MASCULAR 

It’s the one thing in life that we can’t go without. It can be wonderful in either its simplest form or its most complex presentation. It thrills and delights. It is both good for us and can be bad for us. Steeped in culture, history and geography, its variety astounds. And yet, we recognise it immediately for what it is. FOOD. Delicious, satisfying, nutritious and often beautiful. Issue No. 43 of MASCULAR Magazine is dedicated to FOOD.

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Apart from the natural functioning of our bodies, FOOD plays a variety of roles in our lives. FOOD evokes memories from out past – some good, some less so. As the central character in the eating ritual, FOOD, and certain dishes in particular, remind us of sitting at a table in our youth looking at unappetising food while working up the will to challenge a parent or a quick snack after school. The Thanksgiving meal is an event full of anticipation, and in that case, a specific FOOD (or foods) are key. Your grandmother’s jam-roll cake, new season lamb, corn on the cob grilled by a street vendor – the first time you ate an oyster… everyone has a favourite food, and most have foods they hate. 

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But such a marvellous things as FOOD also occupies our darker thoughts and preoccupations. FOOD entices us towards our own destruction. The bodybuilder’s cheat meal. Bacon. We are all aware of foods that are “not good for us”. Can FOOD be intrinsically “bad”? And if we eat such “bad food” does that make us bad people? You are what you eat, they say. Can you really be an asparagus? FOOD is love. And indeed it is. People show love through FOOD. It’s a wonderful way to show love and care, but it’s also a way to communicate disappointment, judgement and denial. 

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And what of the kind of FOOD that can’t be grown in a field or slow roasted with rosemary, garlic and white wine? What about the other parts of you that need feeding? Your imagination, your soul, your curiosity – they all need nourishment. Lasagne followed by lemon posset with a nice Beaujolais are useless here. Tasty, perhaps, but not up to the task. These needs require a different kind of FOOD. 

Nourishment and satisfaction make us whole. Flavour, colour and texture are the artist’s tools. So, we are asking artist to consider FOOD for Issue 43 of MASCULAR Magazine. Be it what you eat, how you make it, how you ingest it or how you live with it, we want to know about it. Prose or pork chop, chefifng or harvesting, how does FOOD play a role in your creative life? 

 

If you are interested in contributing to Issue No. 40, please download and complete the Submissions Form below, or for more information, feel free to contact MASCULAR Magazine at: submissions@mascularmagazine.com.

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Deadline for submissions is July 14, 2025