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Welcome to Deep Dish, your weekly summary of food and entertainment updates. In the previous edition, we explored the role restaurants are playing in addressing the SNAP benefits issue.
Martha Stewart has consistently positioned herself at the forefront of culture for several decades, notably in the culinary world but impressively beyond it. Her ventures have been remarkably numerous and entirely unexpected—she frankly keeps us guessing about her next steps. In her latest reissue of her inaugural cookbook from 1982, Entertaining, she reminds her followers, and perhaps society as a whole, that her primary identity is that of a cook.
This week also saw a former paralegal found not guilty after throwing a sandwich at a federal agent in August; a deli in Cornwall, Sabzi, claims that author Yasmin Khan’s new cookbook bearing the same name constitutes trademark infringement, among other news.
This week marked the beginning of the second trial for Sean C. Dunn, a previous paralegal at the Department of Justice, who tossed a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection agent in August. The flying sandwich was part of his altercation with a set of officers patroling a neighborhood in Washington DC. The viral incident has turned him into somewhat of a folk hero. The Department of Justice sought a felony indictment, and after their attempts failing, he was charged with misdemeanor assault.
“I felt it through my ballistic vest,” agent Gregory Lairmore, the victim of the sandwich attack, testified, adding that he “picked up the scent of onions and mustard.” Is it illegal to throw sandwiches? “You won’t be asked if you feel sympathy for the agent who got hit with a sandwich,” defense attorney Julia Gatto stated in her opening remarks. “You will be asked if what occurred that evening constitutes a federal offense.”
Government attorney John Parron took a more straightforward approach in his opening argument. “You can’t simply throw things at individuals because you’re angry,” he commented. While he is technically right (toddlers globally may dispute that), ultimately, the jury found Dunn not guilty, and justice prevailed. —Sam Stone, staff writer
British entrepreneur Kate Atlee established Sabzi, her deli in Cornwall, in 2019 and registered the trademark in 2022. This year, author Yasmin Khan released her fourth cookbook, also titled Sabzi. Atlee is now urging Khan and her publisher Bloomsday to rename and redesign the cover of the cookbook, which, according to the shop owner, has created confusion among her clientele. The term Sabzi is widely used to refer to vegetable dishes in both Urdu and Farsi.
