Gary Allen's Blog, page 11

Across a Crowded Room

He knows his love for Simonetta is forbidden, but that just makes it that much more enticing. For one thing her husband is Marco Vespucci—who, like the wasps provide his family name, could be expected to fly into a rage at the mere thought of a rival. For another, she’d been dead for over five hundred years.Still, from the first moment he laid eyes upon her, in the tourist-filled rooms in the Ufizzi, he knew he could never love another. Every year he eschewed all other pleasures, in order to save enough money for just one more flight from Philadelphia to Florence. It was worth any sacrifice, just to get the briefest glimpse of her, either floating demurely on her scallop shell, or wandering through the enchanted forest that had become, for both of them, eternal Spring.His love was pure—not like the brief fling he’d had with Myrna Loy. That was a mere flirtation, nothing like the reverence he feels for his Simonetta. Even in dreams, where she often appears naked, she chastely covers most of her body. He never sees more than one of her tiny, perfectly-formed breasts—and that inspires not lust but adoration.No, his other romances—with sparkling Myrna, sultry Clara Bow, sweet Lillian Gish, and even the divine Audrey Hepburn—were as nothing to him now. He had once been smitten with a photo of the dark-eyed twenty-year-old Alice Liddell, taken by Lewis Carroll, but—in time—that, too, faded before the luminous Simonetta Vespucci.Thoughts of her occupy his every waking thought. He knows that he is not alone in loving her. Sandro Botticelli and Giuliano d’ Medici loved her too, but he rejoices in the fact that they’re both safely dead. It does trouble him to think that other men’s eyes, livingeyes, can linger over her fair features. Especially vexing are the leers of Italian men, men who—as everyone knows—are over-sexed and rudely insensitive to the finer feelings of the women they ogle.Her eyes haunt him. Their heavy lids suggest that she has just risen from her bed, as if to meet her lover, the lover he longs to be. Her focus is somewhere in the distance, not at him, to a place where a particularly delicious memory lingers, like a whiff of not-quite forgotten perfume. The sweet tangle of her strawberry-colored hair holds him more securely than any chain.No living beauty—let alone his former imaginary sweethearts—can hold a candle to her radiance. It’s been years since an actual—live—woman appealed to him. They’re all so physical, with smells, and opinions, and needs. They come and—more frequently—go, leaving no evidence of their passing. But his Simonetta is eternal; she never fails to beguile him with her calm elegance.

Food Sites for July 2018

Summer.
This issue marks the beginning of this newsletter’s eighteenth year. We suppose that means it’s now a grown up... well, more grown up than we are.
Roll Magazine recently posted our little article on Shad.
Last month we submitted the edited text for Après Escoffier: Sauces Reconsidered, (which has now had its title flopped: Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier) and it’s finally in production. We also completed the first draft of a mostly non-food novel (Future Tense: The Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past). It sounds like a lot, but both books had been in the works for a LONG time. Since we can’t bear the non-writing life, we’ve reopened some unfinished books and begun adding to, reworking, and editing them.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
Some timely quotes (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection):

We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook? And everywhere in the world we go and ask these very simple questions... we tend to get some really astonishing answers. Anthony Bourdain

You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together. Anthony Bourdain

I don’t have much patience for people who are self-conscious about the act of eating, and it irritates me when someone denies themselves the pleasure of a bloody hunk of steak or a pungent French cheese because of some outdated nonsense about what's appropriate or attractive. Anthony Bourdain

In college, I think I probably positioned myself as an aspiring writer, meaning I dressed sort of extravagantly and adopted all the semi-Byronic affectations, as if I were writing, although I wasn’t actually doing any writing. Anthony Bourdain

Gary
July, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our hat to Cynthia Bertelsen), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Complete and Slightly Insane History of Gin in England, The(Celine Bossart delivers a droll lesson in Vinepair)
Food in the West: A Timeline, 1700-2001(compiled by students of Western Civilization, at Chicago’s Northwestern University)
How Ketchup Revolutionized how Food is Grown, Processed and Regulated(Amy Bentley pours on the ubiquitous condiment, for The Smithsonian)
How to Stock an Indonesian Pantry(Pat Tanumihardja, at Saveur, on the essential ingredients of Indonesian cuisine))
How to Stock a Keralan Pantry: Black Cardamom, Red Rice, and Lots and Lots of Coconut(Leslie Pariseau, at Saveur, on the defining ingredients of South Indian cooking)
How Wine Colonized the World(a timeline, from Vinepair)
Hungry, Hungry Hippocampus: Why and How We Eat(Shankar Vedantam’s Hidden Brain podcast at NPR... with many insights from Paul Rozin)
Illustrated History of the Picnic Table, An(Martin Hogue sits us down at Places Journal)
Lost Lingo of New York City’s Soda Jerks, The(Natasha Frost slings it across Gastro Obscura’s counter)
Oldest Cookbooks from Libraries Around the World, The(Anne Ewbank, at Gastro Obscura, on some very rare books)
Rise of the Experiential Food Museum, The(Emma Orlow, at Saveur, says “making art out of food is inherently a political act”—and wonders about its implications)
Where Did the Prohibition on Combining Seafood and Cheese Come From?(Dan Nosowitz, on Italian food and notions of what is tradional; at Gastro Obcsura)
Why Everyone Loves Macaroni and Cheese(Gordon Edgar, dishes out “the cheapest protein possible” for Zócalo)
Why not Just Admit it? Flavor is About Pleasure, not Survival(Edible Arts’ Dwight Furrow takes issue with the Rozins’ “flavor principle”)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful or amusing) sites for writers/bloggers ----
A to Z Food and Cooking Equivalents and Yields
Are Ebooks Dying or Thriving? The Answer is Yes
Evolution of Recipe Writing Style, The
Heidi Robb: Food Stylist
How Cooking Frees My Mind to Think About Writing
Hyperbole for Dinner?
Many Different Faces: Bibliography’s Extended Family
Opinion: The Secret to Being Fully Present
Recipe Conversions for Measurements and Temperatures
You Love Wine Science Until it Detracts from the Magic in Your Glass

---- yet more blogs ----
Locavore
Of Juliet
Planet Cheese
Sub-tropic Cookery

---- changed URL ----
Taste of History with Joyce White, A

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #213 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author’s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for June 2018

A simple Gin & Tonic, sipped & savored outdoors; Confirmation that we’ve survived another Winter. 
When Spring finally arrives, its extravagance is always something of a shock—there’s way too much of everything: color, texture, smells, and a cacophony of birdsong. It’s like one of those medieval feasts—hundreds of elaborate dishes, featuring a complete menagerie of animal flesh, a fluttering aviary of prepared larks, geese, and peacocks—each flavored with a dozen herbs and spices, and sweetened with sugar, honey and/or fruit syrups. Dazed diners rush from dish to dish, never actually savoring a single one.
Something we never expected to see: This month, the library of The Culinary Institute of America, at Hyde Park, has a little exhibit of—of all things—cannibalism. In one of the showcases, lo and behold, a copy of Human Cuisine (that little anthology we compiled with Ken Abala). 
We’re about to submit the edited text for Après Escoffier: Sauces Reconsidered—then we wait for the production process to take over. Eventually, copy-editing, final proofs, and indexing. Folks who only read books—but have never troubled themselves to have written any—are blissfully unaware of how long every stage takes.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
June is blessed, so here are two notes about divinity made manifest (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection):

Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did. Dr. William Butler (on strawberries, quoted in Isaac Walton’s The Compleat Angler)  

Although I’ll eat the strawberry when frozen / It’s not the very berry I’d have chosen. / The naughty admen claim with gall divine / That it is better than the genu-ine, / New language they devise to sing its praise, / But only le bon Dieu can coin a fraise. Ogden Nash

Gary
June, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our hat to Phyllis Segura), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Ancient Mesopotamia(several of Laura Kelley’s pages dedicated to the world’s oldest cuisine)
Blogger Quietly Preserving Maryland’s Culinary History, The(Kristina Gaddy, for Gastro Obscura, on the work of Kara Mae Harris, at the Maryland Historical Society)
Cookbooks(...in the collection of the National Library of Australia, many with links to online versions)
Crazy Korean Cooking(ingredients, recipes, food & culture)
Dictionary of Middle-English Cooking Terms, A(just the thing when confronted by “schyconys” or “egarduse” on a menu)
Food Tourists Versus Food Pilgrims, and the Cultural Responsibility of Both(Emily Thomas interviews Lucy Long for The Splendid Table)
Map: The Iconic Cheeses of Italy(one or two for each region)
Marseille’s Migrant Cuisine(Tristan Rutherford, in AramcoWorld, on the home of a fusion cuisine that is nearly 3,000 years old)
Picnic Wit(food, drink, literature and art; from picnic maven Walter Levy)
Skeletons, Disease, and the Dinner Table(Cynthia Bertelsen knows there’s more to be extracted from bones than bone broth)
Taste of a Decade: The 1830s(another posting in Jan Whitaker’s excellent Restaurant-ing through History blog)
Tasteless Philosophy(Dwight Furrow, at Edible Arts, on why philosophers tend to ignore taste and smell in their search for eternal truth)
Woman Who Collected More Than 25,000 Menus, The(Michael Waters, for Gastro Obscura, on the Buttolph Collection at The New York Public Library)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful or amusing) sites for writers/bloggers ----
Are We Done Hating Brunch?
Best and Worst Colors for Photographing Food, The
Complete Culinary School Guide, The
Green-Penciling Her Way into Cookbook History
Jonathan Gold Recommends 10 Food-Centric Films
Literistic
This Post about Breathless Online Food Writing Will Give You a Reason to Live
Why Does Every Recipe Have to Be Magic?
Why Menu Translations Go Terribly Wrong

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #212 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author’s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for May 2018

Crab tracks on a St. Augustine sand dune.
Spring is a time of rampant expectations, tantalizingly close, yet not quite there... until they gloriously explode into full bloom everywhere. The season for crabs, and morels, and ramps is almost here... and we’re more than ready for them. It’s been an absurdly long winter, and we’re not going to mourn one slushy minute of it.
Anxiously waiting for edits to our new book—Après Escoffier: Sauces Reconsidered—to arrive, and we’re eager to get on with transforming it from a not-entirely-rough draft to something someone might want to read.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
A scribbler’s quote (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection) this month:

God have mercy on the sinner 

Who must write with no dinner, 

No gravy and no grub, 

No pewter and no pub, 

No belly and no bowels, 

Only consonants and vowels. John Crowe Ransom

Gary
May, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our hat to Cara De Silva), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We‘re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Borscht Belt, The(Julia Ioffe rediscovers Russia’s lost culinary heritage for The New Yorker)
Brief History of Cheddar Cheese, A(Zoë Björnson, on the Americanization of this classic British cheese, at Eat Sip Trip)
Chef Who Carves Traditional Patterns Into Fruits and Vegetables, The(Anne Ewbank’s profile of chef-artist Takehiro Kishimoto, for Atlas Obscura)
Chewing the Fat(Monte Mathews’ food and travel site)
Cookbooks and Herbals(downloadable e-books from the rare book collections of The Florida State University Libraries)
Cooking with Alexandre Dumas(Valerie Stivers recreates some dishes from The Three Musketeers for The Paris Review)
Don’t Call it Food Waste: Entrepreneurs Turn Surplus Food into Gold(Danielle Beurteaux, at Civil Eats, on experiments in upcycling in Drexel University’s Food Lab)
Greedy Queen, The: Dining in the Time of Victoria(Linda Pelaccio’s interview with author Annie Gray, podcast on Heritage Radio)
Life and Death of Homaro Cantu, The: The Genius Chef Who Wanted to Change the World(Kieran Morris write about “ the most inventive chef in history“ in The Guardian)
Medieval Arabic Recipes and the History of Hummus(Anny Gaul looks at the dip’s fourteenth-century origins, for The Recipe Project)
Molecular Air and Other Tasty Treats to Feature in New Palliative Care Cookbook(Heather Wiseman’s article about chef Peter Morgan-Jones inspires questions about the nature of eating)
National Food & Beverage Foundation(“…a nonprofit educational and cultural organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of food, drink and its related culture and folklife in America and the world”)
Song of the Spoon, The(a history of the second-oldest kitchen utensil, from Ana Kinkaid at We Are Chefs)
Texas Food Politics Is Like, Well, Texas Politics(Dwight Furrows mulls over Tex-Mex at Edible Arts)
Traditional Flat Breads Spread from the Fertile Crescent(“production process and history of baking systems,” by Antonella Pasqualone, for Science Direct)
Vintage Menus Show Which Foods Americans Used to Love(Craig Hlavaty’s annotated slideshow for The New Haven Register)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
9 Writing Productivity Tips from Food Historian, Ken Albala
A Food Writer Shared a Neat Cooking Tip, but Got a Flood of Hate and Mockery in Return
Food Photography: Composition Using the Golden Triangle
Open Access at The Met


---- yet more blogs ----
Carla Capalbo
Fine Dining Lovers
Hey, You Should Try This Cheese

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #211 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for April 2018

As this is being written, maple sugaring season is winding down, and we’re already thinking about morels... far too soon, but such is the nature of Winter’s effects on our mental processes.
However, Winter is writing season (like every other season in our house), so while waiting for edits to our new book—Après Escoffier: Sauces Reconsidered—to arrive, we keep scribbling away on our novel-in-progress. Meantime, Roll Magazine has seen fit to publish another of our old pieces: “A Wine Epiphany on the Cheap.” Also, at Just Served, there’s a little bit of non-food writing this month. A Chimp Off the Old Block recounts some of the darker sides of good dental care.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
This month’s quotes (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection) reveal our longing for a change of seasons:

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each. Grow green with the spring, yellow and ripe with autumn. Henry David Thoreau 

In the vegetable world, there is nothing so innocent, so confiding in its expression, as the small green face of the freshly-shelled spring pea. William Wallace Irwin

Palpating, crackling, splitting on the grill, Boudins whistle louder than blackbirds in April. Paul Harel

Gary
April, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our hat to Nancy Harmon Jenkins), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Ancient Recipes(“...recipes that are related to Jewish History during the Biblical, Greek and Roman periods”)
Big Issue, The: Butter(Xanthe Clay slathers it on, at the UK’s National Geographic Food)
Brief History of Coffee, A(Brian Yarvin spills the beans at The Rambling Epicure)
Cookbooks: The Medieval Editions(Farah Yameen, in The Hindu Business Line, on some of the roots of Indian cuisine)
Famous Dishes from Famous Places(the Manhattan Users Guide has posted a few recipes that were New Yorker’s favorites, back in 1939)
Finding a Lost Strain of Rice, and Clues to Slave Cooking(Kim Severson, in The New York Times, on a recently discovered form of rice, in Trinidad, a gift from Thomas Jefferson)
Guide to Flour, A(“flour components,” by Bethany Moncel, at The Spruce)
How 17th-Century Women Replicated the Natural World on the Table(Gastro Obscura’s Samantha Snively on how natural history informed the culinary amusements created by Hannah Woolley, Margaret Cavendish, and others)
Is It “Natural”? Consumers, and Lawyers, Want to Know(Julie Creswell, in The New York Times, on the legal battles over a seemingly simple word)
Kalofagas(“Greek food and Beyond,” from cookbook author Peter Minaki)
Living Larder, A: The Joys of Fermentation(Gabe Ulla, in Saveur, serves up Cortney Burns’s recommendations for new fermenters)
Lost Pies of the South(just desserts, state by state, by Nancie McDermott, at Southern Living)
Neuroscientist Rachel Herz Breaks Down the Science Behind our Food Likes and Dislikes, The(a tasting menu of concepts covered in her book, Why You Eat What You Eat )
Switzerland Makes it Illegal to Boil a Live Lobster(Jason Kottke almost makes one stop ordering lobsters)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
40 Photographs That Changed the Way We Eat

---- yet another blog ----
Food & Home
Past Repasts
Simon Thibault


---- and, not specifically about food, but... ----
50 Best Travel Tips from 10 Years of Travel

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #210 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

A Chimp Off the Old Block

Just lying back in the dentist’s barcalounger, listening to music I would never choose on my own, waiting for the novocaine to kick in. The assistant spreads out an arsenal of medieval-looking weapons, while making the sort of small talk meant to relax me before “The Procedure.”
The Procedure, this time, is the removal of an old crown, in order to prepare me for the placement of a new crown, and the subsequent removal of a certain quantity of funds from my checking account. A substantial quantity of funds, but I’ve already braced myself for that particular pain. I have not prepared myself the unknown quantity of physical pain I might experience.
My lips and tongue couldn’t be less responsive if they belonged to someone else. The dentist suggests that I rinse, giving me a chance to demonstrate absolutely zero control of my mouth. Liquids of various descriptions dribble out in all directions… or, at least, in every direction except that of the tiny sink at my left elbow.
In a voice that I hope sounds casual, I ask how difficult it will be to remove a crown that has been cemented firmly in place for two decades. “It’s usually pretty simple. Since there’s a cavity under one edge, it should break loose almost on its own. I’ll cut the crown in half to make it easier to pry off the rest.” That’s pretty reassuring.
He starts sawing through the porcelain. It takes a long time, and my jaw aches from being stretched to its maximum opening. “The porcelain cuts pretty easily,” he says, “the metal underneath is considerably tougher.” I find that considerably less reassuring.
He switches to a different tool, saying that—one time—he went through a dozen #34 tips on one crown. I have a sinking suspicion that he knows that I am no longer in a position to object to anything he wants to do to me. The sawing continues. He stops and tries to pry off a bit of the old crown.
It doesn’t work.
The sawing continues, going back and forth between the tools used for porcelain and the now infamous #34s. He says that he’s had to saw the old crown in eighths. He resumes the prying maneuvers.
It still doesn’t work.
He asks the assistant for “the tapper.”
“The tapper” sounds so much better than “the hammer.” But it is a hammer. It’s accompanied by “the chisel.” For the next half hour, my hyper-extended jaw is twisted sideways from repeated blows. At one point he asks me to keep my eyes closed, because a flying chip of my former crown has landed just below my left eyelid. I’m happy to comply, because—for a moment—I can relax my over-stretched mandibular muscles.
Finally the crown, reduced to a small pile of shrapnel among the dental tools, is no more.
It’s not the conclusion of The Procedure, however. More tools descend into my gaping maw, grinding and scraping, chipping away at whatever had been lurking beneath the old prosthesis. At this point, they insert various devices and substances in order to make molds to be used to manufacture a replacement crown. This means several grateful minutes when my mouth gets to remain closed.

I wonder if novocaine is responsible for this surge of euphoria, or if it’s just relief subsequent to The Procedure, but I start to feel good. It was the result of neither. I am soothed by the attentions of a couple of members of my own species fussing over me. I am just another primate, an oversized chimp as it were, blissfully having my fur groomed by the rest of his troop.

Of course a chimp doesn't have to pay over a thousand dollars for a bit of sociable lice-picking. So who’s the smarter primate?  

Food Sites for March 2018

A Couple of  Winter Vegetables: Beets and turnips, certainly... but where are the carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes?

Well... we (at least those of us in the more blighted parts of the northern hemisphere) have made it through the first half of winter. We’re relieved to see that the days are getting longer, but we still crave the comfort of roasted foods—foods that warm both home and the heart.
Having completed the first, second and third drafts our new book (Après Escoffier: Sauces Reconsidered), it’s been submitted to Ken Albala, the food book series editor at Rowan and Littlefield. Which means—until the book comes back for final edits & corrections—there’s some breathing space to devote to a novel-in-progress.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
This month’s quote (not, this time, from On the Table’s culinary quote collection) offers a bit of wintry commiseration. Feel free to sing along with Ezra Pound’s “Ancient Music”:

Winter is icummen in, 

Lhude sing Goddamm, 

Raineth drop and staineth slop, 

And how the wind doth ramm!   

         Sing: Goddamm

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us, 

An ague hath my ham. 

Freezeth river, turneth liver,         

        Damn you, sing: Goddamm.

Goddamm, Goddamm, ‘tis why I am, Goddamm,

           So, ’gainst the winter’s balm. 

Sing goddamm, damn, sing goddamm, 

Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM. 

Gary
March, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (we're looking at you, Jonell Galloway), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Banking on Wild Relatives to Feed the World(Maywa Montenegro, at Gastronomica, reminds us of the biological value of genetic diversity for agriculture in a world challenged by climate change)
Connoisseur’s Guide to Edible Insects, The(how, and why, we should consider biting back)
How Did Salt and Pepper Become the Soulmates of Western Cuisine?(Natalie Jacewicz surveys the tables of the past for NPR’s The Salt)
Hunting for the Ancient Lost Farms of North America(Annalee Newitz, in ars technica, on archaeobotanist Natalie Mueller’s search for native species of lost crops)
It’s Difficult to Talk About Soviet Food(Rachel Sugar, at Taste, purges some notions about Russian foods—many of which survived the Soviet Era)
On Tasting the New(Dwight Furrow, thinking about how we think about food and wine, at Edible Arts)
Origins of Rum and its Place in History, The(Tricia Cohen sails beyond Captains Jack and Jack Sparrow, at ThymeMachine)
Putting Ancient Recipes on the Plate(Jessica Leigh Hester, at Atlas Obscura, on efforts to use experimental archaeology to learn about the foods of the past)
Welcome to Bugs for Dinner(Bill Broadbent is doing his best to spread the gospel of entomophagy)
Why of Cooking, The(Joe Pinsker surveys many of the essential books that reveal the essentials of cooking, for Atlantic)
Why Raw-Milk Cheese Is Celebrated for Flavor and Scrutinized for Safety(Simran Sethi, at The New Food Economy, looks at the history and science behind all sides of this contentious subject)
Wine Food Pairing Guidelines: Taste Is More Important Than Flavor(Dwight Furrow shares the principles at Edible Arts)


---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
Cooking Dumb, Eating Dumb
Freelancer’s Essential Guide to Business and Taxes, The
Mike Geno Paintings of Food
Notes from Home: Recipes, Menus and Cookbooks
Open Letter to Readers of Food Media, An

---- yet another blog ----
Reverse Wine Snob

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #209 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for February 2018

Unqualified Climactic Prognosticator: Marmota monax

The groundhog in the mugshot, above, spends his summers eye-balling (or worse) our garden. He’s sleeping soundly at the moment, no doubt dreaming of vegetarian feasts past and future. Very soon, one of his distant relatives will be dragged, protesting, into what we hope will be a darkly overcast Punxsatawney morning. The calendar may claim that Winter only lasts for three months, but it already feels like we’re a year or so into this one. 
We’ll just have to keep digging out—outside—and digging in, inside. We’ve completed the first and second drafts our new book (Après Escoffier: Sauces Reconsidered), and are still deep in the editing process—while making notes in our novel-in-progress. Basically, we’ve done little beside shoveling and scribbling. This self-aggrandising news, BTW, is our puny attempt at apologizing for the shortened issue this month.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
This month’s quotes (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection offer some lightly literary respite from winter.

The Highlanders regale themselves with whisky. They find it an excellent preservation against the winter cold. It is given with great success to the infants in the confluent smallpox. Tobias Smollett

I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter’s evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream... I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples, cider, and doughnuts, make old people’s tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting. Mark Twain

Gary
February, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (like Awanthi Vardaraj), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Center for Genomic Gastronomy, The(“...an artist-led think tank that examines the biotechnologies and biodiversity of human food systems” that works together “with scientists, chefs, hackers and farmers“)
Flavour Revolutionary, The(Nadia Berenstein’s article, at Aeon, about Henry Theophilus Finck’s “programme for the mass-production of deliciousness”)
Food Features (Online international travel magazine’s offerings of food writing)
Free Okra(Siddhartha Mitter’s essay, in Oxford American, on race, slime, and vegetal conflict)
History of Beirut in 10 Dishes, A(Zahra Hankir waxes nostalgic, and historical, on the roots of some classic Lebanese dishes)
Is Wine a Living Thing?(Dwight Furrow muses, philosophically and scientifically, on the ultimate nature of wine; at 3 Quarks Daily)
---- changed URL ----
Thai Food Glossary

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
Do Food and Politics Mix on Social Media?
Favorite English Food Writers
Hi, I’m America’s Best Worst Cook
Why Does Every Online Recipe Begin with the Preface to a Personal Memoir?
Writers’ Resources

---- yet more blogs ----
Broiled Grapefruit
Old Line Plate
Saucy Dressings
Terroir Review
Writing in the Kitchen


---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #208 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author’s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

food sites for January 2018

Looking neither back or ahead, but up.
The Dome of St. Peter’s, Rome.

Much is made, this time of year, about the two-faced Roman god, Janus, who looks both forward and backwards. The minor deity is an apt metaphor for the way we feel, passing through the door of new year. However, we’d rather pay homage to a different minor deity: Educa. She was responsible for young children’s nourishment... nourishment in two senses, since her name is etymologically connected to Latin words for “food” and “education.” Specifically, she helped infants make the transition from breast milk to adult food... and overcome their resistance to new and unusual foodstuffs. 
So the Romans understood that there is a connection between feeding the body and the mind. Fortunately (an etymological nod to another of the lesser Roman gods, Fortuna), we’re well-past the stage of resistance to strange foods. Bring ‘em on!
We’re frantically working on a new book (that’s due to be sent to the editor in a couple of months), so we re-purposed and updated an article, that was originally published by LeitesCulinaria, for Roll Magazine. A Jolly Olde Christmas features some wonderful recipes by Francine Segan, cookbook author extraordinaire.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
This month’s quote (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection is something to think about... or maybe not.

Burgundy makes you think of silly things, Bordeaux makes you talk of them, and Champagne makes you do them. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Gary
January, 2018
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (like Cynthia Bertelsen and Nicola Miller), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
Citrus ID(huge database of citrus fruit varieties and cultivars, with photos and scientific details; from North Carolina State University and the University of California-Riverside)
Future Publics of Food Studies, The: A Conversation(Emily Contois and Katherine Hysmith discuss food writing—academic and popular—in Graduate Association for Food Studies)
Gastro Observer (online, often quirky, food magazine)
Guide to Tofu Types and What to Do With Them, A(Kelly Bone’s article at Serious Eats)
Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream is from the Bronx—So What’s with the Name?(Dan Nosowitz takes on fake foreign food names)
How the Sandwich Consumed Britain(Sam Knight’s Guardian article on the fastest—and fastest selling—food in England)
International Museum of Dinnerware Design, The(“...masterpieces of the tabletop genre created by leading artists and designers worldwide;” in Ann Arbor, MI, but arranges exhibits in other places)
Library Has Secrets, The(Lesley Tellez’s article, in Taste, on the collection of Mexican cookbooks in the University of Texas at San Antonio Library’s Special Collections)
Pods, Pots, and Potions: Putting Cacao to Paper in Early Modern Europe(Christine Jones, at Public Domain Review, on how the idea of chocolate—its culture and natural history—was introduced to the Old World)
Strange and Twisted History of Mince Pies, The(Veronique Greenwood cuts into the complicated stories about this complicated dessert for BBC Future)
Unusual Citrus Fruits(descriptions and photos of twenty relatively unfamiliar fruits)
What did 17th-Century Food Taste Like?(Benjamin Breen’s Res Obscura looks at the problem of identifying historical taste)
Your Culinary World(Peter Schlagel and Ana Kinkaid serve up  “...the Best in Food, History, Hospitality and Culture”)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
Great American Cookbook?, The
How Bloggers Monetize: New Research
Story Telling with Food

---- yet more blogs ----
7 Saffron Street
26 Rooms in Chinon: Life’s a Feast
Canadian Literary Fare
Cook and the Curator, The
Diana Henry
Doodlenomics
Duck Pie
Early English Bread Project, The
Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog
Food Culture Index
Food Dictator, The
Imik Simik: Cooking with Gaul
Thanks for the Meal

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #207 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2018 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for December 2017

Sturgeon fishing on the Hudson, part of a WPA mural Olin Dows painted for the Hyde Park Post office (1941).

We somehow managed to keep summer going a lot longer than usual this year... but, alas, it has finally come to an end. A couple of nights ago, we had our first killing frost. Basil, fresh from the garden—will only be only a memory until next year. Fortunately, the cold months have other flavors to delight us. As the holiday season continues, some of us will be sucking down caviar...  but the rest of us can try some alternatives. We posted a few at “Caviar, Friend or Faux?” in Roll Magazine.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner.
This month’s quotes (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection suggest the kind of moderation we tend to ignore during the holidays.

But some of us are beginning to pull well away, in our irritation, from... the exquisite tasters, the vintage snobs, the three-star Michelin gourmets. There is, we feel, a decent area somewhere between boiled carrots and Beluga caviar, sour plonk and Chateau Lafitte, where we can take care of our gullets and bellies without worshipping them.  J.B. Priestley 

Give me a platter of choice finnan haddie, freshly cooked in its bath of water and milk, add melted butter, a slice or two of hot toast, a pot of steaming Darjeeling tea, and you may tell the butler to dispense with the caviar, truffles and nightingales’ tongues. Craig Claiborne 

There is more simplicity in the man who eats caviar on impulse than in the man who eats grape-nuts on principle. G.K. Chesterton

Gary
December, 2017
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please drop us a line.  It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those who have pointed out tasty sites (like Dianne Jacob), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.

---- the new sites ----
600-Year History of Cookbooks as Status Symbols, A(Henry Notaker’s survey in The Atlantic, drawing on his book, A History of Cookbooks: From Kitchen to Page Over Seven Centuries )
Allure of Black-Colored Food, The(Ligaya Mishan’s dark thoughts, in The New York Times)
Beer and American Patriotism are Inseparable Thanks to WWII(...and a lot of marketing)
Brewing a Great Cup of Coffee Depends on Chemistry and Physics(chemist Christopher Hendon explains some of the variables to control for The Conversation)
Brief History of Coffee, A: A Drink for the Devil(Paul Chrystal, at the BBC’s History Extra, takes from the age of legend through the seventeenth century)
Bringing the Immigrant Back into the Sociology of Taste(an overview of Krishnendu Ray’s book, The Ethnic Restaurateur , in Appetite)
Dark Chocolate Is Now a Health Food. Here’s How that Happened.(Julia Belluz, at Vox, on how the chocolate industry intentionally steered research in the wrong direction)
Dinners that Shaped History, The(three New York Times pieces; by Jessica B. Harris, Bee Wilson, and Brenda Wineapple)
Everything Guide to Cork and Corkscrews, The(a Wine Enthusiast introduction for budding helixophiles)
Gannet, The (“...online magazine that explores people’s lives through the food they cook and eat”)
Herbs, Spices and the Conundrum of Chinese Cuisine(Li Anlan, in Shanghai Daily, describes some ingredients that are little-known in the West)
Illustrated Guide to the Most Important Wine Soils You Should Know, An (an article plus infographic from Vinepair)
Iowa Cookbook Collection, The(from the archives of Iowa State University)
Lost American Recipes(Deborah White’s “...collection of indulgent American recipes from 1720 to 1980“)
Museum of Kitchenalia(Emma Kay’s collection of “...objects and ephemera ...of the British kitchen...” late eighteenth century through the 1960s)
Resonance: A Measure of Wine Quality(Dwight and Lynn Furrow, at Edible Arts, on the relationship between unparsable complexity and perceived quality)
Rhythm of Food, The(explore food trends via Google News Lab and Truth & Beauty)
So What is a Kitchen?(Rachel Lauden reviews Sara Pennell‘s book, The Birth of the English Kitchen, 1600-1850 )
Tale of 2 Cheeses, A: How Cheddar Beat Lancashire in the Industrial Age(Bronwen and Francis Percival describe the differences between these two cheeses and—along the way—explain how the chemistry and process of cheese-making determine the character of the finished cheese; an article at Serious Eats)
Tasting Pompeii—Sensory Archaeology and Caupona(Farrell Monaco’s blogpost about a project using archaeology to recreate the foods ancient Romans ate at Pompeii)
Untold Story of Indian Ghee, The(it’s much more than clarified butter; Aditya Raghavan and Sneha Shanker, writing in The Goya Journal)
Victorian Culinary Trading Cards Are a Feast for the Eyes(Paula Mejia, at Atlas Obscura, on Cornell University’s exhibit of Nach Waxman’s collection of early food memorabilia)
What Did Neolithic Man Eat After a Hard Day at Stonehenge? Sweet Pork and Rich Cheese(Robin McKie—science editor at The Guardian—on what archaeology can tell us about ancient feasts)
Your Guide to Nigerian Cuisine(Ozoz Sokoh’s warmly nostalgic look at this west African cuisine; via Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
12 Free Ways to Promote Your Ebook Online
19 Types of Food Snobs, Ranked by Obnoxiousness, The
Food Photography Pricing Part 3—Pricing for Small Clients
Food Writing in “Flyover Country”
How to Start a Food Blog
Notes on the Art of Rhetoric
Ruby Tandoh: The Meaning of a Food Memoir
When Copyright Goes Copywrong
Writing for In-Flight Magazines: How Freelance Writers can Break In

---- yet more blogs ----
Kitchen Butterfly
Penknife Kitchen
Tavola Mediterranea
Thyme Machine Cuisine

---- that‘s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, URLs we provide may link to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them). We do not receive any compensation for listing them here, and provide them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
Your privacy is important to us. We will not give, sell or share your e-mail address with anyone, for any purpose—ever. Nonetheless, we will expose you to the following irredeemably brazen plugs: 
Want to help On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to go shopping on Amazon, click on any of the book links below, then whatever you buy there will earn a commission for this newsletter without adding to your cost (it doesn’t even have to be one of our books).
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(these newsletters merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
 (Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Terms of Vegery
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #206 is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication—unless with the author‘s prior written permission—is strictly prohibited.
Copyright ©2017 by Gary Allen.