Quick comment before it slips my mind - comments in the post, please! I find the chat function tedious, hard to navigate, and I just don’t think to look there.
Count me as someone who's here for this: "to see someone with compulsive over-shopping tendencies try to find ways to do better without defaulting to restriction. So love it or hate it, the shopping content isn’t going anywhere next year—but neither are the hard conversations about how and why we buy."
Also, because I'm a multifaceted being, I may also have a compulsive over-shopping part of me, but I also have a digital minimalist side of me. Which means I have very few apps on my phone, so no Substack app for me. I read all my newsletters straight from my inbox. And so on the Comments vs Notes/Chat question, I'm all about the Comments.
I'll also just share how I much I love the cohesive diversity of content -- fat liberation, personal/cultural marriage and divorce commentary, fashion/clothes/shopping, dismantling perfectionism and on and on. It's one of my absolute favorite online spaces and I'm grateful for what you've created and cultivated here.
Cohesive diversity of content is exactly what I'm going for! I love that you see the throughlines (I do sometimes wonder if they are only in my own head).
Count my head also, at least! That's two of us! 😭😂
OH. And this one is so obvious to me I totally overlooked mentioning it, but thanks to other comments I'm back here to say that every Indulgence Gospel (read by beautifully edited transcript) is a Butter of mine.
I'm late to this bc holidays, but both of Hannah's comments here could have been written by me, fwiw. full agree with all of it (though I do have a lot of apps, including substack, on my phone, I almost never click on most of them, including substack lol)
I love Burnt Toast and have been a paid subscriber for years. I still LOVE any essay about diet culture, feeding our kids non-judgmentally, fat acceptance etc. I also love the divorce content. I am also one of the people who has given you a hard time about the consumerism/links. I am curious if the people who have unsubscribed cancel out the income from the affiliate links? I'm assuming not, but curious about that. I am still clinging to my paid subscription because I really do value the things I value here, but it gets a bit harder as climate catastrophe gets worse etc. I am not trying to take away ANYONE's little treats and I don't think anyone (even my parasocial icons) needs to be perfect, but I just find it harder and harder to give my money to so many fast fashion links. I do think it's nice that you admit you're not perfect etc and I don't think that you need to be perfect for me to follow you, but it does seem that fast fashion is really encouraged here.
The dilemma we have is balancing the climate change concerns with size inclusivity and budget sensitivity. I simply can't only show high-end sustainable brands because there are truly only a handful that offer a truly inclusive range of sizes (past 3X, or even just a real 3X). That said, the episode where we evaluated which Butters have stood the test of time did underscore for me how rarely fast fashion is it. I'm making an effort to hold back from full-throated fast fashion endorsements since then, even if yes, my outfits often include those brands as a component.
Loved my first year as a paid subscriber. My favorites were all not among the most popular posts. I thought your chat with Loretta from To the Bed was very interesting, and I am glad that you introduced me to that substack because it’s been surprisingly entertaining. I also loved your post “What I Hate About Cooking” because I think my sister and I both talk a lot about not enjoying cooking on a day to day basis (which is why our husbands have taken on cooking the majority of the time). “The Impossible Youth of Kamala Harris” was a great read and your reflections a year after your divorce was well-written and reflective.
I enjoy all your writing, but I do find I am not quite as interested in actually shopping myself so if it’s a post that’s basically more about shopping I will probably not be as invested in it. As my sister can attest, I don’t buy much for myself at all- she’s given me many of my favorite dresses that are from when she was about my size in like 2016, and most of my pants for work are from when my mom gave me pants after my grandma died. My favorite reindeer Christmas sweater that I’ve been wearing since Christmas 2022 was one she bought when she saw our favorite influencer Ashley Spivey wearing it, but it ran a bit smaller than she thought, so she gave it to me.
BT and this community are important pillars for me in a plausibility structure for a life without dieting and fatphobia. So I think the "classic" diet culture deconstruction essays will always be my faves. It majorly helps to feel surrounded by people with those values, reminding each other that they're not alien or unsustainable.
I'm also trying to build a plausibility structure around a life with low and ethical consumption (ecologically but also in terms of workers' rights). I'm trying to find ways to feel less alone in that. I would be delighted if BT became a place where pursuing ethical and reduced consumption feels doable, sustainable, and not lonely. 💜
I came over as a former Comfort Food listener (and found that podcast super helpful in thinking about how to feed my kids as someone with a former ED, so thank you for that work!). I get that there is going to be less and less content about feeding kids here going forward and respect that, but may not renew my subscription for that reason. I do really enjoy your and Corinne's chats; they are my favorite thing to put on while doing chores even though the content is almost never super relevant to me. And of course I love whenever you do have Amy back on the podcast!
I hate brow beating people about privilege, but think what I most didn't like this year, particularly in the conversations about feeding your family, was how often "just ordering takeout" or getting lots of mostly-prepared foods was presented as a solution. Especially with inflation right now, that's a solution mostly out of reach for a lot of people. I feel like cooking from scratch gets talked about here as out of touch or regressive, but it's just a financial necessity for a lot of us in terms of caloric bang for buck. I do feel like sometimes this space casually promotes as "liberating" things that are only realistic to people in a certain income bracket in a way that makes it feel less inclusive.
I know I'm coming in really late on this one, but I think you might be mistaken about convenience food being a sign of privilege. I cook most meals, we hardly ever eat out.
BUT a few years ago I lived in a large east coast city with large grocery stores. Then moved to a small suburban/rural edge town - I couldn't believe how all the stores near me were full of convenience food and I actually had a hard time finding whole foods that needed prepping. We've moved again to a small city on the west coast and the closest grocery is in a dicey part of town (security guards at the door) and it's the same. Very tiny produce section, lots of pre-prepared and convenience foods. No deli, no bakery, no seafood counter. It's not impossible to find what I want, but I have way less choice. It's clearly not common here to cook from scratch.
On the fancy side of town, there's a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. The privileged people are the ones like you and me cooking from scratch and avoiding pre-prepared foods and saying things like "caloric bang for the buck".
This is the first Substack/Podcast I’ve paid to subscribe to. And Maintenance Phase is the other one I’ve added (although that’s more podcast than Substack) I’m here for the anti-diet talk and love anything related to body liberation and anti-diet liberation. If I’m honest, I have started to skip all the divorce talk. It felt like a lot of divorce talk this year and my husband was curious why I kept talking about divorce. Haha. Anyway, as a 48 year old mom who’s been married for 23 years, it’s just not that relevant to me. Although, all the dating talk is fascinating and entertaining since I met my husband way before apps (at a bar, no less) Anyway, the podcast is a highlight of my podcast listening in the week. Keep up the great work! Also, I found the perfect socks thru Corinne’s newsletter so I like the shopping tips! Happy New Year!
I love you guys! What do I like best? Indulgence Gospel, hands down. Love the back-and-forth. When I wake up to an IG, I’m excited to a perhaps ludicrous (pathetic?) degree. I love, too, that Corinne launched Big Undies, which I’m really enjoying. What DON’T I like? Family pajamas content (FPC), because I’m a 60-something curmudgeon who resisted FPC even when my now-grown daughters were young. I do wish I’d had the fat kid info back then, though, as we lived in a community of almond moms and their terrorized offspring—moms from whom I was totally alienated. Maybe that’s why I resist FPC, because so much of their lives, from the outside, looked like FP photo ops. No offense. Anyway, hope you enjoy the holidays. I appreciate you.
I should add that I’m glad you’re there for all the younger moms navigating the pressures of this f’ed up society. So don’t mind me. I’ll slide past the FPC with a prayer of thanks to be past that.
Congratulations on a good year. I discovered Burnt Toast through Big Undies so I'm a fairly new subscriber. I enjoy the shopping content content. The challenges of finding extended sizes that are ethically produced are real. So are figuring out why I shop and how to shop less.
I really like the transparency of this piece. It's great to see someone sharing their stats. Best wishes for a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2025.
I love Burnt Toast and Big Undies. I’m straight sized, but many family members live in larger bodies. BT and BU help me understand that their walk through life looks different than mine. That’s invaluable. Have a great holiday break.
Just finished my second year as a Burnt Toast paid subscriber and continue to enjoy it as much as I did in the beginning. I originally found this substack via Emily Oster’s interview with you, and I think the discussion of the shifts in her work was the most interesting thing you wrote this year, both because of the critique and because it’s interesting for me, as a person in investment / finance to watch how different creators monetize and evolve their platforms. Thanks for the work you do! I value it because it’s very different than the media and writing I consume in my professional life, and I really like reading different perspectives on so many topics.
I continue to value my subscription. I have liked how this space has continued to center body liberation but also explicitly embraced how that is connected to other issues. Sometimes I see critiques of that in the comment section, and it's just never bothered me, because these fights are all connected. And I just like that this is a space for liberation -- period. I generally don't engage much with the shopping content but guess what? I can just delete those and move on! What a concept! ;)
I will weigh in to say I do not, and will not, use Substack chat. I hope there will continue to be robust exchanges in the Comments as I really appreciate them!
Yes! A space for liberation -- period. Might need to be our new tagline! It is all connected. (And everyone is welcome to delete the parts that aren't for them!) Thanks so much!
My favorite Bunt Toasts are the Indulgence Gospels. You and Corinne crack me up. For this reason I decided that as a 2025 gift to myself I would subscribe to Butter. I wanted more of what I love. However, after extensive conversations with my registered dietician, I have decided to pull away. On the whole I’m feeling myself a bit of a misfit, primarily regarding food and diet discussions. I find myself deliberately holding back from sharing my own decisions around food in anticipation of being shamed. There’s no room for nuance. Consequently I decided that despite the fact that I will always be in solidarity with your mission, always an advocate of fat activism, I do not belong in this room.
This is my last post. At the end of this pay cycle I will unsubscribe. I have enjoyed reading your insightful, thoughtful Friday Threads and will continue recommending Burnt Toast, and linking Burnt Toast and Big Undies on my own Substack newsletter. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, promoting your philosophy, and being a safe harbor for 63,000 people. You continue to impact lives. That the majority are women’s lives makes it all the more powerful.
Anita, I will miss your voice in the comment section so much! I've always valued your humor and support, as well as the wisdom of your critiques.
And I hope you know the core of what we do here is body autonomy -- so whatever choices you are making for your own health and your life will be respected here, should you ever decide to rejoin us. (As the mother of a child with a lifelong heart condition, I understand those choices may need to look different than the intuitive eating headlines and have never judged any reference you've made to your own eating habits.)
Your solidarity with fat justice is never in question. xo
I loved a lot of the content that interrogated productivity (I don’t garden to escape the laundry; what’s your toxic ambition; who am I if I can’t organize my closet), pieces on language because I find that personally fascinating (who called the ob*se police), “do we need another thin person’s ozempic take” because I didn’t know the original author and perversely I did enjoy hate reading her piece, which was such a fucking bad take, and “every relationship is a mixed weight relationship” becuase it helped me interrogate some of my thoughts/beliefs on being much larger than my cis, male partner.
I am personally less interested in the influencer stuff (at least the mom influencers - the conversations around influencers and losing weight is more interesting to me).
But yeah, I still have so much to interrogate around productivity and would love to do more of that in this space! I also do enjoy the shopping content as well as the conversations around it - there was a great conversation at one point about convenience and friction which is a topic I would enjoy talking about more.
This feels like maybe a nitpicky complaint, but I completely understand why writers constantly link to their other essays and can also find it tiresome at times. Like the sense that content is being produced about the content they create. Again, completely understand the reasoning, tho.
Anyway, love reading Burnt Toast and always am excited to see a new piece! And have loved Big Undies as well. I love the comment sections more than chat and would love if more folks joined the conversation!
Oh I could probably link a little less to old essays -- sometimes it's because I'm trying not to derail a piece with a long tangent that I've already written about, sometimes, yes, it's a promotion strategy. And both are valid, but I hear you!
I love these process / end of year posts. I have one I’m working on now. It’s a way for me to look back, track growth, etc. I like them! Re: comments. I open the actual Substack app so infrequently that I rarely see the chats. I primarily comment through the link in the email.
Quick comment before it slips my mind - comments in the post, please! I find the chat function tedious, hard to navigate, and I just don’t think to look there.
100% agree. I do not need more apps to check.
Count me as someone who's here for this: "to see someone with compulsive over-shopping tendencies try to find ways to do better without defaulting to restriction. So love it or hate it, the shopping content isn’t going anywhere next year—but neither are the hard conversations about how and why we buy."
Also, because I'm a multifaceted being, I may also have a compulsive over-shopping part of me, but I also have a digital minimalist side of me. Which means I have very few apps on my phone, so no Substack app for me. I read all my newsletters straight from my inbox. And so on the Comments vs Notes/Chat question, I'm all about the Comments.
I'll also just share how I much I love the cohesive diversity of content -- fat liberation, personal/cultural marriage and divorce commentary, fashion/clothes/shopping, dismantling perfectionism and on and on. It's one of my absolute favorite online spaces and I'm grateful for what you've created and cultivated here.
Cohesive diversity of content is exactly what I'm going for! I love that you see the throughlines (I do sometimes wonder if they are only in my own head).
Count my head also, at least! That's two of us! 😭😂
OH. And this one is so obvious to me I totally overlooked mentioning it, but thanks to other comments I'm back here to say that every Indulgence Gospel (read by beautifully edited transcript) is a Butter of mine.
💜💜
I'm late to this bc holidays, but both of Hannah's comments here could have been written by me, fwiw. full agree with all of it (though I do have a lot of apps, including substack, on my phone, I almost never click on most of them, including substack lol)
On the Chat vs. comments q: Substack is not where I want to do my internet chatting.
valid!
I love Burnt Toast and have been a paid subscriber for years. I still LOVE any essay about diet culture, feeding our kids non-judgmentally, fat acceptance etc. I also love the divorce content. I am also one of the people who has given you a hard time about the consumerism/links. I am curious if the people who have unsubscribed cancel out the income from the affiliate links? I'm assuming not, but curious about that. I am still clinging to my paid subscription because I really do value the things I value here, but it gets a bit harder as climate catastrophe gets worse etc. I am not trying to take away ANYONE's little treats and I don't think anyone (even my parasocial icons) needs to be perfect, but I just find it harder and harder to give my money to so many fast fashion links. I do think it's nice that you admit you're not perfect etc and I don't think that you need to be perfect for me to follow you, but it does seem that fast fashion is really encouraged here.
The dilemma we have is balancing the climate change concerns with size inclusivity and budget sensitivity. I simply can't only show high-end sustainable brands because there are truly only a handful that offer a truly inclusive range of sizes (past 3X, or even just a real 3X). That said, the episode where we evaluated which Butters have stood the test of time did underscore for me how rarely fast fashion is it. I'm making an effort to hold back from full-throated fast fashion endorsements since then, even if yes, my outfits often include those brands as a component.
Loved my first year as a paid subscriber. My favorites were all not among the most popular posts. I thought your chat with Loretta from To the Bed was very interesting, and I am glad that you introduced me to that substack because it’s been surprisingly entertaining. I also loved your post “What I Hate About Cooking” because I think my sister and I both talk a lot about not enjoying cooking on a day to day basis (which is why our husbands have taken on cooking the majority of the time). “The Impossible Youth of Kamala Harris” was a great read and your reflections a year after your divorce was well-written and reflective.
I enjoy all your writing, but I do find I am not quite as interested in actually shopping myself so if it’s a post that’s basically more about shopping I will probably not be as invested in it. As my sister can attest, I don’t buy much for myself at all- she’s given me many of my favorite dresses that are from when she was about my size in like 2016, and most of my pants for work are from when my mom gave me pants after my grandma died. My favorite reindeer Christmas sweater that I’ve been wearing since Christmas 2022 was one she bought when she saw our favorite influencer Ashley Spivey wearing it, but it ran a bit smaller than she thought, so she gave it to me.
So glad to have you here, Laura!
I genuinely don’t think I know anyone less interested in shopping than you! You’re lucky to have me as your personal shopper!
BT and this community are important pillars for me in a plausibility structure for a life without dieting and fatphobia. So I think the "classic" diet culture deconstruction essays will always be my faves. It majorly helps to feel surrounded by people with those values, reminding each other that they're not alien or unsustainable.
I'm also trying to build a plausibility structure around a life with low and ethical consumption (ecologically but also in terms of workers' rights). I'm trying to find ways to feel less alone in that. I would be delighted if BT became a place where pursuing ethical and reduced consumption feels doable, sustainable, and not lonely. 💜
Maddy, I always super appreciate your voice in the comment section. Thanks for this!!
That's really nice!
I came over as a former Comfort Food listener (and found that podcast super helpful in thinking about how to feed my kids as someone with a former ED, so thank you for that work!). I get that there is going to be less and less content about feeding kids here going forward and respect that, but may not renew my subscription for that reason. I do really enjoy your and Corinne's chats; they are my favorite thing to put on while doing chores even though the content is almost never super relevant to me. And of course I love whenever you do have Amy back on the podcast!
I hate brow beating people about privilege, but think what I most didn't like this year, particularly in the conversations about feeding your family, was how often "just ordering takeout" or getting lots of mostly-prepared foods was presented as a solution. Especially with inflation right now, that's a solution mostly out of reach for a lot of people. I feel like cooking from scratch gets talked about here as out of touch or regressive, but it's just a financial necessity for a lot of us in terms of caloric bang for buck. I do feel like sometimes this space casually promotes as "liberating" things that are only realistic to people in a certain income bracket in a way that makes it feel less inclusive.
I know I'm coming in really late on this one, but I think you might be mistaken about convenience food being a sign of privilege. I cook most meals, we hardly ever eat out.
BUT a few years ago I lived in a large east coast city with large grocery stores. Then moved to a small suburban/rural edge town - I couldn't believe how all the stores near me were full of convenience food and I actually had a hard time finding whole foods that needed prepping. We've moved again to a small city on the west coast and the closest grocery is in a dicey part of town (security guards at the door) and it's the same. Very tiny produce section, lots of pre-prepared and convenience foods. No deli, no bakery, no seafood counter. It's not impossible to find what I want, but I have way less choice. It's clearly not common here to cook from scratch.
On the fancy side of town, there's a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. The privileged people are the ones like you and me cooking from scratch and avoiding pre-prepared foods and saying things like "caloric bang for the buck".
This is the first Substack/Podcast I’ve paid to subscribe to. And Maintenance Phase is the other one I’ve added (although that’s more podcast than Substack) I’m here for the anti-diet talk and love anything related to body liberation and anti-diet liberation. If I’m honest, I have started to skip all the divorce talk. It felt like a lot of divorce talk this year and my husband was curious why I kept talking about divorce. Haha. Anyway, as a 48 year old mom who’s been married for 23 years, it’s just not that relevant to me. Although, all the dating talk is fascinating and entertaining since I met my husband way before apps (at a bar, no less) Anyway, the podcast is a highlight of my podcast listening in the week. Keep up the great work! Also, I found the perfect socks thru Corinne’s newsletter so I like the shopping tips! Happy New Year!
Yay perfect socks!
I love you guys! What do I like best? Indulgence Gospel, hands down. Love the back-and-forth. When I wake up to an IG, I’m excited to a perhaps ludicrous (pathetic?) degree. I love, too, that Corinne launched Big Undies, which I’m really enjoying. What DON’T I like? Family pajamas content (FPC), because I’m a 60-something curmudgeon who resisted FPC even when my now-grown daughters were young. I do wish I’d had the fat kid info back then, though, as we lived in a community of almond moms and their terrorized offspring—moms from whom I was totally alienated. Maybe that’s why I resist FPC, because so much of their lives, from the outside, looked like FP photo ops. No offense. Anyway, hope you enjoy the holidays. I appreciate you.
I should add that I’m glad you’re there for all the younger moms navigating the pressures of this f’ed up society. So don’t mind me. I’ll slide past the FPC with a prayer of thanks to be past that.
FWIW, I can promise that we are HIGHLY UNLIKELY to make FPC a recurring theme! I had to get that rant out, but I'm done now.
Congratulations on a good year. I discovered Burnt Toast through Big Undies so I'm a fairly new subscriber. I enjoy the shopping content content. The challenges of finding extended sizes that are ethically produced are real. So are figuring out why I shop and how to shop less.
I really like the transparency of this piece. It's great to see someone sharing their stats. Best wishes for a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2025.
Ooh love that you found BT through Big Undies!
I love Burnt Toast and Big Undies. I’m straight sized, but many family members live in larger bodies. BT and BU help me understand that their walk through life looks different than mine. That’s invaluable. Have a great holiday break.
Thank you Annette! So glad you’re here.
Just finished my second year as a Burnt Toast paid subscriber and continue to enjoy it as much as I did in the beginning. I originally found this substack via Emily Oster’s interview with you, and I think the discussion of the shifts in her work was the most interesting thing you wrote this year, both because of the critique and because it’s interesting for me, as a person in investment / finance to watch how different creators monetize and evolve their platforms. Thanks for the work you do! I value it because it’s very different than the media and writing I consume in my professional life, and I really like reading different perspectives on so many topics.
Always appreciate your voice in the comment section, Frannie!
I continue to value my subscription. I have liked how this space has continued to center body liberation but also explicitly embraced how that is connected to other issues. Sometimes I see critiques of that in the comment section, and it's just never bothered me, because these fights are all connected. And I just like that this is a space for liberation -- period. I generally don't engage much with the shopping content but guess what? I can just delete those and move on! What a concept! ;)
I will weigh in to say I do not, and will not, use Substack chat. I hope there will continue to be robust exchanges in the Comments as I really appreciate them!
Yes! A space for liberation -- period. Might need to be our new tagline! It is all connected. (And everyone is welcome to delete the parts that aren't for them!) Thanks so much!
My favorite Bunt Toasts are the Indulgence Gospels. You and Corinne crack me up. For this reason I decided that as a 2025 gift to myself I would subscribe to Butter. I wanted more of what I love. However, after extensive conversations with my registered dietician, I have decided to pull away. On the whole I’m feeling myself a bit of a misfit, primarily regarding food and diet discussions. I find myself deliberately holding back from sharing my own decisions around food in anticipation of being shamed. There’s no room for nuance. Consequently I decided that despite the fact that I will always be in solidarity with your mission, always an advocate of fat activism, I do not belong in this room.
This is my last post. At the end of this pay cycle I will unsubscribe. I have enjoyed reading your insightful, thoughtful Friday Threads and will continue recommending Burnt Toast, and linking Burnt Toast and Big Undies on my own Substack newsletter. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, promoting your philosophy, and being a safe harbor for 63,000 people. You continue to impact lives. That the majority are women’s lives makes it all the more powerful.
Best to you and Corinne.
A
Anita, I will miss your voice in the comment section so much! I've always valued your humor and support, as well as the wisdom of your critiques.
And I hope you know the core of what we do here is body autonomy -- so whatever choices you are making for your own health and your life will be respected here, should you ever decide to rejoin us. (As the mother of a child with a lifelong heart condition, I understand those choices may need to look different than the intuitive eating headlines and have never judged any reference you've made to your own eating habits.)
Your solidarity with fat justice is never in question. xo
Anita, I have appreciated all of the insights you have shared in comments here. Best wishes on your journey.
I loved a lot of the content that interrogated productivity (I don’t garden to escape the laundry; what’s your toxic ambition; who am I if I can’t organize my closet), pieces on language because I find that personally fascinating (who called the ob*se police), “do we need another thin person’s ozempic take” because I didn’t know the original author and perversely I did enjoy hate reading her piece, which was such a fucking bad take, and “every relationship is a mixed weight relationship” becuase it helped me interrogate some of my thoughts/beliefs on being much larger than my cis, male partner.
I am personally less interested in the influencer stuff (at least the mom influencers - the conversations around influencers and losing weight is more interesting to me).
But yeah, I still have so much to interrogate around productivity and would love to do more of that in this space! I also do enjoy the shopping content as well as the conversations around it - there was a great conversation at one point about convenience and friction which is a topic I would enjoy talking about more.
This feels like maybe a nitpicky complaint, but I completely understand why writers constantly link to their other essays and can also find it tiresome at times. Like the sense that content is being produced about the content they create. Again, completely understand the reasoning, tho.
Anyway, love reading Burnt Toast and always am excited to see a new piece! And have loved Big Undies as well. I love the comment sections more than chat and would love if more folks joined the conversation!
Oh I could probably link a little less to old essays -- sometimes it's because I'm trying not to derail a piece with a long tangent that I've already written about, sometimes, yes, it's a promotion strategy. And both are valid, but I hear you!
I love these process / end of year posts. I have one I’m working on now. It’s a way for me to look back, track growth, etc. I like them! Re: comments. I open the actual Substack app so infrequently that I rarely see the chats. I primarily comment through the link in the email.
Ooh can’t wait to read yours! I also love process stories.