Giulia Alvarez-Katz

It began rather innocuously with an Eyewitness picture book about mummies—a perfect gift for child who, like many others before and after her, was plagued by a fixation on Ancient Egypt. The book naturally featured those Egyptian mummies I was so familiar with, but also included photographs of several other kinds. I turned a fateful page to the face that would forever live in my memory: Tollund Man.

Welcome to Net Positive, a series about nice places and things on the world wide web. It can happen to you one day: You’ll be scrolling on the increasingly well-tailored For You page on Tiktok, and suddenly you’re watching pale, vaguely gelatinous chunks of something bubbling in a slow cooker, gurgling up at you. You feel as if you might fall in. And whether you realize it or not, you do. This is “Tallowtok,” a slice of TikTok that is all about the art of turning animal fat into tallow.

If you haven’t become a paid subscriber yet, please consider it. The money goes straight to paying freelancers a good rate - much better than most publications. And if not that, click on the heart icon above so I know you’re reading! Please enjoy the article below by Giulia Alvarez-Katz. Thinking about: rearranging my ice cream rankings; the ground flax and water substitute for eggs seems to be working; and can we name the official start of BLT season. It’s not the first day of summer.