Gary Allen's Blog, page 13

Food Sites for March 2017

The grave of Julius Caesar, in Rome’s Forum
The Ides of March are almost upon us... and being frivolously food-obsessed, we naturally think of Caesar Salad (which, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with the very late emperor). We’ve visited the subject before, so no need to exhume it now.  As some unknown wag has so aptly put it, “Rome wasn’t burned in a day.” 
It’s a phrase we find oddly comforting in these perilous times.
Last month, on Just Served, we ranted a bit about a couple of products that have been sacrificed to someone else’s notions of progress. The essay is called “Products Perdu.”
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.
It should be obvious, by now, that we’ve come to purée Caesar, not to braise him... and, since we started this issue with a soupçon of political innuendo, we might as well conclude this month’s quote (from On the Table’s culinary quote collection) by dishing out more of the same.

To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist—the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know how much oil one must mix with one’s vinegar. Oscar Wilde  

You can’t make a good speech on iced water. Winston Churchill 

Alcohol is a very necessary article. It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning. George Bernard Shaw

 GaryMarch, 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 juicy sites (like 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 ----
10 Spectacular SouthIndian Sweets(Awanthi Vardaraj, at Paste Quarterly, on “the glorious varieties of Indian desserts” non-Indians have probably never tasted)
Apron Strings and Kitchen Sinks(an exhibit, by the USDA, about the Bureau of Home Economics begun in the 1930s)
Best Food Scenes inBritish Literature, The(Nicola Miller serves them up, hot and fresh, at Paste)
Brief History of Food as Art, A(Sharon Butler, at Smithsonian Journeys Quarterly, notes that artists—starving or not—have been fascinated by food since the Stone Age)
Caribbean Pot(recipes and culture of the region)
Case for Sugar, The(as Paul Rudnick wrote in the The New York Times, “…sugar tastes really, really good”)
Difference between Porterand Stout Beer, The: It’s Complicated(as Adam Teeter explains at Vinepair, it’s both complicated and not so much)
Dining with Diamond Jim(Jan Whitaker on one of America’s most famous eaters)
Eating Toward Immortality(Michelle Allison, in The Atlantic, says we choose our diets based on our fear of death)
Guide to the Rices of Asia, A(another Lucky Peach guide, this one excerpted from Seductions of Rice, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid)
Heavy Lifting: The Potato, the Poor, and Pleasure in Ireland(Rachel Lauden on the tasks involved to provide and prepare Irish staple before the famine)
Mind Plays Tricks, The(Dwight Furrow, at Edible Arts, tells us that we can only taste what we expect to taste; the article is about wine, but is applicable to other tastes)
Much of the Cuisine We Now Know, and Think of as Ours, Came to Us by War(Victoria Pope, at Smithsonian Journeys Quarterly, answers the question: “War… what is it good for?”)
What Is Noble Rot?(The Back Label’s Camille Berry decants the improbable secret behind luscious dessert wines, like Chateau d’Yquem)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) site for writers/bloggers ----
Food-Writing Prescription to Cure Clean-Eating, A

---- still another blog ----
Erica De Mane: Improvisation Italian-Style

---- changed URL ----
Serious Eats Guide to Food Photography, The

---- 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 #197 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 (c) 2017 by Gary Allen.

Products Perdu

Most of the preserved foods discussed in my book, Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Food , are quirky, often intensely-flavored foods and condiments produced by salting, drying, and especially fermenting. They’re foods that define moments in our collective past, or recreate the taste of exotic places. We treasure them because they are not like the bland mass-productions of the latest technologies.All too easily, our favorite flavours can disappear, doomed to exist only as regret-filled nostalgia. Here are two accounts of such products we may never taste again.Leiderkrantz was an early example of what we might call an “artisanal cheese” today. Soft-ripened and aromatic, with a firm crust, it was nothing like modern mass-produced processed cheeses. It was invented in response to a contest sponsored by a New York City delicatessen owner—Adolphe Tode—who wanted to replace imported Bismarck Schlosskâse with a lower-priced domestic imitation. It was named for a German singing society in New York, and its popularity grew quickly.Eventually, its tiny dairy barn factory was replaced by larger quarters. At first the cheese could not be made at the modern plant. Legend has it that the original boards from the old plant were nailed up inside the sterile facility, and as much of the cheese as could be found on store shelves was smeared on the boards to recreate the proper biological environment for the cheese. Whatever actually occurred, they were able to restart the cultures and this wonderful cheese was saved.For a while.Borden’s bought the rights to the cheese, adding their logo to the little boxes. However, the stinky cheese market was too small for the corporate giant. They discontinued production in the early 1980s—ironically, just as Americans were beginning to develop a taste for something more sophisticated than bland industrially-produced “cheesefood.”Borden’s sold the rights, and the all-essential cultures, to a firm in Australia. Rumours circulate, every few years, that production of Leiderkrantz will begin again, but those of us who hold fond memories of this wonderfully smelly cheese have been disappointed every time.
Somewhat closer to home, an iconic New York State product has also been lost—again to the requirements of an industry that is more concerned with the demands of a mass market than with the unique and defining properties of that signature product.Back in the 1970s and early 80s, I became fond of Saratoga Vichy Water. It was naturally carbonated, had a distinctive mineral taste, and just a suggestion of sulphur in its bouquet. It amused me to think that I was getting a foretaste of how I was likely to spend eternity—albeit in a somewhat more refreshing form. I also liked the look of the old-fashioned bottle. It suggested continuity with our region’s past, and the ocher, red and black label, with a logo of interlocked letters, suited perfectly its green glass bottle.
Sometime later in the 1980s, I was served a bottle of Saratoga water in a restaurant. It came in a modern blue glass bottle, with no suggestion of its former appearance, other than the words “Since 1872.” The word “Vichy” was nowhere to be seen. I assumed that the packaging merely reflected the usual rebranding that companies are wont to do. I was disabused of that notion with the first sip.No mineral taste. No suggestion of demonic possession. Just the innocuous taste of ordinary tap water, with bubbles. It tasted like generic store-bought seltzer, not even the time-honoured stuff I used to have delivered—by the wooden case, in antique siphons—from Gimme Seltzer. when I lived on the Upper West Side. I was disappointed and confused. Why would they do such a thing?Of course, we know why. To make more money.  The company needed to expand to secure a larger market than culinary throwbacks, like me, could provide. Their marketing people, no doubt, said something along the lines of, “Nobody really likes this smelly stuff anymore. People want something that seems clean and fresh. Let’s filter the hell out of it and put it in blue glass, because that’ll make them think it’s cool and pure.” Naturally, there was another profit-making aspect to the switch. According to Adam C. Madkour, the CEO of Saratoga Spring Water Company, the new version has very low levels of dissolved minerals like calcium, iron, and sodium—the very things that gave the old version its distinctive taste.  Apparently, those minerals reduced the shelf life of the Saratoga Vichy, which “made it unsuitable for bottling.” He added, “The way we think as consumers today is very different than the way we used to. Too much sodium is not good for you.”So, once again, progress has eliminated a bit of our past. It’s a reflection of the same sort of mentality that believes beautiful old buildings can, indeed should, be torn down so that modern—and intentionally short-lived—replacements can go up in their stead. As with Leiderkrantz, the old product was abandoned just before American consumers developed a passion for terroir (and aversion to ennui-inducing blandness). Today, at least in Los Angeles, a water sommelier is serving and informing his clientele about the virtues of, and differences between, dozens of expensive waters from around the world. It may sound pretentious, here, but Europe has had water sommeliers for some time. There’s some hope that such refinement may take root beyond LA.On another front, since its springs are what once made Saratoga a famous destination, the city has maintained twenty-one of them available to the public. Many of them are in Saratoga Spa State Park, but some are right in town. Each one has a different mineral profile, and therefore has a unique taste. I’ll never get one of those lovely old bottles again, but I can still taste a bit of history—for free.

Food Sites for February 2017

Sucrose
On this cold and gray day, it’s pleasant to reflect on the fact that Spring—the sweet of the year—will eventually come (no matter what the prognosticator of Punxatawney, PA has to say about it). So we’ve chaptalized this month’s must—to make it go down easier—or dull the senses with more alcohol—whichever is needed.
Speaking of which, last month Modern Salt published “A Wine Epiphany on the Cheap,” proving—for some us at least—that it is possible to overthink a glass of wine.
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) attempts to add a little sweetness to this bitter season.

Honey comes out of the air … At early dawn the leaves of trees are found bedewed with honey. … Whether this is the perspiration of the sky or a sort of saliva of the stars, or the moisture of the air purging itself, nevertheless it brings with it the great pleasure of its heavenly nature. It is always of the best quality when it is stored in the best flowers. Pliny 

A pessimist is someone who looks at the land of milk and honey and sees only calories and cholesterol. Anonymous 

“Bee vomit,” my brother said once, “that’s all honey is,” so that I could not put my tongue to its jellied flame without tasting regurgitated blossoms. Rita Dove 

GaryFebruary, 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 juicy sites (like Jill Norman), 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 ----
Elizabeth David(Modern Salt’s Jill Norman remembers the great cookbook author)
Guide to the Regional Moles of Mexico, The(Lucky Peach’s Scarlett Lindeman reveals that there’s a lot more to Mexican sauces than mole poblano and guacamole)
How a Destitute, Abandoned Parisian Boy Became the First Celebrity Chef(NPR’s Nicole Jankowski on the life and career of Carême)
How Chickens Shifted from Sacred to Diet Staple(quick NPR interview with zooarchaeologist Naomi Sykes)
Is Sugar the World’s Most Popular Drug?(Gary Taubes makes the case in The Guardian)
Is What’s in the Glass All That Matters?(philosopher Dwight Furrow, in Edible Arts, takes on the issue of context in the appreciation of wine)
Just How Green is the Frugal, Simple-living Locavore?(Emrys Westacott, at 3Quarks Daily, says it’s a mixed bag; “just because something seems right or feels right does not mean that objectively speaking it is right”)
Mistakes in “Paleo” Eating(James Hamblin, in The Atlantic, “...it’s strange to be militantly inflexible about rules that are barely more than arbitrary”)
Philosophy on the Table: A Conversation with Julian Baggini(“Food tells us a lot about what it means to be human, which is to be neither a be[a]st merely feeding nor some kind of pure mind or soul that does not need to eat.” In Symposion Journal)
These are the Sugar Files(Max Falkowitz, in Saveur, on an “ingredient that rules the world”)
Traditional Texas Food(John Raven’s articles about Texas’ most famous foods—from chicken-fried steak to sonofabitch stew)
Visit to a Pepper Plantation, A(Jill Norman, at Modern Salt, on Piper nigrum)
What Happens When Every Element of Nature Conspires to Keep You from Making Honey? It Tastes Incredible(Saveur’s Alex Testere on the miracle of Scottish heather honey)
Why Do We Prefer Food Culture Over Actual Cooking, and What Does That Say About the Future of Food?(food for thought from Claudia McNeilly, in Canada’s National Post)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
8 Answers to Copyright Questions About Recipes and Books
How to Stop Feeling Like a Fraud
Writing Your Way to Happiness

---- still more blogs ----
Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook
Not So Innocents Abroad, The
Old Fashioned Recipes
Past on a Plate, The
Vintage California Cuisine
Vintage Vegetarian 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 #196 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 (c) 2017 by Gary Allen.

food sites for January 2017

Sage, à la neige
As we write this, the holiday season of excess is no longer crouched outside the door, it’s taken up residence. In the interest of public service, and to help us all stay on our diets, this issue contains zero calories and saturated fat. However, should you choose to act on any of the tasty things described (we’re looking at you, pecan pie), all bets are off. 
Of course, there are always New Year’s resolutions to make up for these minor infractions, right?
Speaking of infractions, last month Roll Magazine published “My Dinner with Zal,” an alliterative remembrance of a memorable past repast. 
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) shows how thoughtful a host or hostess can be.

Even today, well-brought-up English girls are taught by their mothers to boil all veggies for at least a month and a half, just in case one of the dinner guests turns up without his teeth. Calvin Trillin

GaryJanuary, 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 juicy sites (like Rachel Laudan), 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 ----
Aquavit: The Drink That Sailed a Thousand Ships(Nick Hines, at Vinepair, on the travels of the high-powered Scandinavian herbal liqueur)
Beginner’s Guide to Korean Noodles, A(Zach Brooks, at Lucky Peach, explains how to tell kalguksu from dongchimi guksu)
Brief History of Pecan Pie, A(Dana Hatic, at Eater, on a southern tradition that’s become an American standard)
Feasting Our Eyes through Food Films(Fabio Parasecoli on film and food porn; a more scholarly take, focusing on intersections between haute cuisine, the media, and awareness—and defining—of class can be found at: Starred Cosmopolitanism: Celebrity Chefs, Documentaries, and the Circulation of Global Desire)
Guide to the Breads of India, A(Michael Snyder, at Lucky Peach, describes 25 different—and nicely illustrated—breads)
International Society of Neurogastronomy, The (ISN)(“…a professional organization for culinary professionals, agriculture professionals, and scientists of gastronomy in the context of brain and behavior”)
Kitty Morse Moroccan Cuisine(website of the author of many award-winning cookbooks about a remarkable cuisine)
Marble Cake(Becky Libourel Diamond on a classic dessert that didn’t always include chocolate)
Searchable Feast, A(Katie O’Reilly’s interview, in Sierra, with Mike Krebill—author of The Scout’s Guide to Wild Edibles: Learn How to Forage, Prepare & Eat 40 Wild Foods)
Synesthetic Adjectives Will Make You Eat Your Words(Chi Luu, at JSTOR Daily, on the way certain parts of speech can refer, simultaneously, to several different sensations)
Why Virtual Eating Will Soon Be on the Menu for Weight Loss Industry(Michael Wolf, at Forbes, on an emerging technology that might force us to rethink the eating phenomenon)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers ----
Francis Lam Wants You to Tell Your Story
In Memoriam: AA Gill’s Most Scathing Restaurant Reviews
Making of a Cookbook, The
Ordinary Pan That Convinced Me to Write a Cookbook, The
Self Publisher’s Resource Blog
So Many Ways to Organize A Cookbook
Why You Need to Put Down Your Phone and Pick Up a Cookbook

---- still more blogs ----
Food Gone Wrong
Food, Photography & France
pickled spruit, the

---- 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 #195 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 (c) 2017 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for December 2016

French Red Shallots, Allium cepa var. aggregatum
The holiday season of excess is crouched outside the door, and soon we’ll be begging not to even think about another rich dish. But, until then, the cool weather makes firing up the oven, or having something simmering on the back burner all day, seem magically domestic.
Roll Magazine published “Thanksgiving,”  a somewhat cantankerous look at the holiday—one that brazenly refuses to include even a single recipe. 
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) leans upon some thoughts about the staff of life.

Proust had his madeleines; I am devastated by the scent of yeast bread rising. Bert Greene  

The toaster is part of a system and only has significance relative to the wrapped, pan-made, thin-crusted bread that can be used in it … Ultimately, the toaster is an apology for the quality of our bread... the toaster represents a heroic attempt to redeem our packaged bread... Every piece of toast is a tragedy. Arthur Berge 

A three-year-old gave this reaction to her Christmas dinner: “I don’t like the turkey, but I like the bread he ate.” Author Unknown

GaryDecember, 2016
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 of you who have introduced us to sites like the ones in this newsletter (such as 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.
PPS: Want to give On the Table a holiday gift, without spending a dime of your own money on it? See the bottom of this newsletter!
---- the new sites ----
Building a Better Bitter(Courtney Humphries, at Cook’s Science, on the role of bitterness in beer—and foods—and recent attempts to moderate it with mycological extracts)
Closer Look at Your Italian Bakery’s Cookie Case, A(something sweet from Lauren Rothman, at Serious Eats)
Cook’s Science (the online companion to Cook’s Illustrated)
Corn: An Ancient Gift from Mexico to Feed the World(Mexico Cooks!’s own Cristina Potters)
De Gustibus; When is Food Rich? It’s All a Question of Semantics(The New York Times’ Mimi Sheraton ponders a ponderous question)
Dental Detectives: What Fossil Teeth Reveal About Ancestral Human Diets(Erin Ross, at NPR’s The Salt, on how archaeologists are using evidence from fossil teeth to discover what our ancient ancestors ate)
Elusive M-word, The(Jancis Robinson on the debunking of “minerality” in wine descriptions)
Meet the Fish That Made America Great(Sarah Laskow, at Atlas Obscura, on the history, and fortunes, of America’s founding fish, shad)
More Than an Indian Taco(José R. Ralat, at Cowboys & Indians, on the history, mythology, and culture of a misunderstood traditional regional specialty)
Plowline: Images of Rural New York(assembling a collection of agricultural photos at The Farmer’s Museum, in Cooperstown, NY)
Rice, Rice Wine(a guide to sake, by Tasting Table’s Lizzie Munro)
Solving the Nutritional Mystery of Historical Food at Sea(Matthew Braga, at Atlas Obscura, on recent attempts to re-create the staple foods of sea-farers of the past)
Stop What You’re Doing and Eat all the Persimmons You Can(Kristy Mucci, at Saveur, on persimmons that won’t pucker you)
St. Martin’s Croissant Museum(Adam Kinkaid, on a museum dedicated to Poland’s rogale świętomarcińskie, a pastry that is nothing like the familiar French crescent)
Ultimate Ice Cream Glossary, A to Z, The(Eater’s Daniela Galarza soft-serves the regional names for a lot of frozen treats)
Whitman and Vegetarianism(Evan Edwards, at 3 Quarks Daily, on the poet’s conflicted feelings about carnivory)

---- an inspirational (or otherwise useful) site for writers/bloggers ----
Calling All Foodie Freelancers: 20 Dining and Food Magazines to Pitch

---- still another blog ----
Pistou

---- 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 give On the Table a holiday gift, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you plan to do your holiday 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 #194 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 (c) 2016 by Gary Allen.

Rules of Engagement

Editor’s Note: For the life of me, I cannot undertand why otherwise reasonable people continue to invite this “party pooper” to their weddings. It must be because his wife—who is not, at all, a wet blanket—is a desirable guest. Inexplicably, after decades of failure, she has not given up her efforts to civilize him. I guess that makes TWO things I cannot understand.At a recent wedding—where he confirmed his antisocial bona fides by sitting alone with a thickish book, and by being conspicuously absent from the dance floor—he instead mused on the nature of the proceedings. It should be noted that, while he has no personal knowledge of the subject on which he pontificates, that has never stopped him before.

When boys are growing up, they’re vaguely aware that weddings and marriage exist, but they lump them together with other  “things to be avoided”—like skunks, poison ivy, and soap. As they get older, and the inevitability of the unthinkable approaches, they realize that there are but two details about which they should be concerned: picking out the right engagement ring, and coming up with the least-objectionable way to present it without making complete asses of themselves. Once past those obstacles, there’s only the engagement. Most males mistakenly believe that the engagement is a kind of grace period that was designed to provide either party a chance to weasel out of the contract. The poor deluded chaps were either unaware of, or simply weren’t paying attention to, children of the female persuasion who grew up in their vicinity.Many of these inscrutable creatures (who, for all the boys knew, were of some entirely different species) had, from an early age, been planning imaginary weddings—either alone or in concert with similarly-minded females. The details of their imagined weddings might have changed, but their complexity only increased, with each passing year. By the time a girl reaches marriageable age, with a wedding date already inked in, a set of plans as convoluted as the outline of a Russian novel of the larger sort are formulated. To layout one of these metaphorical novels, she must consider mood, theme, character development and interrelationships with other characters, setting(s), multiple plots and sub-plots, previous novels or historical facts (if any of the characters, settings, and events had appeared in print before), as well as times and distances required by all sub-plots, so that no unexpected conflicts present themselves. The groom, of course, is blissfully oblivious to all this.At first.Gradually, like an unfortunate frog that discovers that his smallish pond is actually a pot that has been set on the stove, the boy begins to notice that he’s in hot water. While he is busy worrying about the likelihood of choking or mumbling his lines at the altar, his future bride is manipulating the numberless details of the impending event. Relationships of which he has no knowledge—or, if he does, are of no consequence to him—are of paramount importance to the growing circle of female co-conspirators who orbit his bride-to-be. Clothes, which for him are no more than a collection of unmatched items that need only shield him from weather are instead—and utterly new to him—a cacophony of competing fabrics, styles, cuts, colors, and god-knows what-all attributes, every one of which is of critical importance to the bride and her cohorts. The fact that such details are indistinguishable to him does little more than make him a lodestone of feminine disapproval.Still, he cannot comprehend the reason for their long engagement. This despite the fact that the bride’s inner circle might need two months just to determine the seating arrangements at the reception. Layers of social and familial entanglements rivaling those of the Hatfields and McCoys, must be identified and parried through meticulous planning. The groom—who, frankly, had never really paid attention to who, exactly, all these relatives were, let alone the forces that attracted them to, or repelled them from, each other—is learning all this for the first time. Whether he wishes to or not.Weeks and weeks of interviews with potential DJs, printers of wedding invitations, florists, bakers, hairdressers, organizers, clergy and/or justices, facilities managers, caterers, hoteliers, chauffeurs, mixologists and moon-shiners—and possibly fools, jugglers, acrobats, peacocks and trained apes (but nary a belly-dancer) will occur. Much as he would like for all this to proceed without him, he will be expected to participate in every decision. Knowing, beforehand, that any suggestions he might offer will be disregarded would be merciful. No one will be merciful.He will, eventually, discover that he has achieved the status of an ancient feeble-minded uncle. That guy who shows up at all family gatherings, only to be shown to a soft chair in a remote corner and ignored until dinner time—when the unfortunate person who drew the short straw has to sit beside him, assigned to pick up dropped flatware, wipe up occasional spills, and mop drool from his grizzled chin.It is the time-tested training method for married life.

Food Sites for November 2016

Summer is definitely over around here, which means cleaning out the last of the frost-averse parts of the harvest. The final batch of basil is in, and green tomatoes that will never have a chance to ripen have been fried or turned into chutney.
Roll Magazine published “Oysters,” some thoughts about our favorite mollusk. Meanwhile, we’ve been on the stump a bit for Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Food, doing readings and being interviewed. This was an especially (almost embarrassingly) positive example of the latter.
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) features this line from the 1991 film, Fried Green Tomatoes (a line, you may recall, that had nothing whatsoever to do with fried green tomatoes):

The secret’s in the sauce.

GaryNovember, 2016
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 of you who have introduced us to sites like the ones in this newsletter (such as 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 ----
Culinaria Mexicana(Mexican cookery: articles, recipes, links to blogs; in Spanish)
Definitive History of Grog, The(Nick Hines, at Vinepair, on what used to be the best part of a British tar’s day)
Eastern Spaghetti: How Italian Food Became a Favorite in Thailand(Lynn Brown, at JSTOR Daily, on something that has little to do with pad thai)
History of the Croissant, The(Lily Starbuck, at Lucky Peach, tears into some flaky fakelore)
Is It Nachos or Nacho’s?(Adán Medrano, on the origin of the ubiquitous Mexican starter, at Hispanic Network)
On Kitchens and Cooking(the etymology of the back of the house)
Subtle Secrets of Persian Home Kitchens, The(interview, by Cara Parks at Roads & Kingdoms; how Naomi Duguid was able to encounter the real foods of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan)
Taco Tale, A: History of the Taco(Paige Villiard on the origins of the ubiquitous hand-held favorite)
Tradition and Authenticity: What Is *Real* Mexican Food?(Cristina Potters on Mexican food that won’t have you saying “Yo quiero Taco Bell”)
Wine and Nature’s Rift(Dwight Furrow on why winemaking is both art and science)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) site for writers/bloggers ----
Adding Taste to Food Writing
Do You Make These 5 Mistakes with Salt in Recipes?
How to Prepare for Your Food Photo-Shoot: Make a Shot List
Is “Best” Now the Worst Way to Describe a Recipe?
My Circuitous Path to Food Writing as a Non-Food Person
What I’d Tell New Food Bloggers, 10 Years After I Started Smitten Kitchen

---- still more blogs ----
Bottom of the Pot
Changing the Way We Think About Food
Food Junk
Historical Foodways
Lottie & Doof
Southern Soufflé: Soul + Food

---- 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 support On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you want to shop on Amazon. Com, 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 #193 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 (c) 2016 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for October 2016

A bin full of live frogs. Asian Supermarket, Colonie, NY.
We have fond memories of Frog Legs Provençal, the introduction to our first meal as a employee of The Culinary Institute of America, ages ago. 
Of course we’d eaten frog legs before, but they were not nearly as elegantly prepared or served. For example, sometime before, we had brought home a bag of live frogs to process into dinner. Our (then) girl friend walked in—saw the throbbing bag that was trying to hop off her kitchen table—and developed a sudden urge to become a vegan. 
We have other froggy memories, even less savory, such as time we stepped on half of a frog that had  been left for us—quite thoughtfully—by one of our cats.  We were, at the time, wearing our favorite pair of bare feet. The precise memory of cold, moist amphibian innards squeezing up between one’s toes does not fade with time, we might add.
Assuming that you’re pretty much sated with froggy memorabilia by now, we can move on to other news.
Roll Magazine published “Preserving Food, Preserving Culture,” an adaptation of parts of the introduction to Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Food , along with three recipes from the book. Aside to On the Table insiders: “Preserving Food, Preserving Culture” was my working title for the book. The publisher’s marketing team created the final title.
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) returns—you’ll be thrilled to learn—to this month’s amphibian theme.

Three million frogs’ legs are served in Paris—daily. Nobody knows what became of the rest of the frogs. Fred Allen 

Waiter, there’s no fly in my soup! Kermit the Frog

GaryOctober, 2016
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 of you who have introduced us to sites like the ones in this newsletter (such as Rachel Laudan, who has been very busy lately), 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 ----
5 Big Questions Behind American Sushi(Smithsonian blogpost, by Jessica Carbone, about the evolution of sushi, mostly in California)
10 Most Influential Restaurants in America, The(Abby Reisner reviews Paul Freedman’s Ten Restaurants That Changed America, at Tasting Table)
Ancient Egyptian Bread(baked by Miguel Esquirol Rios, at The Historical Cooking Project)
Awful Reign of the Red Delicious, The(Sarah Yager, writing in The Atlantic, on the ubiquitous, hard, long-lasting, and relatively flavorless fruit)
Can You Spice Up a Meal Just by Changing the Soundtrack?(Paula Felps, at Live Happy, on recent experiments in neurogastronomy)
Do Americans Eat Too Much Chicken?(an interview, at Civil Eats, with Emelyn Rude, author of Tastes Like Chicken)
Hello, Deli!(Mikhail Horowitz, on New York Jewish delicatessens, at Jewish Currents; or, as William Blake said, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”)
Home-Grown Cuisines or Naturalized Cuisines? The History of Food in Hawaii and Hawaii's Place in Food History(Rachel Laudan explains how the food of Hawaii enriched her understanding of food history, far beyond that of the islands)
John Lawson’s Descriptions of Crops, Vegetables, Fruits, & Nuts in 1609 North Carolina & Native Americans(an early report on the state of agriculture in the Southeastern colonies)
Movement to Define Native American Cuisine, The(Tejal Rao, in The New York Times; forget fry bread and pemmican)
Notes and Queries: Cuisines(Rachel Laudan looks at recent works that question our assumptions about the relationship between geography and cuisines)
Reflection of Technology in Brewing, The(catalog of an exhibit, in the University of Michigan Library, on the history of beer in the US—from seventeenth-century home-brewers, through industrialization, prohibition, and back to home-brewing in the mid twentieth-century; coverage ends before the rise of craft brewing and brewpubs)
Salt Wars, The(a podcast on what we do, and don’t, know about the health effects of salt in the diet)
Science and Wine Vocabulary: An Uneasy Pairing(Dwight Furrow, at Edible Arts, on the limitations of scientific language in writing abut wine)
Taxonomy of a Full Irish Breakfast, The(Dan Bergin-Holly waxes rhapsodic over breakfasts that tend to excess; at Extra Crispy)
There Is Now a Sixth Taste–and It Explains Why We Love Carbs(we may have receptors for more than five basic tastes, and one of the new ones might be for starch; report by Jessica Hamzelou in New Scientist)
Wastefulness of Modern Dining, The; as Performance Art(Nora Caplan-Bricker, in The New Yorker, on the performance art of Sonja Stummerer and Martin Hablesreiter, works that examine implicit eating rituals)
What Wine and Climate Change Could Mean(Nova McCune Cadamatre considers the effect of global warming on the wines of the future, at Snooth; Spoiler alert: it doesn’t look like good news)
Where Bread Began: Ancient Tools Used to Reconstruct—and Taste—Prehistoric Cuisine(experimental archaeologists used twelve-thousand-year-old methods and tools to process Israeli wild barley into bread; report published in PHYS.ORG)

---- changed URL ----
Food of the Gods: Cure for Humanity?

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) site for writers/bloggers ----
Easy Artificial Side Light Part Two
From the Editor: I Hate Food Puns
How is Reviewing a Restaurant Like Reviewing a Book?
“Memoir Has to Risk Something,” says John Birdsall
What’s It Like to Be a Food Writer Right Now?

---- still more blogs ----
Charity Robey
Chef Paulette
---- that‘s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Occasionally, the 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 support On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you want to shop 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 #192 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 (c) 2016 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for September 2016

Beautiful Swimmers (Callinectes sapidus), crusted with Old Bay.
This may be the September issue, but it’s still August while we’re typing—and it’s bloody hot. It’s been bloody hot for ages. That means we long to wade into spicy salty foods (like steamed crabs) and hose ourselves down with icy IPA. Okay... maybe concentrate on getting most of that beer inside us (‘though a sanitizing beard shampoo wouldn’t be a terrible idea after a crabby encounter).
ANYWAY... there’s always someone who tells us that the reason spicy foods are preferred in hot climates is because it makes the natives perspire, which then cools them. Maybe that would work in the desert—where humidity doesn’t exist—but we’ve never noticed a sweat-shortage problem anywhere else. Eliminating excess moisture is more like it. 
We suspect that the cooling idea has as about much validity as the old saw about spices being used to cover the taste of spoiled meat. We scarf down spicy dishes for the same reason we swig frosty brews: We just like ‘em.
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 meant to encourage us to write more (and well) about food—‘though a couple of blog posts in the “inspirational” section, below, warn us to watch our language.

Do not be afraid to talk about food. Food which is worth eating is worth discussing. And there is the occult power of words which somehow will develop its qualities. Marcel Boulestin

GarySeptember, 2016
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 of you who have introduced us to sites like the ones in this newsletter (such as Karla Simon), 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 ----
African Foods & Cuisines: Your Guide to the African Stomach(recipes, ingredients, restaurants, from incredibly varied regional cuisines—including Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean foods)
Brief History of Modern American Dining, A (an Eater interview with Andrew Zimmern that addresses all things gastronomic—and anatomical)
Hatch. The Next Generation.(the story of “the Chile Capital of the World,” in New Mexico Magazine)
Science of Stale Coffee, The(Harold McGee begins one of his fascinating conversations at Lucky Peach)
Secret Code to Unleashing the World’s Most Amazing Flavors, The(David Chang uses logic in an unexpected way to understand the intersection between flavor and memory)
Trials and Tribulations of Tennessee Whiskey, The(it’s not all about Jack)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Pomological Watercolor Collection(thousands of downloadable hi-res fruit images)
Wine Education and Sense of Smell(Dwight Furrow, in Edible Arts, on how knowledge can inform perception in wine tasting)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) site for writers/bloggers ----
How to Write Your First Cookbook
In Which We Consider Banned Food Writing Words
Our Secret List of Banned Words
Writing Your Own Cookbook

---- still more blogs ----
black.white.vivid.
Chewing the Fat
Eating with Your Hands
Potatochips are not Dinner
Rambling Spoon

---- that’s all for now ----
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Some of the URLs we provide may occasionally 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 support On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you want to shop on Amazon. Com, 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 this 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 #191 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 (c) 2016 by Gary Allen.

Food Sites for August 2016

Oregano blossoms (Origanum vulgare)
With this issue, we begin our seventeenth year of publishing these monthly updates to The Resource Guide for Food Writers . What started as a way to keep one book up to date has become a place where hundreds of food lovers (amateurs, in the best sense), scholars, and professional scribblers have shared some of their favorite food-related links.
In other news: Roll Magazine has posted “Mayo on a Burger,” a culinary rant, simultaneously firing up the grill and self-righteous indignation,  and Modern Salt published a bit of anthropophagic levity: “What’s Eating You?”.
Finally, our latest book’s ( Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods ) is out. To support it, epicurious published an interview, “A Dry, Bitter, Salty History of Food Preservation”. By a strange coincidence, we were also interviewed by Atlas Obscura , for part of a larger article on sausages.
In related news: if you’re going to be near Kingston, New York on Thursday July 28th, there will be a reading and book-signing at the Barnes & Noble store on Ulster Avenue, at 7 PM. Stop by and say hello!
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) celebrates our most recent roadtrip (and, atypically, comes with a photo of its own):

In Baltimore, soft crabs are always fried (or broiled) in the altogether, with maybe a small jock-strap of bacon added. H.L. Mencken

GaryAugust, 2016
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 of you who have introduced us to sites like the ones in this newsletter (such as 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 ----
Biryani is Better than Americans Know(Urvija Banerji, at Atlas Obscura, on the quintessential South Asian rice dish)
Bread Lovers, Like Wine Connoisseurs, Now Have a Chart to Describe the Flavors of a Loaf(Meredith Goad, in The Portland Press Herald, on recent work by Certified Master Taster Michael Kalanty)
Cookbooks and Home Economics(digitized books in the Research Library Department of Special Collections of UCLA’s Bancroft Library)
Cooking with Gas(Jan Whitaker, on how and when restaurant kitchens switched from coal to gas)
Cooks Without Borders(international food, via recipes, blog, stories, cookbook reviews)
Demystifying Terroir: Maybe It’s the Microbes Making Magic in Your Wine(Carolyn Beans, at NPR’s The Salt, on recent research into the biological reasons for similar wine’s differing flavors)
Diners Are the Bad Boys We Aren’t Supposed to Love(is anyone more qualified to write about diners than Michael Stern?—an epicurious article)
Edna Lewis and the Mythology Behind Modern Southern Food(Cynthia Bertelsen, in Modern Salt, argues against popular—and probably overly-simplistic—notions about the origins of cooking in the American South)
Feast for the Senses, A... and the Soul(Dorothy Willette, at the Biblical Archaeology Society’s site, on the function of meals in Ancient Israel)
Frugal Housewife, The(“dedicated to those who are not ashamed of economy”—online text of Lydia Maria Francis Child’s 1830 book; at Feeding America’s archive)
How Chewing Gave Humans Flat Faces, Little Teeth and Wimpy Jaws(Lauren Young, at Atlas Obscura, on how the most rudimentary food prep has altered our evolution)
How the South Cornered the Soda Market(Robert Moss, on the history of soft drinks, at Serious Eats)
Hungry for History: Collard Greens(Donna Battle Pierce, decries Whole Foods “discovery” of the southern staple, in Ebony)
Kentucky BBQ(Wes Berry, at the Southern Foodways Alliance, on the complicated flavors of Bluegrass BBQ)
Molli Chamoy Sauce: Go Figure(a Rachel Lauden multicultural adventure in etymology)
Moon of the Faith: A History of the Apricot and its Many Pleasures(an excerpt from Joel Denker’s The Carrot Purple and Other Curious Stories of the Food We Eat)
Most Contentious Meal of the Day, The(The Atlantic’s Megan Garber faces breakfast)
Regional Barbecue Sauce Styles, Explained(Brenna Houck slathers a geography of sauces at Eater)
Roots of Hand-Made Sour Mash, The: Appalachia and the Scots-Irish(Gary Gillman, at Beer et seq., on the ethnic origins of—and techniques used to produce—moonshine)
Short History of Nutritional Science, A: Part 1 (1785–1885)(provided by Kenneth J. Carpenter, in The Journal of Nutrition;
Part 2, 1885–1912 ; Part 3, 1912–1944; Part 4, 1945–1985)
Sichuan Cuisine, Imperiled by Success(Chris Buckley, in The New York Times, on fears about the survival of traditional fare)
Smelling a Rose or a Rat(Ruchira Paul examines the nature of scent at 3 Quarks Daily)
University of Toronto Mississauga Professor Discovers New Origins for Farmed Rice(Scienmag article on recent discoveries, in China, by archaeologist Gary Crawford)
What is Brettanomyces and What is it Doing in my Beer?(Emily Bell, at VinePair, on a yeast genus that is becoming popular among brewers, and drinkers, who want to bring on the funk—and sourness—in their beers)

---- inspirational (or otherwise useful) site for writers/bloggers ----
5 Tips on Post-Conference Relationship Building
17 Grammar Mistakes You Really Need to Stop Correcting, Like Now
25 Quotes That Will Make You a Better Freelancer
Art of Plating, The
Blog Mistakes That Can Make You Lose Readers
How to Crop Your Food Photo
So You Want to Write a Food Blog
Terms Food Writers Probably Shouldn’t Use
There’s (Almost) No Such Thing as Writer’s Block. If There is, This’ll Cure Ya.
Ultimate Legal Guide for Photographers, The
What Kind of Writer are You: Cook or Baker?
Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year

---- still more blogs ----
Oyster’s My World, The
VinePair

---- that’s all for now ----

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
Some of the 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 support On the Table, without spending a dime of your own money on it?
It’s easy. Whenever you want to shop on Amazon. Com, 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 this 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 #190 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 (c) 2016 by Gary Allen.