Bodybuilders have the palates of toddlers. I learnt this when visiting a bodybuilder cafe in Brighton. The menu was perfect. For little ones. All plain chicken. Baked beans. Baked potatoes. Milkshakes. Maybe the odd bit of peanut butter if you were feeling adventurous. And wanted to stay in keto. They did half portions, so we stayed. I had a tuna sandwich. He had a potato.

Every other cafe in Brighton served its salads sprinkled with sumac. Steeped in gochujang. Drowning in bourbon. I realised that all those big buff men really want is for everything to taste like vanilla whey. Which is what breast milk tastes like.

terracotta mud

fermented but doesn’t rise

sweetness underneath