Sweet Loser

Too Sweet to Fail?

Mahira Rivers | Taste | 15th April 2025

For centuries, East Asian cuisines used sugar like any other spice — an ingredient to combine with others to enhance the final flavour of a dish. A touch of sweetness is traditional across the region as a way to deepen savouriness or tamp down spice. Globalisation has ushered in a "great sweetification", as Western culinary tastes spread. This is most noticeable in restaurants and in processed foods (2,000 words)

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The Biggest Loser

Luke Winkie | Slate | 20th March 2025

Profile of "Vegas Matt", a professional gambler who has created a way to win by losing: he posts videos of his disastrous hours in the casino for his millions of fans. The advertising revenue alone makes him an "enviable living". He once lost $147,000 on a slot machine in three hours. People love to watch him lose. Casinos and sponsors just love him. And he laughs all the way to the bank (5,400 words)