Into the Fridge 🤩

Danya Issawi on her adoration for mayo and sleeping on a firm mattress

Jul 07, 2026

Danya Issawi 🤩

Danya Issawi is a New York-based writer and editor whose work is (mostly) at the intersection between self-expression and culture. She traverses this crossover in her newsletter, Mish Mashy, where she writes essays and features on introspection and moving through the zeitgeist. She’s previously been on staff at The New York Times and New York Magazine and is now working under everyone’s noses here (i.e. at Substack). Her stomach is an utterly hostile environment for dairy, and yet she keeps coming back for more. I, for one, have been obsessed with Danya’s writing for years now, so naturally, I must see her inside of her fridge.

What is your fridge philosophy?

Be able to fend for yourself, by which I mean, there are few worse feelings than going to the fridge and finding nothing within to eat and or make. I always want to feel like I can provide for myself at any given moment, which means having groceries on deck.

Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.

Lactaid cottage cheese, which is so lame that it’s kind of chic.

Also, pickles, olives, diet fizzy drinks (it’s too late for me to care about aspartame) and whatever my hyperfixation food is at the moment (I’ve rotated through gouda, carrots, butter lettuce, peaches, greek yogurt with a spritz of whipped cream on top).

Top 5 condiment picks, go.

Mayo. I’d actually like to take a minute and talk about mayo. I love mayo mixed into literally any savory food. It is my firm belief that this condiment enhances everything: corn, rice, burgers. Just look at all the good work it’s done for tuna. Everyone looks down on me when I tell them “hey, this white pasty thing is actually my favorite little treat.” First of all, I didn’t invent mayo so wipe that look off your face. Second of all, I’m Arab as hell, so this is technically a cultural exchange — are you against global unity? Third of all, it’s practically just vinegar, grow up.
Ranch
Dorothy Lynch (midwest real ones know)
Special batch Palestinian olive oil from the West Bank
The bright yellow lemon poppyseed dressing in my college sorority’s dining hall that I’ve never encountered in the wild since

Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:

I’m not a big pantry girl — I kinda like my snacks fresh and cold, but I still need microwavable popcorn, graham crackers and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I like that I can have literally 80 or so chocolate chips and it’s still kind of fine.

A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:

I’m obsessed with making my own little slop bowls at home: crispy lettuce over white rice with corn, black beans, tomatoes, pickled red onions (which I make at home. It’s actually pretty easy. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself “God, I wish I had this thing I’ve mostly only eaten at restaurants” just to google a recipe and find I can do it myself in 20-30 minutes. Women in STEM) and some whole milk greek yogurt and salsa.

Let’s go a little deeper…

What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?

Trust yourself.

What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?

Time with friends but also ample time at home and time alone. Every season of life I’ve ever been in has been a battle between my existential need to recharge in silence and my gnawing FOMO.

And your physical?

Strength training at least three times a week — I’m hypermobile and have a back that would make a used bendy straw into an empath. If I don’t work my muscles in specific ways I’m 1. in pain and 2. my body can’t function how it’s supposed to. Like my scapulas are really just kinda floating out there.

What do think is the most underrated part of wellness?

Listening to your body without falling into self-fulfilling prophecies.

Also, balance. Like many girls, I spent the entirety of my young adulthood torturing myself over every calorie. MyFitnessPal was my overlord. It took a lot of internal work to be able to enjoy pizza and Taco Bell and ice cream again. I truly do think life is meant to be enjoyed, however that looks to you.

And overrated?

Barry’s Bootcamp.

Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:

If I have a stomachache, I’m eating a piece of sourdough toast with a tiny bit of butter on it.

If it’s just general enshittification of the mind and body, I’m chugging water and coconut water in succession (Once Upon a Coconut is the best), toast with cottage cheese, probably an Advil if there’s a headache involved, and a warm shower. If more reinforcements are needed, I’m calling my mom so I can satisfy my emotional need to groan: “ughhhhhh, mom ://///.”

there’s nothing in the whole world that bread and butter cannot fix

Give us your ride or die wellness products:

Spironolactone, Tretinoin, Dieux moisturizer, La Roche Posay tinted mineral sunscreen (when I was 25 my skin erupted in ways previously unseen by man), MaryRuth’s liquid multivitamin, cotton sheets from Hommey and Brooklinen, a firm Tempur-pedic mattress, a trip to the beach, driving with the windows down, calling my mom, crying when I need to and often, the purring of my cats.

the best medicine cabinets are the most colorful

One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:

Talking to my boyfriend.

Whose taste inspires you?!

The girls 10 years younger than I am loitering around Alphabet City and Tompkins Square Park. My friends and women in my orbit: Megan O'Sullivan, Gutes Guterman, Ali Royals, Tara Maria Gonzalez, Ella Emhoff, Kat Thomas, Emma Oleck, Arsh Raziuddin, Nicolaia Rips, Sarah Elawad. Also, Renaissance and Victorian era nobility. :/ My Achilles heel.

Big thank you to Danya for sharing this delightful journey into her fridge—and life—with us. You can stay up to date with her writing at Mish Mashy by Danya Issawi and follow her on Instagram. Find her fridge favorites + more here.

Feel free to leave a comment or respond to this email with questions you want asked, people you want featured, or anything else that’s on your mind. Don’t be shy, I love hearing from you.