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Spice: The MXTX Food Zine

@mxtxfoodzine / mxtxfoodzine.tumblr.com

A free digital zine, run by @stiltonbasket. Next release: 10/31/26; next recruiting December 2026
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Introducing the 2025 MXTX Food Zine!

The fourth edition of the MXTX Food Zine is out now in PDF and ready-to-print format! Inside, you’ll find 78 delicious recipes and over a hundred new fanworks from all three MXTX fandoms, including art, fanfiction, and themed recipe cards.

Special thanks to @ninjakk (our newest moderator for 2025!), to editor @czeriah for the print tests and design work, to @lwjsbedtime for the cover art, and to all the creators: this project would never have been possible without you.

To the fandom: reblog this post, download the zine, and enjoy! If you can’t access the documents, email mxtxfoodzine@gmail.com for help or message the mods here on tumblr.

We would like to note that this zine has always been free: but if you would like to support us via platforms like Ko-Fi, we ask instead that you donate to a humanitarian organization such as the World Food Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, the Rainbow Railroad, or another trusted charity of your choice.

Thank you for sharing this project with us, and happy reading! If you’d like to share/leave kudos and comments on your favorite entries, you can find them in our AO3 collection (fanfiction) or on tumblr/twitter/Bluesky (artwork) starting November 7.

Previous editions: 2022 | 2023 | 2024

#mdzs#svsss#tgcf#mo dao zu shi#the scum villain's self saving system#tian guan ci fu#wangxian#bingqiu#hualian#mxtx#mxtxfoodzine
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🍜 The table is set! 🍜

Our Interest Check for Chī Ba: Let's Eat! is officially open! Join us for a food-themed MXTX merch box and digital calendar project! 🥟

Help us bring this project to life!

🔗 https://forms.gle/pnUg2ojD4sgSt6QZA

#MXTXMerchBox2027 #MXTXDigitalCalendar2027

#promo
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Let's Try for a Spice! Hugo Award!

Title: Spice: The MXTX Food Zine

Creators: Stiltonbasket, Czeriah, NinjaKK

URL: https://mxtxfoodzine.carrd.co/ 

2025 was its 4th issue. 

The Hugo Awards are one of the most prestigious awards in science fiction, and one of them is for "Best Fanzine." The rules are (emphasis added):

Best Fanzine. Any generally available non-professional periodical publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that by the close of the previous calendar year has published four (4) or more issues (or the equivalent in other media), at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, that does not qualify as a semiprozine or a fancast, and that in the previous calendar year met neither of the following criteria: (1) paid its contributors or staff monetarily in other than copies of the publication, (2) was generally available only for paid purchase.

(Note that "previous calendar year" means 2025, because this is referring to the 2026 Hugo Awards.)

Normally, Best Fanzine goes to a newsletter or blog, something that does reviews or fandom news articles. A fanfic zine has never been a finalist. This is because (among other reasons):

  1. Very few fanfic-and-fanart zines have multiple issues anymore, and
  2. There is a very strong anti-fanfic contingent among Hugo nominators and voters.

I want Spice! The MXTX Food Zine to get on the ballot this year. (I don't think we have a chance of winning, because there is a lot of anti-fanfic hostility.)

Spice, The MXTX Food Zine
Carrd for the free MXTX Food Zine, Spice
Spice, The MXTX Food Zine

But we're eligible and I'd love to see us get on the ballot. https://www.wsfs.org/rules-of-the-world-science-fiction-society/ has the relevant rules; anyone who had a membership for LACon as of December 31 of last year, or who had a WSFS or attending membership at Seattle last year, can nominate for this year's Hugo Awards. If you had a membership last year and weren't planning on nominating for the Hugos - please consider doing so! Nominations will close on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at 9:00am Pacific Time / 12:00pm Eastern Time / 4:00pm GMT.

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I FINALLY GET TO POST ABOUT THIS!

If you're eligible to vote, please, please consider voting for the MXTX Food Zine this year. This project has been an immense labor of love on the part of all the moderators, editors, and contributors: and it's one of only a few eligible zines incorporating fic/fanart, since it's not so common for printed zines to 1) be free to the public (since many physical zines are charity zines) and 2) release four or more editions.

If you are not voting for the zine, please consider sharing this post to spread the word! For anyone unfamiliar with MXTX, our zine focuses on food-themed fanworks based on the works of Chinese author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation | Mo Dao Zu Shi, and Heaven Official's Blessing | Tian Guan Ci Fu. It's a recipe book, art book, and fanfiction anthology rolled into one; and if you're interested in grabbing a copy for yourself, you can download all four editions for free here.

Let's win this! ৻( •̀ ᗜ •́ ৻)

#please vote for us if you're eligible! and reblog if you won't be voting this year ❤️
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winter-tundra asked:

Hi! I'm actually really interested in joining this zine! Do you only accept ship art or is anything else ok too?

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Any art is fine as long as it has a clear tie to 1) the MXTX novel/novels of your choosing and 2) the dish you're featuring for your entry. You don't even have to draw people if you don't want to--many of our past recipe cards included novel themes/imagery (such as rabbits, butterflies, bamboo, etc.) but no characters. Here's an example recipe card from Shutterstock:

You can also find recipe cards from our past zines here, here, and here.

#asks
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MXTX Food Zine 2026: Creator Sign-ups Open!

Hi everyone! Creator sign-ups for the fifth edition of the MXTX food zine are now live at this link, so please make sure to fill out the form and join the zine discord (linked in the sign-up form) by January 15 if you want to join. Recipe sign-ups will open on January 16.

Event info and FAQs can be found here. For future updates, follow this account!

The tentative production schedule is as follows:

January 16: Recipe claims open.

February 4: Recipe claims close. Everyone needs to have picked a dish by this date, but the recipe itself does not need to be finalized until May 5. If you need to change your dish/recipe later, you can do this by editing your row on the claims spreadsheet.

March 10: First check-in.

May 5: Second check-in. Recipes must be tested and submitted by this date.

June 10: Last day for recipe confirmations.

July 5: Final check-in

August 5: All final works due.

August to September: Editing phase. All participants are required to have their work beta read as many times as necessary.

September: Design stage. Anyone with emergency extensions may keep working during this time. Participants can also edit their completed works.

September to October: Design team completes zine. Be ready to check your entries for typos at any point during this time.

October 31: RELEASE DATE

#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#wangxian#svsss#the scum villain's self saving system#bingqiu#tgcf#tian guan ci fu#hualian#mxtx#mxtxfoodzine
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MXTX Food Zine: Round Five!

Greetings, MXTX fans! It’s December again, which means that the interest check for the fifth edition of the MXTX Food Zine is now live!

Please fill it out by December 19 if you intend to join, so we can get an idea of how many people will be participating this year. Sign-ups will open on December 20, 2025 and close on January 15, 2026.

Some specs for newcomers: the MXTX Food Zine is free, SFW, and 100% digital, with at least one dish/recipe per entry. After creator sign-ups, creators can reserve their chosen recipes on a first-come first-serve basis.

For more information, check out the FAQ below. You can read the previous releases here: 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025

1. What’s a food zine?

Entries to the zine consist of recipes paired with one or more fanworks. For example, you can contribute a recipe and accompanying fic or fanart that involves the recipe or dish in some way. Artists can contribute illustrated recipe cards (check our previous issues for examples) instead of traditional fanart.

Contributors can also collaborate to create a single entry.

Please note that dishes featured in previous editions cannot appear again in the 2026 release.

2. Who can join? What’s the application process?

There is no application process. This is not a charity zine, so it will be 100% digital and free for downloading after it’s completed. Anyone in the MXTX fandoms is welcome to sign up.

3. What kind of recipes are allowed?

Any and all recipes are allowed. They don’t need to be traditional Chinese recipes or recipes related to the dishes mentioned in MXTX’s novels.

4. When will the zine be released?

The release date is tentatively set for October 31, 2026.

5. What are the rules about content?

The only hard and fast rule is that entries must be SFW and fall safely within a T rating according to AO3 standards. Other than that, it’s up to you: you can include your favorite rarepairs, draw crossover art, write all kinds of AUs, etc.  

6. Do I have to fill out the interest check to join the zine?

No, but please fill it out anyway if you can! :)

#mdzs#svsss#tgcf#mo dao zu shi#the scum villain's self saving system#tian guan ci fu#wangxian#bingqiu#hualian#mxtx#mxtxfoodzine
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picklebitchin asked:

I've been following the food zine for a while now. This year I want to make an apomnibus esq copy for a friend for Christmas. Is there somewhere where I can find a link to each one?

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I'm guessing you mean an omnibus as in a print copy of multiple zines! To find all of our previous editions, just go to our pinned post; the pinned post always contains the release information for the latest zine as well as links to all previous zines.

#asks
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twinserpentsouth asked:

I always make this and add napa cabbage and baby bok choy and then i pretend its 'path of Love for all seasons stew' 😆

https://youtu.be/vJekAO39XlU?si=dzeSfbQVtO34ptgC

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It looks delicious! Please feel free to make a fanwork based on this recipe and join us in 2026 (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

#asks
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Have you ever liked a literary effort and disliked it at the same time?

So that you can see how beautiful the drama is at the heart of the plot, so that you can feel the thoughts and feelings of the character and learn with him the price of wrong decisions, appreciate the depth and multidimensional of national culture, and then the work turned into cheap fan fiction about yourself. That's exactly how I've always looked at the Heaven Official's Blessing book series.

In view of the specific cultural context, I have always had a specific understanding of this work, which made it better in my eyes. Try to imagine that the novel is not set in China, but somewhere in the Balkans. Two friends found themselves on opposite sides of the front and are trying to maintain their friendship despite the war. Now remember the scene when the characters are talking after Hua Chen's house was burned down:

— I have to apologize for burning down your house.

— No, I should apologize, I almost cut off your hand.

And after that, they laughed and went on talking as if nothing had happened. Many will consider this a strained and simply poorly written dialogue. But that happens exactly like that in our region. So after that scene, I fell in love with this book, despite all the fanfiction of what is happening, because I saw most of it through that lens.

P.S. If anyone is interested, I made these drawings for @mxtxfoodzine. There are many people on this page who draw better than me)

#zine entry
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Mafia AU - When the Bell Strikes Three Times, the Golden Hour Will Remain

Fic available on my AO3, but also in the MXTX Foodzine where you can find tons of recipes, art, and other fics. The zine (including the art) is free to download and print if you wish. This is for personal use only. Don't steal, sell, or break copyright laws. Thank you. Many wonderful creators took the year to prepare their entry.

You can learn more information about the Foodzine on the official accounts:

Tumblr: @mxtxfoodzine

Bluesky: mxtx-foodzine.bsky.social

#zine entry