May 23, 2023, 4:49 p.m.
New Pudding! The search for a family kimchi recipe, documenting damaging design, and more
Three new visual essays from The Pudding
The Pudding
The Pudding is a publication for visual essays. You may have stumbled upon some of our projects, such as Women’s Pockets are Inferior, How Bad is Your Spotify or Apple Music?, or A People Map of the US.
Hey everyone! We have a new set of projects that we wanted to share! Read ahead for a brief summary, or jump in now:
The search for my kimchi - “I loved my grandmother's fresh kimchi. But as I aged, tasting the defining flavor of my childhood became elusive.”
How companies make it difficult to subscribe - “I unsubscribed from 16 online services and documented the ways companies made it challenging.”
(With Vox) How Russia’s invasion transformed one Ukrainian city - A year of bombs in the borderland
As always, thanks a ton for continuing to subscribe and allowing us to share our work with your inbox. Special shoutout to Patreon subscribers and paid-Substack subscribers; your support means a lot!
The search for my kimchi
In this essay, Pudding-contributor Alvin Chang recounts his experience recreating his grandmother’s kimchi recipe. But this isn’t simply a written essay. Alvin creates an entire interactive, game-like experience to tell his story. Popular newsletter Web Curious describes it as, “this is an honestly charming exploration of food and memory and family and culture and identity, and a really lovely bit of webwork to boot.”
How companies make it difficult to subscribe
Subscription services make signing up easy, but canceling especially hard. Contributor Caroline Sinders documents the process of trying to unsubscribe from 16 digital subscriptions. This is how companies use damaging design patterns to force you to stay subscribed.
(with Vox) How Russia’s invasion transformed one Ukrainian city
Russian airstrikes targeted the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv for much of last year. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said more than 6,500 houses were damaged, and 500 multi-story residential buildings were so badly wrecked that they can’t be restored.
In collaboration with Vox, we traced a route through Kharkiv, parts of which were heavily bombarded. It’s an effort to document how the war has — and hasn’t — transformed the city and the people tied to it.
Quick aside!
Have a cool essay idea that you want to make? Check out our pitch guidelines.
Want to hire our team to produce data-led, visual stories? Check out our sister studio, Polygraph
#stuffwelove at The Pudding
Here’s also some special links that are regularly shared on our Friends of The Pudding slack-channel (get access via Patreon)!
Alexander Ovechkin joins the elite 800-goal club - this project combines video with charts and essays to create a truly unique reading experience.
Trending Apps in Russia and Ukraine Show Shifting Priorities During War - this one-of-a-kind chart depicts how the top apps in Ukraine and Russia shifted as the war progressed.
Why Are There So Many Asian American Women Named Connie? - this is a lovely story about the power of a name and representation.
Sinerider - this game is a good excuse to dust off your high school math skills.
How the women of the British monarchy use their clothing to send a message - Axios analyzed thousands of photos to show how the women of the British monarchy use their clothing to send a message.
You’re probably recycling wrong. This quiz will help you sort it out - I’ll admit that I actually ask myself these questions all the time. We also love the approach to storytelling here, framing the story as a quiz.
Thank you subscribers!
/matt