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welcome to The Onion Papers: storytelling in the kitchen by Margaux Vialleron
TOPs are agglomerations and digressions from things to cook, eat, read and observe—a celebration of forms and imagination, flexing language—a recipe book and almanac in drafting, or a writer who cooks’ notebook. This newsletter is an invitation to approach cooking as a thought process and to map meals as landscapes. Nostalgia is The Onion Papers’ mother tongue and TOPs are for those who like to find connections between the various aspects of life, from literature to cooking, philosophy and seasonal patterns, against expectations and the ingrained boundaries between domestic and social lives. TOPs have an official sourdough starter, who is called Billy (message me if you’d like a piece of them to start yours), and the diet is mostly vegetarian (sometimes pescatarian).
Every month, I send a couple of annotated recipes (every other Monday to paid subscribers) and long-form essays (every other Thursday). I also write a monthly round-up—Peels—which features foraging, bread, listening, reading and recipe updates. You can expect three to four emails per month from me.
You can check out TOP Pantry, an index of all the Onion Papers recipes, recommendation lists. It’s also the opportunity to think and cook together.
[Drop me a line if you’d like to upgrade your subscription and cook with someone but now isn’t the time to be paying for one. I comp subscriptions; no questions asked.]
Where to start?
If you’re interested in nature writing:
If you’re interested in food writing:
If you’re interested in language and linguistic:
If you’re interested in craft and the arts:
If you’re interested in travel logs:
Margaux, who?
Margaux Vialleron, a French-born, Glasgow-based interdisciplinary writer and cook. I’m the author of two novels: Breaststrokes (May 2024) and The Yellow Kitchen (July 2022). My stories have been shortlisted for the 2022 Harper’s Bazaar and 2024 Mslexia short story competitions.
I’m interested in the landscapes of remembrance and the links between inner-spaces and wild outer-spaces, as well as food and seasonality as communal experiences. I challenge preconceptions about language and forms to ask how these topics interplay with language and bodies.
You can find me on Instagram at @margauxvlln. You can also browse all the books I mention in the newsletter via my Bookshop.org page.
Some nice things people have said about my novels:
'Vialleron’s writing is laced with a love for these women who can barely love themselves. A novel for anyone interested in the way the body keeps score or in the complex intimacies between women’ — Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
‘Timely, structurally inventive, with delicious prose' — Pip Finkemeyer
‘Reading Breaststrokes felt a little like watching ribbons unfurl – or intertwine. Margaux Vialleron writes tenderly and evocatively about female friendship, fear and desire’ — Chloë Ashby
‘Stylishly written, this witty portrayal of the appetites and private passions of a young group of friends is a moreish and utterly satisfying feast.’ — Caroline Eden
‘A heady mix of politics, friendship, sex and food, poignant, provocative and utterly distinctive’ — Paula Hawkins
‘An exquisite novel — beautifully rendered, powerfully told, and so deeply felt. I urge you to read this novel — you will never forget it’ — Lucia Osborne-Crowley
