The Runcible Spoon is proud to introduce our 2015 interns Lainey and Judy! In honor of upcoming INTERNET issue, we asked them to interview each other on Skype. They bonded over finals week stress and love of food.

(Lainey skyping from her dorm room in George Washington University)

Lainey is now a senior (hooray to conquering finals and junior year!) studying journalism at George Washington University. Recently she found an article that listed some of the creative zines based in DC, the Runcible Spoon was among them. "I wasn't expected to find something so fun and whimsical... in DC! Where everything's organized and sterile." Lainey loves the creativity in the Runcible Spoon and was thrilled to see that it was searching for interns. She enjoys all kinds of food but does not cook that much, preferring to take her meals at the Whole Foods next door, because we both agreed, it's quite a sad thing to cook for yourself.

Lainey loves everything pop-culture related, her recent favorite "internet thing" was the Met Gala:

-Judy

(Judy skyping near Washington Square Park at New York University)

Judy is a rising junior at NYU majoring in Media, Culture & Communications with a minor in Food Studies. She said, “I think it’s really important to watch what or how we eat, and how society controls that. " But on the less serious side, she loves playing with food, making meat collages out of supermarket discount flyers, and cooking. She enjoys eating foods with lots of flavor and interesting textures—anything except bland food. Judy found out about the Runcible Spoon through her friend and past intern Chuck, was drawn to the playfulness and is looking forward to channeling that energy into a rewarding experience.

Her current favorite meme is nonsensical horoscopes. Here's an example:

-Lainey

You could find Lainey @LaineyRSidell and Judy @zyjudes on Twitter. Welcome to the Runcible Spoon!

In anticipation of our INTERNET issue, we constructed and carried a giant wooden iPhone from DC to Brooklyn for the Foodieodical festival. We asked any confused stranger walking by our booth to draw what they had for breakfast that morning, or their wildest breakfast food porn fantasies, and paste it on our IRL #Runcygram. Mayhem of Prismacolor markers broke loose.

This gave us a great chance to meet some Runcy fans, and have conversations about the Internet issue, bland foods, appropriate breakfast greens, cherry blossoms, and 'if it's okay to have chocolate for breakfast.' (yes, we approve.)

What was amazing to see was, even though half of the participants doubted their drawing abilities, they still took to their love of breakfast to the blank page, and flaunted their food fantasies.

Catch you later, Brooklyn!

New Yorkers and Brooklynites!
We are stoked to be at Foodieodicals 2015 at the Food Book Fair in Brooklyn this Saturday! Come out to chat with the Runcible Spoon team about the new INTERNET issue, drink a beer, and craft a real life #RUNCYGRAM with your breakfast. You can also check out 20+ other indie food magazines of the likes of Lucky Peach, Cherry Bombe, and Gather Journal.

The festival is 12-4pm at the Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249) main events space. The $5 ticket includes a tasty beer from Brooklyn Brewery and snacks from Quinciple, get it here or at the door. See you there!

Here are some pictures from the fest last year. BE THERE.

(Photo credits: Chuck Kuan)

Join one-time Broadcast Junkie and writer Alica Forneret (aka BJ Cajun Sparkle) for a live eating broadcast that will explore the South Korean online trend MUKBANG. She will be scarfing down everything from fried chicken to pizza, ramen to velveeta, and chatting with viewers about what it means to share meals via the web.

WATCH HERE (Will not be live until the event starts):

YOU are invited to tune in! Come watch and eat with BJ Cajun Sparkle - your virtual dinner host for the night - and you can encourage her to chew louder, chat about food, and to see what it's like to enjoy the company of good people over good food over... THE INTERNET!

Tune in for breakfast lunch or dinner (wherever you are) on Thursday April 16 from 5 - 9 pm PT / 8 pm - 12 am ET

Broadcast >> https://youtu.be/MrIAGALYQLg

For updates on the broadcast, info about how you can order food for her to eat, and behind the scenes info from interviews with full-time Broadcast Junkies in South Korea check back here and stay in touch through:
T: @RuncibleSpoonDC
T: @louisianalica

http://therunciblespoon.info/about
http://www.alicaforneret.com/

Party people, dogs, and hot dogs - we are looking for interns! If you are interested in hanging with us and getting some resume-building experience, email [email protected]. Give her your name and location by March 1 and she'll get back to you with details. We look forward to making all your food fantasies come true*!

*We cannot guarentee that your food fantasy will come true

We had a great time at DC Zinefest selling copies of Runcible and the ever-so-popular iPad portraits drawn by Malaka! Here are my reactions to Zinefest as the intern/ all around zine/zinefest newbie: I'm new to the world of zines.

My first encounter with one was seeing Malaka Gharib's friendly face holding a copy of hers on the cover of the Washington Post.

A year later, and I'm currently the intern for that zine. I like to think I know as much as I can about The Runcible Spoon, without actually being the creator herself. I now can give a spiel to anyone about its irreverent and playful take on food, and can certainly put my finger on anything with a "Runcible" flair that I find on social media.

But it wasn't until I arrived at DC Zinefest this past Saturday that I realized how little I knew about the magical world of zines; I had only just read and loved one.

Our tiny Runcible Spoon table, home of not-so-bland art and recipes and rice pudding, was just one table in the packed basement of St. Stephen's church.

@runciblespoonDC were especially enthusiastic about their zine on "food and fantasy" at @DCzinefest. #DCZF #zines pic.twitter.com/hvG7f00U3J

— Gina Murrell (@GinaMurrell1) August 10, 2014

At Zinefest, there was a zine for all quirks and causes including childhood arthritis, VHS tapes, historic preservation, and even a zine for the zaniness that is Nicholas Cage.

And right next to our table, created by our very own editor Alison Baitz, was "On Flora," the most beautiful collection of floral photography I've ever seen.

Every time I picked up a new zine I couldn't help but think, "Well of course this exists.This needs to exist."

And that thought in and of itself is what I've been able to understand about zines thus far: zines are ideas of people, places, and things put on paper so you can hold them in your hand and realize they matter.

My feet, my zines

I may be a little late to the zine craze (roughly a decade), and my friends may have no idea what I'm talking about most of the time, AND maybe I still can't confidently define a zine when asked for a definition.

But I think that's why I'm so enamored, and why I think this love story will last; zines are somewhat undefinable, and I find something so alluring and right about that.

- Christina D'Antoni 

The 2014 DC Zine Fest is Saturday, August 9th and you can bet your bottom dollar that Runcible Spoon will be there tabling. What is better than an event IN our hometown celebrating what we do all day (or really late at night)?? THIS IS OUR ELEMENT, you guys! 

Zine Fest will take place at St. Stephens Church at 1525 Newton St. NW from 11 AM to 5 PM and is completely free and open to everybody. Come by and pick up a copy of the BLAND issue!

Find out more here.

-Christina D'Antoni

This Saturday, June 28th, The Runcible Spoon will be participating in Banished? production’s $2 Holla baking competition.

We will be making authentic EGYPTIAN STYLE RICE PUDDING topped with cardamom, cinnamon, toasted coconut, pistachios and golden raisins (yum) AND will throw in a bonus mini zine on rice puddings around the world for an extra $1! 

From the practice run

Banished? is an "avant-pop" performance company that creates unique art experiences to preserve the art of narration. They do cool things like hold tactile dinners and collect art supplies for flood victims in Serbia, and we think they're pretty awesome.

RSVP on Facebook here. 

The team with the most money raised for Banished? wins! If we win, you get rice pudding and a baby zine, and we get our name on a trophy. And we really like trophies. Come out and support!

-Christina D'Antoni 

The Runcible Spoon is proud to introduce our third intern ever, Christina D'Antoni! Christina came to us from the ether also known as the Internet, and she hopes to better understand the world of zines and print publications during her summer with us. Welcome, Christina - and here's a little bit about her! No but seriously you could probably know her better here.

1. Who are you? 
The Runcible Spoon summer intern, a foodie, and a person experiencing the very awkward and agonizing month before they turn 21. 

2. If you were a one-word sound what sound would you be? 
Meep! I say it when there's really no words for things.

3. If your favorite food could come out of a pinata what would it be? 
Chicken Tikka Masala – that would be so messy and deliciously wrong. 

4. What's the most disgusting thing you ever ate? 
Tunafish and cauliflower mixed with mayo. Not of my own volition.

5. What is the first word you think of when I say the words "Hot Cheetos"? 
Indigestion

6. Share a good YouTube video with us.
Have you seen the Turn Down for What music video? Kidding, kind of.  How about Tony Award Winner Audra McDonald singing Yahoo answers on Jimmy Fallon 

7. If you were on a desert island, what kitchen utensil would you take? 
A spoon, hands down. I probably should say a knife or something for survival, but I'm not great at surviving. I am good at eating, though.

-Malaka

Last weekend, we were in Brooklyn to debut our new BLAND ISSUE at the Food Book Fair 2014's Foodieodicals event at the Wythe Hotel and the Brooklyn Zine Fest at the Brooklyn Historical Society.

We got to see a lot of our zine friends - Walter Greene from Lucky Peach, Lars from Illustration and Coffee, the lovely duo behind MOOD Magazine, Maud Pryor from Marmalade Umlaut, and so many more.

Big thanks to our design intern Chuck Kuan for taking these awesome photos - look through to get a taste of the events - and be jealous that fun things like this happen in NYC all the time!