Southern Style Cooking: How an International Food Subscription Box Is Getting Me Through the Pandemic

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

How an International Food Subscription Box Is Getting Me Through the Pandemic

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How an International Food Subscription Box Is Getting Me Through the Pandemic

In most ways, 2020 has felt like one never-ending stream of sameness. Stay home. Stay safe. Look at the same four walls every day. International vacations feel like distant, blurry daydreams.

But one difference stands out today: We have approved vaccines, a true light at the end of the tunnel in a very dark period. Traveling abroad is a real possibility next year, and that feels like something worth commemorating.

My recommendation? Sign up for a monthly subscription box.

It sounds weird, but let me explain: As an early Christmas gift, my husband signed me up for Universal Yums. Each month, I'll receive a box full of snacks and candy from a different country—my first set, an Italy box, contained rich truffle potato chips; chocolate hazelnut candies; and crunchy Amaretti cookies, perfect for dunking in a mug of hot chocolate on cold nights.

I'm on the six-month plan, which brings us to June. By July, I'm optimistic we will be vaccinated, that borders will be opening, and that we will be putting some of this horrible year behind us. Is that a pipe dream? Perhaps. But treating each month as a countdown to normalcy will break up the sameness, and remind me that we are in the home stretch.

You could do this with any type of subscription box or monthly tradition, as a sort of balm for whatever you miss most about traveling. Join a monthly wine club; try a virtual cooking class, and focus on a new cuisine each week; set up time with friends to explore the many virtual museum tours around the world. Marking the slow but steady end of this pandemic —and looking forward to better days—is perhaps one of the best things we can do for ourselves right now.

Happy holidays! And good riddance, 2020.

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