What exactly is queer food? If a queer person cooks something, does that automatically make it "queer food"? That's the topic of John Birdsall's new book, conveniently titled What Is Queer Food ? Evan Kleiman: Can you start off by painting a picture for us of Lil' Deb's in Hudson, New York? In the prologue to your book, you call it the queerest restaurant in America. Why? John Birdsall: Well, for multiple reasons. I went to Lil' Deb's in 2022 and it's in Hudson, New York, which is kind of like a hip satellite of Brooklyn or something in the Hudson Valley. Lil' Deb's has gone out of its way to make itself a welcoming queer space. There's signage everywhere, you know, like, "If you gay, perfect!" Its decor changes. When I was there, it was this wild, sort of tattered Mardi Gras vibe of s

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