What I ate in January
February 04, 2026
February 04, 2026
I’m trying something new this year and keeping track of every meal that I eat. Not in a calorie counting way, or diet-minded headspace. Just out of curiosity, seeing what trends I might have, how much I’m going out to eat, eating with friends, and really, creating an archive that I can go back to. The info lives on a spreadsheet that I update daily, or whenever I remember. There’s just something so exciting about a personal data set (it’s like my own personal spotify wrapped but so much better). I’ve had a food instagram account but it’s fallen to the wayside and it’s not a project I want to resurrect. I’m feeling excited about longer-form writing about food and looking forward to seeing where this goes.
January was cold, and in many ways full of awful and tragic occurrences. January also had so many moments of pure joy, friendship and queer love. Despite the cold, I ate far less soup than I would’ve imagined. I only ate it 4 times this month when I could have promised you in late December that I’d have a month of non stop souping and stewing and braising.
I found myself not spending a ton of time cooking. I’ll blame it on the end of a holiday season, readjusting from time off, and getting sick for a few days. Of the 31 dinners I ate in January, 11 of them were out, which feels a lot (35%!). My most expensive dinner was at MFK, my least expensive dinner out however, is hard to quantify. Do I judge by the dollar amount on the bill, the money that came out of my pocket, or the expenses per person? How do the dinners that my girlfriend covers factor into expenses? When I pick up the bill for multiple people, I’m still only counting the cost for my portion. What about the delicious dinner at Void for my friend’s wedding, served family style, that didn’t cost me a cent? I’m not worried about finding a specific answer to that question, instead feeling lucky to live a life where there is such a thing as a free lunch dinner.
