The late David Lynch used to say that he ate the same thing every day. For a whopping seven years, that meal was a chocolate milkshake (from Big Boys), with coffee, consumed at about half past two in the afternoon.
There’s no Big Boys at Bristo Square, but I’m making one of his other routine lunches: a mix of ingredients that, on paper, may seem bizarre (surreal, even?). In honour of the great man, it was only right that I tried it myself.
What did perhaps the greatest auteur of his time like to eat? In an interview with Marie Claire in 1997 — the year Lost Highway came out — Lynch described his go-to midday meal: “Lately I’ve been having feta cheese, olive oil and vinegar, tomatoes, and some tuna fish mixed together.”
I decide on a ratio of three parts tomatoes to two of tuna and cheese respectively. I’ll always plump for the “baby plum” tomatoes they sell in Tesco, little grape-shaped devils that seem to impart the most flavour (my other half prefers the ones that come connected by the vine, leaving a pleasant, brief “green” smell when you pluck them off the stalk).
I slice them into little rounds and heap them up in the bowl before adding salt: it does great things to supermarket tomatoes, sucking out the moisture (I’d recommend sticking them in the fridge for a bit to sit, but I’m hungry). Next, a tin of not-quite-entirely-drained tuna steak: chunks will do, flakes are too mushy, but make sure you go for tuna in oil rather than in brine or water, which seem to suck all the structure from the fish, rendering it a pappy mush.
After that, I crumble up some feta cheese and toss the whole shebang together, grimacing as I add the olive oil (a swig as generous as my student loan allows, which is not very), alongside a slight spritz of balsamic vinegar.
My partner walks past as I settle down with my repast. “I imagined it’d look more… structured”, she says. I look down at my plate. It’s hardly photogenic.
But the verdict? Honestly, it’s pretty good, although I don’t think I could eat it every day (that’s a lot of oil and oily fish). The flavours do combine nicely: there’s a tang, sweetness, and saltiness, which the dressings tighten and brighten. But furthermore, I can imagine this being the basis of a great midweek pasta dish: roast the tomatoes in oil and salt, then pan-fry garlic, add the tomatoes, capers, some parmesan (always welcome), add pasta, and then, only once it’s finished cooking, add the tuna, some basil or mint if you have it to hand, and a squeeze of lemon, with feta on top to finish. Sit back and enjoy in front of Mulholland Drive or Twin Peaks. And if that’s not enough to chew on? “That gum you like is going to come back in style…”
Photo by Grooveland Designs on Unsplash