus
On her food quirks:
I’m working for two different grocery stores right now, so I get to research and try weird new things all the time. I swear by kefir. I rarely eat breakfast. Some people find it strange that I don’t like pancakes. I also don’t trust a salad bar. Never trust a salad bar.
On her final meal request:
There is a sandwich I grew up eating called “beef on weck”—thinly shaved roast beef on a kimmelweck roll with horseradish. I’d like to be eating that, outside, watching the sun set over a lake somewhere. No mosquitos allowed.
