I first met Abby Houston a few years ago when she signed up for a food memoir class I was teaching. She told me about a project she was working on, a 72-card, food-themed conversation deck designed to spark connection and storytelling among loved ones and new faces. Food Stories officially launches September 1, but Abby has kindly agreed to give us a sneak preview!
Abby is a Brooklyn-based artist with a deep love for food, travel, community building, and storytelling. Abby wrote, illustrated, and self-published the Food Stories deck, bringing together her love for creativity and human connection in a form meant to be shared around the table—just like a great meal.
Abby picked ten of her favorite Food Stories questions to answer below. And make sure to read to the end for a chance to win your own set of Food Stories cards, plus a special discount code just for readers of Tastes Good.
What food reminds you of young love?
Instant coffee and ramen. It immediately brings me back to my early twenties, sitting in a duct-taped tent overlooking the Carpathian mountains, very broke and in love, accompanying my then-boyfriend on a downhill longboard tour from Spain to Romania.
When you die, what do you want people to eat/drink at your funeral??
A big funfetti cake. Funfetti reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously.
Shag, marry, kill: bread, rice, pasta?
Shag pasta, marry rice, kill bread
Can you recall a particular food memory that strengthened your faith in humanity?
In 2023, I met a woman named Bille through an ‘apartment for rent’ Craigslist ad in Mexico City. She’s this eccentric Norwegian in her late sixties who’s been living up in the mountains forever. What was originally meant to be a quick phone call to discuss logistics turned into an hour-long chat about life and family.
Bille invited me to come visit her, and from the moment I arrived, we settled at her kitchen table and spent hours talking while sharing curry, nopales, tortillas, baby mangoes, and fresh-squeezed juice. I stayed for a few days, and every day we would congregate in the kitchen, with her friends often stopping by for a bite.
Bille’s husband had passed away a few years prior, and I had been feeling deeply lonely and adrift for months. I’m so grateful for that time in the kitchen with Bille, and that we randomly found friendship via Craigslist. What a weird and magical world we live in!
Tomorrow you’re being sent to a deserted island for the rest of your life. What is your last meal?
Drink: Milk oolong tea, then an extra dirty gin martini
Main: My mom’s roast chicken and my dad’s succotash, which consists of corn, okra, tomatoes, and a lot of butter.
Random nibble: A tamale with huitlacoche and goat cheese from Tamales Doña Emi in Mexico City
Dessert: 1 scoop green tea ice cream, 1 scoop coconut ice cream from Cafe Himalaya in NYC, followed by an espresso, followed by Eda Rhyne Appalachian Fernet
Have you ever eaten something that you would not normally eat, but it tasted delicious because of the context?
Livermush! It’s really not a sexy name. But the day after Christmas, my family always makes fried egg and livermush sandwiches with the leftover yeast rolls from Christmas dinner. Growing up, I thought livermush was disgusting until I finally tried it a few years ago. Now I get it. Crispy on the outside with a little sage, a soft squishy roll, runny yolk, and a side of grits…it’s the perfect bite. I’d never buy livermush on my own (and I don’t think you can even find it outside North Carolina), but every Christmas, I can’t wait for that sandwich.
If you were to have one food smell permanently stuck in your nose, but you got to choose what it was, what would it be?
Vanilla bean extract. It will forever remind me of baking cookies with my mom growing up. The sound of her blue Kitchen Aid mixer working at full speed, her singing Bonnie Raitt, and me eating all of the cookie dough.
If you could relive a meal with anyone, who and what would it be?
I would relive a meal at my grandparents' home in North Carolina. My grandmother on my Dad’s side passed away when I was just four. She was an incredible cook, and everyone says I remind them of her, so I’ve always felt a connection. There are certain foods everyone raves about her making, like Nut Fingers (similar to Mexican wedding cookies), chicken tetrazzini, squash casserole, and ambrosia. I would give anything to sit around the table with everyone and eat my grandmother’s food.
What’s your go-to lazy meal?
Quick pasta with whatever I have on hand: tinned sardines or anchovies, lemon, garlic, a handful of frozen spinach, and Parmesan.
Toast with cultured butter, a scrambled egg, and kimchi.
Annie’s white cheddar mac n cheese with peas and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt mixed in (I know it might sound weird, but trust me!)
Describe something you consumed today without using food words?
I unwrapped something warm and soft, the size of a small baby. Filled with black oval capsules, tiny white beads, velvet green on the tongue, and stretchy, long strings of cultured material from the animal of a cow. Slightly overconfident in its structural integrity.
(A black bean, rice, avocado, and cheese burrito)
If you would like your own copy of Abby’s Food Stories cards, you can buy them here. And as a special gift to reader’s of Tastes Good, you can use the code LOAFYOU10 for 10% off. Plus we are running a sweet giveaway! Buy a deck using the discount code this week, and you are automatically entered for a chance to receive a second set for free!
Find more of Abby on her Instagram.
Who should I interview next? Send me an email at ginarae@substack.com
Lots of love,
Gina Rae
Thank you for reading Feed Me Figs!
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