One of the Best Online Comments Ever, Explained

The Cut finally gets the full story
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 20, 2017 7:39 PM CDT
Updated Sep 24, 2017 7:06 AM CDT
One of the Best Online Comments Ever, Explained
Stock photo.   (Getty Images / Julia_Sudnitskaya)

The Cut has finally gotten the full story behind what many consider the best comment ever left on a recipe article—or, maybe, any article at all. Behold, the comment, left two years ago by Sydne Newberry on the New York Times article relating Katharine Hepburn's brownie recipe:

  • "This has been my go-to brownie recipe for 30 years. In the ’80s, an acquaintance in Germany to whom I brought some of the brownies, and who considered herself a great cook, asked for the recipe but was never able to get it to work. She kept asking me what she was doing wrong and I was never able to solve her problem. Eventually, she moved to the U.S. and stole my husband!"

The comment is the Times' comment moderating team's all-time favorite, and has gone viral multiple times, most recently when an NYC Parks & Rec commissioner called Newberry the "greatest living short story writer." Newberry replied to his tweet, and The Cut decided to reach out to her for the full story. Turns out that Newberry and her then-husband were friends with the unnamed woman and her husband when Newberry's husband was on temporary Air Force duty in Germany; Newberry brought the brownies over once and the "gorgeous Italian woman" wanted the recipe, but could never make it work despite Newberry's attempts to help via mail; the woman even implied Newberry had purposely sabotaged the recipe. Years later, she visited the Newberrys in the US after her own marriage broke up, and started her affair with Newberry's husband. He ended up choosing her over Newberry and Newberry eventually married her current husband, the "love of her life," who loves the brownies. The full story is worth a read. (More Internet comments stories.)

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