I feel there's much more Chicago local history to the bean pie to dig into than I could fit in one piece. I'm grateful to everyone who shared their story. Lastly, I'll leave you with this photo: James 40X delivering pies to my father and I over the holiday.

In terms of current businesses, here's what I found:

Supreme Bean Pie & Shawn Michelle's collaborating on a bean pie ice cream

Imani's Originals selling pies & other health foods with Inner-City Muslim Action Network

Paradise Desserts opened up again this month after a hiatus

So a lot of that didn't end up in the piece — instead, what I found was a still growing and changing bean pie industry here in Chicago. The very last source I found was a classic bean pie man, James 40X. It took months. Every single time I met him, he was in a suit and bowtie, selling papers & pies.

My love of underground food continues: I searched Chicago for bean pie man, selling papers & sweets with a side of black liberation. I met with NOI & WD Muhammad community historians, bakers and sellers to get the local history. Also: bean pie ice cream!

My record 🫡

My record 🫡

The annual @hels.bsky.social Christmas gift guide is literally the only holiday ritual I observe. It always leads me to incredible places, like this (sold-out!) cast-iron foot that's suggested use is.... for saging???

www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

copywriter who is trying to create the most fucked up security questions (you must answer 5 of these to access your account)

bunny waffles are the only kind of waffles my daughter knows

One advantage of the job is sometimes u get mangos in the mail