About Joy Manning
Cruciferous started as a plant-based food and recipe newsletter by me, Joy Manning, food writer, cookbook author, and recipe developer.
But in the middle of 2025, I had a midlife crisis of sorts, a breakdown/breakthrough that made me rethink what I was writing and why.
I came to realize that I had, for decades, given my imagination the job of scaring me instead of doing all the creative things I’d prefer my imagination to do—like writing fiction. This shift was explored in previous newsletters, focusing on the idea that the world is better with more stories. As a result, I’m pretty sure Cruciferous is now a creativity/writing newsletter.
I may write about some food stuff, but my intention is to use this newsletter to document my experiments in rehabbing my imagination as well as my creative writing journey.