Gary Allen's Blog, page 2
October 24, 2024
Food & Writing Sites for November 2024
Gourdian Knot
As this is being written, those of us who live in the US are bracing ourselves for Halloween and the Presidential Election—that is, something to scare every one of any age. The stores, of course, have faith that life will go on as usual—no matter what terrifying things we encounter—so they are busy stocking the shelves with the sugarplums of Christmas future.
We’re no longer—at the moment—editing other people’s books. However, hours sitting at the foot of a spousal hospital bed (fortunately, she’s recovered and back at home now) have given us ample time to work on books-in-progress—and post over a dozen new Substack pages:
“BBQ,” a reminiscence about the Texas of my childhood, but not a fish story;
“Thinking Ahead,” some idle thoughts about an idle future;
“Small Town Life,” on food people helping food people;
“While You're Up, Get Me A Grant,” because meaning changes across generations;
“And Fall Back…” one of many Meetings with Remarkable Men;
“Ahhhhh, Youth…” in which bad things happen to frogs and snakes (but not fish);
“Never Meet Your Heroes. They’ll Surely Disappoint,” art and life… never the twain should meet;
“Appetite for Change,” oddly enough, is not about our appetite;
“They’re as Happy as if…,” more on bibliomania;
“Uncertainty Principles,” how to get ideas;
“Testosterone Poisoning; Part One,” some true confessions;
“Testosterone Poisoning: Part Two,” more of the above;
“Mentor/Mentee,” two snippets of assigned writings; and
“A is for Autumn…” on preserving apples.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
As is our wont, we include some seasonal quotations (found in On the Table’s culinary quote collection).
As the days grow short, some faces grow long. But not mine. Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. It's time to start making soup again. Leslie Newman
My favorite word is “pumpkin.” You can’t take it seriously. But you can’t ignore it, either. It takes ahold of your head and that’s it. You are a pumpkin. Or you are not. I am. Harrison Salisbury
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
Gary
November 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to David Leite—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.
— the new sites —
All the Different Lager Styles Around the World
(an overview, by Pete O’Connell, at VinePair)
America’s Dairy Farms Have Vanished
(Elizabeth Eckelkamp, on why 95%of farms have disappeared since the 1970s, in Wired)
Brief History of Peanut Butter, A
(Kate Wheeling’s Smithsonian article)
Bronze Age Cheese Reveals Human-Lactobacillus Interactions over Evolutionary History
(archaeological evidence of some very well-aged cheeses; reported in CellPress. More here)
Cosmopolitan is a Great Cocktail, Actually, The
(the pink drink—if made properly—defended by Georgina Torbe in The Manual)
Do Colder or Warmer Places Eat More Spicy or Bland Food?
(Frank Jacobs’ answer at Gastro Obscura)
Food Studies: Summary and Keywords
(in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication)
(Jerusha Klemperer’s and Ryan Nebeker’s report in FoodPrint; introduction by Anna Lappé)
Getting Saucy: 13 Condiments from Around the World
(Gillian Finklea’s Mental Floss article reaches across the table, well-past the ketchup and mustard)
In a World of Hazy IPAs, These Beers Use No Hops at All
(Pete O’Connell, at VinePair, on gruit—an ancient beer style)
Issue 91, Radishes, Part 5: Horseradish
(more from the substack page of David S. Shields)
Little History of the Anchovy, A
(Mathew Lyons, on the big impact of a little fish, at Engelsberg Ideas; book review of A Twist in the Tail: How the Humble Anchovy Flavoured Western Cuisine)
New Exhibition Features Culinary Art from Across the Islamic World, A
(show at The Detroit Institute of Arts)
Olfactory Logos: Why Your Restaurant Needs One
(advice from “Aaron Allen & Associates, Global Restaurant Consultants”)
Our Best Recipes for Every Classic Cocktail
(raising a glass—or two— to the staff at Punch)
Scientists Just Figured Out How Many Chemicals Enter Our Bodies from Food Packaging
(Shannon Oak’s report in The Washington Post)
Simple Ingredient that Paprika Is Made of, The
(Dennis Lee explains , in The Takeout, that it’s not as simple as it seems)
(another myth… busted; in Nature)
(Michael Sebastian, in Esquire, on changing attitudes about the classic drink)
Ultra-processed Foods: Five Policy Ideas that Could Protect Health
(a study from Harvard’s School of Public Health)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Allrecipes, America’s Most Unruly Cooking Web Site
America’s Regional Chili Styles
Blood, Wine, and Ziti: The Starring Role of Food and Drinks in “The Sopranos”
Chef Celebrities, Foodstuff Anxieties and (Un)Happy Meals: An Introduction to Foodways Redux
Chef Grant Achatz, Wieners Circle Plotting a Corn Dog Collab
Cookbook Author Interview: Part 1
Cooking, Celebrity Chefs, and Public Chef Intellectuals
Eating the Other. Translations of the Culinary Code.
Entangled in Our Meals: Guilt and Pleasure in Contemporary Food Discourses
Food as an Object of Cultural-Technical Study
Food for Thought: On Practices, Tastes and Food Systems from a Social Anthropological Approach
How Chain Restaurants Use Smells to Entice Us
I Am Once Again Asking You to Cook with Shellfish
I’m a Vegetarian—with One Exception
I’ve Finished My Manuscript, Now What? On Dealing with Post-Book Blues
“Let There Be Food”: Evolving Paradigms in Food Studies
Meet the “Cheese Portraitist” Who Painted Our Back Cover
On Making Space for a Writing Project
Poetry of the World’s First Cookbook, The: What Cooking Can Teach Writers and Translators
Prince of Gastronomy Laid an Egg, The
Putting an End to Perfect Wine Scores
Restaurant Design Trend We Can’t Get Enough of, The
Sociology of Food, The: Eating, Diet and Culture
Tap into the “Hemingway Effect” to Finish What You Start
Tension in the Kitchen Explicit and Implicit Politics in the Gourmet Foodscape
There’s a Reason Chili’s Is All Over Your FYP
Ultra Processed Foods—the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Understanding Culture: Food as a Means of Communication
Vast Divide Between Republicans and Democrats over Fast Food, The
Wine Marketing: Isn’t It Obvious?
Women’s Place: Cookbooks' Images of Technique and Technology in the British Kitchen
— podcasts, etcetera —•
Evolution of the Old Fashioned Cocktail—1806 to 2050!
Has the Drinks Industry Taken Creativity Too Far?
How Guinness Remains the Coolest Beer on Earth
How is Whisky Made, What’s in it, and Why Does it Burn Like That?
How Should Brands Credit Cocktail Creators?
New York’s Best Cheesecake—Big Kitchens—Food Documentary
“Oyster Sommelier” Is Now a Job, Thanks to this New Oyster-education Program
Secret Food Hacks I Learned in Restaurants
Spicy History of Hot Sauce, The
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #289 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
Food Sites for November 2024
Gourdian Knot
As this is being written, those of us who live in the US are bracing ourselves for Halloween and the Presidential Election—that is, something to scare every one of any age. The stores, of course, have faith that life will go on as usual—no matter what terrifying things we encounter—so they are busy stocking the shelves with the sugarplums of Christmas future.
We’re no longer—at the moment—editing other people’s books. However, hours sitting at the foot of a spousal hospital bed (fortunately, she’s recovered and back at home now) have given us ample time to work on books-in-progress—and post over a dozen new Substack pages:
“BBQ,” a reminiscence about the Texas of my childhood, but not a fish story;
“Thinking Ahead,” some idle thoughts about an idle future;
“Small Town Life,” on food people helping food people;
“While You're Up, Get Me A Grant,” because meaning changes across generations;
“And Fall Back…” one of many Meetings with Remarkable Men;
“Ahhhhh, Youth…” in which bad things happen to frogs and snakes (but not fish);
“Never Meet Your Heroes. They’ll Surely Disappoint,” art and life… never the twain should meet;
“Appetite for Change,” oddly enough, is not about our appetite;
“They’re as Happy as if…,” more on bibliomania;
“Uncertainty Principles,” how to get ideas;
“Testosterone Poisoning; Part One,” some true confessions;
“Testosterone Poisoning: Part Two,” more of the above;
“Mentor/Mentee,” two snippets of assigned writings; and
“A is for Autumn…” on preserving apples.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
As is our wont, we include some seasonal quotations (found in On the Table’s culinary quote collection).
As the days grow short, some faces grow long. But not mine. Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. It's time to start making soup again. Leslie Newman
My favorite word is “pumpkin.” You can’t take it seriously. But you can’t ignore it, either. It takes ahold of your head and that’s it. You are a pumpkin. Or you are not. I am. Harrison Salisbury
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
Gary
November 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to David Leite—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.
— the new sites —
All the Different Lager Styles Around the World
(an overview, by Pete O’Connell, at VinePair)
America’s Dairy Farms Have Vanished
(Elizabeth Eckelkamp, on why 95%of farms have disappeared since the 1970s, in Wired)
Brief History of Peanut Butter, A
(Kate Wheeling’s Smithsonian article)
Bronze Age Cheese Reveals Human-Lactobacillus Interactions over Evolutionary History
(archaeological evidence of some very well-aged cheeses; reported in CellPress. More here)
Cosmopolitan is a Great Cocktail, Actually, The
(the pink drink—if made properly—defended by Georgina Torbe in The Manual)
Do Colder or Warmer Places Eat More Spicy or Bland Food?
(Frank Jacobs’ answer at Gastro Obscura)
Food Studies: Summary and Keywords
(in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication)
(Jerusha Klemperer’s and Ryan Nebeker’s report in FoodPrint; introduction by Anna Lappé)
Getting Saucy: 13 Condiments from Around the World
(Gillian Finklea’s Mental Floss article reaches across the table, well-past the ketchup and mustard)
In a World of Hazy IPAs, These Beers Use No Hops at All
(Pete O’Connell, at VinePair, on gruit—an ancient beer style)
Issue 91, Radishes, Part 5: Horseradish
(more from the substack page of David S. Shields)
Little History of the Anchovy, A
(Mathew Lyons, on the big impact of a little fish, at Engelsberg Ideas; book review of A Twist in the Tail: How the Humble Anchovy Flavoured Western Cuisine)
New Exhibition Features Culinary Art from Across the Islamic World, A
(show at The Detroit Institute of Arts)
Olfactory Logos: Why Your Restaurant Needs One
(advice from “Aaron Allen & Associates, Global Restaurant Consultants”)
Our Best Recipes for Every Classic Cocktail
(raising a glass—or two— to the staff at Punch)
Scientists Just Figured Out How Many Chemicals Enter Our Bodies from Food Packaging
(Shannon Oak’s report in The Washington Post)
Simple Ingredient that Paprika Is Made of, The
(Dennis Lee explains , in The Takeout, that it’s not as simple as it seems)
(another myth… busted; in Nature)
(Michael Sebastian, in Esquire, on changing attitudes about the classic drink)
Ultra-processed Foods: Five Policy Ideas that Could Protect Health
(a study from Harvard’s School of Public Health)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Allrecipes, America’s Most Unruly Cooking Web Site
America’s Regional Chili Styles
Blood, Wine, and Ziti: The Starring Role of Food and Drinks in “The Sopranos”
Chef Celebrities, Foodstuff Anxieties and (Un)Happy Meals: An Introduction to Foodways Redux
Chef Grant Achatz, Wieners Circle Plotting a Corn Dog Collab
Cookbook Author Interview: Part 1
Cooking, Celebrity Chefs, and Public Chef Intellectuals
Eating the Other. Translations of the Culinary Code.
Entangled in Our Meals: Guilt and Pleasure in Contemporary Food Discourses
Food as an Object of Cultural-Technical Study
Food for Thought: On Practices, Tastes and Food Systems from a Social Anthropological Approach
How Chain Restaurants Use Smells to Entice Us
I Am Once Again Asking You to Cook with Shellfish
I’m a Vegetarian—with One Exception
I’ve Finished My Manuscript, Now What? On Dealing with Post-Book Blues
“Let There Be Food”: Evolving Paradigms in Food Studies
Meet the “Cheese Portraitist” Who Painted Our Back Cover
On Making Space for a Writing Project
Poetry of the World’s First Cookbook, The: What Cooking Can Teach Writers and Translators
Prince of Gastronomy Laid an Egg, The
Putting an End to Perfect Wine Scores
Restaurant Design Trend We Can’t Get Enough of, The
Sociology of Food, The: Eating, Diet and Culture
Tap into the “Hemingway Effect” to Finish What You Start
Tension in the Kitchen Explicit and Implicit Politics in the Gourmet Foodscape
There’s a Reason Chili’s Is All Over Your FYP
Ultra Processed Foods—the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Understanding Culture: Food as a Means of Communication
Vast Divide Between Republicans and Democrats over Fast Food, The
Wine Marketing: Isn’t It Obvious?
Women’s Place: Cookbooks' Images of Technique and Technology in the British Kitchen
— podcasts, etcetera —•
Evolution of the Old Fashioned Cocktail—1806 to 2050!
Has the Drinks Industry Taken Creativity Too Far?
How Guinness Remains the Coolest Beer on Earth
How is Whisky Made, What’s in it, and Why Does it Burn Like That?
How Should Brands Credit Cocktail Creators?
New York’s Best Cheesecake—Big Kitchens—Food Documentary
“Oyster Sommelier” Is Now a Job, Thanks to this New Oyster-education Program
Secret Food Hacks I Learned in Restaurants
Spicy History of Hot Sauce, The
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #289 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
September 25, 2024
Food Sites for October 2024
When life gives you apples, make applesauce…
…and we have, canning next year’s main ingredient for Applesauce Cakes with Cardamom. It’s an autumnal favorite recipe (written by Martha Stewart), that we found years ago. It calls for two cups of homemade apple sauce, so we put up our applesauce in one-pint jars.
No measuring, no waste.
Finally finished editing other people’s books but, at the same time as we were editing, we managed to post eight new Substack pages:
“One-track Mind,” three little tales that happen in the same place;
“A Coarse in Education,” more fiction about the repulsive Natty Vero;
”Geology 101: The Shawangunks,” written because no one in my family would allow me to deliver the lecture;
“$64,000 Question, 64 Years Later,” an excuse to talk about AI and writing;
“Too Much (Is Just Right),” tout sweet;
“Elections are Good…” musing about politicians’ books;
“No Beans,” a memorial to a chilihead;
and
“It's All Greek to Me…”, where taxonomy meets etymology.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
In keeping with this month’s photo, here are some prescribed quotes that—taken one per day—are rumored to keep doctors away. (Found in On the Table’s culinary quote collection).
Adam was but human—this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple’s sake, he wanted it only because it was forbidden. Mark Twain
All human history attests
That happiness for man,—the hungry sinner!‑
Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner. Lord Byron
You put a baby in a crib with an apple and a rabbit. If it eats the rabbit and plays with the apple, I’ll buy you a new car. Harvey Diamond
Gary
October 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to David Leite—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.
— the new sites —
Ancient, Astonishing History of Yerba Mate, The
(Diana Hubbell’s Gastro Obscura account)
(comedian Brian Frange provides descriptions of apple varieties that are “inarguably accurate and not corrupted by corporate influence”)
Beautiful Art of Greece’s “Embroidered” Bread, The
(Yana Frigelis, at GastroObscura, reports on an art form discovered at The European Bread Museum)
Complete Guide to Bitters and the Cocktails to Make With Them, A
(an Infographic from VinePair’s Pete O’Connell)
FoodPrint of Food Packaging, The
(it’s not just plastic)
Have Swiss Scientists Made a Chocolate Breakthrough?
(Imogen Foulks’ BBC report on a new technique that uses entire cacao fruit to replace sugar and eliminate waste)
(Joanne Cronin’s paeon to Ireland’s native oyster—Ostrea edulis—known elsewhere as belon)
(Alisa Wetzel’s article in Butter Journal)
Inside Roman Emperors’ Outrageously Lavish Dinner Parties
(an invitation—mine arrived a bit late—to the feasts described by Guy de la Bèdoyère at Gastro Obscura)
Real Reason Why Oranges are Sold in Those Red Net Bags, The
(Tom Hale, in IFLScience, says it’s due to a kind of optical illusion)
Recipes, Tradition, and Representation
(Patrik Englisch’s paper in The Philosophy of Recipes)
Some Foods Are Styled As “Climate Saviors.” Who Are They Saving?
(Alicia Kennedy, in FoodPrint, on Breadfruit)
Unexpectedly Deep History of Canned Bread, The
(Kaleigh Brown prys off the lid at Takeout)
What Researchers Learned From the World’s Oldest Cookbook
(Babylonian recipe tablets, on public view at Yale’s Peabody Museum)
(the reason, according to Gastro Obscura’s Kathleen Crowther, is no more X-rated than chicken soup)
Your Cup of Coffee Is Already Expensive. It’s About to Get Even Worse
(Ilena Peng reports, in Bloomberg, on the combined effects of demand, supply-chain problems, and climate)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
1 Thing Americans Do With Coffee That Shocks People Around The World, The
A Little Fiction. Some Recipes. A Fantastic Book. And a Super Event.
Abstinence Makes the Taste Buds Grow Fonder
America’s Regional Burrito Styles
Biscuits Served with Butter, Jam and Exploitation.
Building Blocks: Figs, Greece’s Ancient Superfood
CB on the Road: Along the Amalfi Coast’s Path of the Lemons
Chef Charlotte Jenkins Is Spreading the Gospel of Gullah Cuisine
Cockloaf with a Jerked Banana Glaze
Doctors and Health Experts Are Changing Their Minds about Whole Milk and Cheese
Drinking Wine with Meals Linked to Better Health Outcomes
Fact and Prejudice in Food Writing
Fruit and Alcohol? Chocolate and Cheese? The Surprising Science of Food Pairing
How American Is Apple Pie, Really?
How Do You Deal With a Kitchen Slip-Up?
How Do You Write A (Really Good) Recipe?
How Our Diet and Culinary Heritage Informs the Way We Speak
How to Deliver a Manuscript on Time
Hunt for the Best Harissa, The
Penny De Los Santos: On How Every Meal Tells a Story.
“Practical Art, A”: An Archaeological Perspective on the Use of Recipe Books
Strange Allure of Blue Food, The
“The System Is the Problem, Not People”: How a Radical Food Group Spread Round the World
“There is no Better Way to Explore the World than Through the Universal Language of Food”
Treat Every Onion Like a New Onion
What’s the Difference Between a Gourmand and a Gourmet?
Why Brewing Your Own Beer Is Worth the Trouble
Woman Preserving a Beloved Bean Collection, The
— podcasts, etcetera —•
Amazing Japanese Bakery in the Mountains!
Ben & Jerry’s Cookbook Is a Portal to ’60s-Era Nostalgia, The
First Guy to Ever Open a Restaurant, The
How a Massive Bread Factory Produces 150,000 Loaves per Week
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #288 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
August 19, 2024
Food Sites for September 2024
We’ve noticed that the selections that appear, each month, in these updates have been gradually changing. What had once been a collection of sources of food information and sites that aid us (as food writers), began to include items that merely entertain our admittedly narrow interest (read: “fixation”) on foodish subjects. In part, it was in response to evolutionary changes in the internet itself (there are more substack pages than new blogs—just as the old Usenet Bulletin Boards were replaced by websites, today’s bandwidth is being diverted to podcasts and streaming video).
“Sic transit gloria mundi”—or, as the kids used to say—“omnia mutantur.”
The newsletter, which began as a supplement to The Resource Guide for Food Writers, is looking more like A Resource Guide for Writers. Maybe it’s mirroring the gradual change in our own writing—away from strictly food non-fiction, and toward fiction and related literary productions.
With September, we find ourselves in harvest mode. The cooler days are more conducive to productive writing—we’re more likely to be found in the kitchen (or at the keyboard) than standing at the outdoor grill. We don’t know if our writing of non-fiction about food will make a comeback, but suspect that the ancient urgings of our gullet will continue to influence even the more respectable bits of our literary productions.
It's been a busy month at Penwipe Publishing; we’ve been copy-editing, designing, and publishing two more books written by Geoffrey Paul Gordon (Leonard is due shortly, and The Lust Resort is already out). In between, we did manage to post eight new Substack pages:
“Close Reading,” a tale of editing, newly done, and somewhat older;
“?!” some speculation about, of all things, Interrobangs;
“Seeking Truth…” does not always lead to finding it;
“Personal Libraries,” on what our bookshelves say about us;
“Inflamed,” spicy thoughts about eating;
“Speaks with the Fishes,” blather about communicating;
“Back to Work (again)” another sample from a book-in-progress;
and
“Grand Boeuf” a compare-and-contrast response to an article by Ruth Reichl.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
In keeping with this month’s focus on the Solitary Sin, here be some quotes that don’t quite fit in with On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
You can fix anything but a blank page. Nora Roberts
Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. James Joyce
I could write an entertaining novel about rejection slips, but I fear it would be overly long. Louise Brown
If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don’t listen to writers talking about writing or themselves. Lillian Hellman
Gary
September 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to Dwight Furrow—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.
— the new sites —
Barbecuing vs. Grilling: Yes, There’s a Difference
(Mark Stock explains in The Manual)
(Kate McDermott’s substack post about Avena sativa)
Chaos in a Glass: The History of Cold Duck, the German-American Wine-Dreg Punch
(Mickey Lyons’s query, in VinePair, of a questionable quaff)
Cheesemaking Is a Complex Science
(John A. Lucey—“a food chemist explains the process from milk to mozzarella”—for The Conversation)
(Mark Bittman compares the environmental costs)
Fight to Save Florida’s Oranges, The
(Ayurella Horn-Muller’s article, in Science, on multiple threats to the iconic citrus crop)
If the Cheese Is From Here, You Know It’s Going to Be Good
(affinage: Saveur savors Italian formaggio)
Origins of Guacamole Are Much More Ancient Than We Thought, The
(Kaleigh Brown in The Takeout, on how the famous dip became famous; Read More)
Want to Cook Like a Neanderthal? Archaeologists Are Learning the Secrets
(Jennifer Ouellette, in Ars Technica, on replicating ancient culinary methods)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
100 Years Later, the Caesar Salad Returns to Its Roots
Adventuring with the Happy Eater
Airplane Meals Are Delicious, You Fools
Are Truffles the Culinary World’s Most Overrated Ingredient?
Being a Full-Time Writer is the Worst Job
Books That Cook: The Making of a Modern Literary Meal
Breakfast Ritual in My Blood, A
Can Gouda’s Cheesemakers Stall a Sinking Future?
Culinary Tourism: An Exploratory Reading of Contemporary Representations of Cooking
Family Recipes That Live On in Cemeteries, The
Food as You Know It Is About to Change
Freelance Writers Rejoice (Soon): You Might Get Legal Protection.
Grocery Store Tourism Is Taking Off
Hidden Racism of Book Cover Design, The
If You Want Good Book Promotion, Start Early and Practice, says PR Maven Carrie Bachman
In Search of the World’s Funniest Joke
It’s The Cake Talking: Theorizing the Recipe Memoir
“It’s the Right Environment for Cultures to Do Their Thing”
Jungle Juice, Fish Bowls, and the Rise of the Maximum Cocktail
My Hobby Is Cookbooks, What’s Yours?
My Life on the Road as a Competitive Eater of Giant Food
Platform Authors Need Now, The (That Isn’t Social Media)
Restaurant Critic Steps Back, The
Should You Delay Your Morning Caffeine?
Steak Myths You Thought Were True
Stories on our Plate: Recipes and Conversations
Transcribing Domesticity: A Material History of Recipe Sharing
Unlikely Thrill of Foraging, The
We Found Unhealthy Pesticide Levels in 20% of US Produce—Here’s What You Need to Know
— podcasts, etcetera —•
How a Winning French Bakery Made the No. 1 Baguette in Paris—The Experts
How Salt Shaped Civilization: From the Roman Empire to the French Revolution
How the World’s Best Pork Fat Is Cured in Marble—Vendors
Substack Secrets of Caroline Chambers of “What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking”
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man: On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #287 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
July 19, 2024
Food Sites for August 2024
A few days ago, it was Henry David Thoreau’s birthday; this was his desk.
August is high summer, but it often has early suggestions of summer’s end—not that we’ve noticed this year. It’s been ridiculously hot and oppressively humid. If Winter’s weather encourages productive writing, so did air conditioning in July. The sweltering heat of the outside world rarely tempted us to venture away from the laptop.
It's been a busy month at Penwipe Publishing*; we edited, designed, and published one book (Pure Gold), and are nearly done with another (Six Plays)—both written by our new friend/colleague, Geoffrey Paul Gordon. However, we did manage to post more Substack pages:
“Saint Something-or-Other,” a seasonal foraging recipe;
“Funny Business,” an essay confronting seriousness;
“Fat, Foolish, & Fabulous.” Sir John Falstaff and genealogy;
“What We Know of Life, We Learned from Death” revisits the very first time we were paid for writing; and
“On the Tip of My Tongue,” on one way to revisit one’s past.
*The imprimatur of a contrivance that we started to publish our otherwise unpublishable stuff. The name is a subtle—no, vague—allusion to the desk that Thoreau used to write Walden. The underside of the desks’ front edge is blackened with ink stains, because Henry always wiped his pen on it before committing his next words to paper.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
More summery observations, some from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
If it could only be like this always—always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe. Evelyn Waugh
It was August, and the fields were high with corn. Melanie Gideon
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Harry Truman
Gary
August 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to Krishnendu Ray—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.
— the new sites —
Freedom, Finances, and Fried Chicken
(Debra Freeman, in Eater, on “the legacy of the enslaved and later free Black women” of the American South)
(Julia Skinner’s reading list of vegetarian books for omnivores)
Long, Winding Origin Story of Tres Leches Cake, The
(Mandy Baca traces it for Food52)
(Ed Behr’s article, in his Substack—The Art of Eating)
(Hanna Staab has the answer at VinePair—sláinte!)
Researchers Just Discovered the Only Known Roman-Era Brewery Ever Found in Italy
(where beer was brewed from millet)
Where Does Horchata Come From Anyway?
(the trendy nut-milk-based drink—according to Thrillist’s Dana Givens—has its roots in Africa, via Latin America)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
5 People and Places That Claim to Have Invented the Hamburger
14 Telltale Signs a Recipe Sucks
America’s Obsession with Hot Dogs, Explained
Can We Eat Our Way Out of America’s Invasive Species Problem?
Drafty Draft and the First Pancake, The
Has French Cuisine Lost Its Luster? Or Are the American Food Media Just Ignoring It?
Hipster Beer Is Dead. Long Live ‘Lifestyle’ Beer.
History of Beer, The: And Why Civilization As We Know It May Have Started Because of It
Hottest Cookbook Ingredient Right Now, The? Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.
Is Organic Produce Worth the Higher Price?
“Joyce Chen’s China”: How a Film Used Food to Bridge a Cold-War Divide
Line Cook’s Rant About... Recipes, A
Literally the Gayest Dish on the Menu
New Archaeochemical Insights into Roman Wine from Baetica
Price of Restaurant Criticism, The
Psychology Behind Buying Bad Airport Food—Again and Again, The
Should Chefs Be Allowed to Copyright Their Dishes?
Taking a Good Hard Look: Teapots and Bronzes
The Chef Is Human. The Reviewer Isn’t.
Truth About the US’ Most Iconic Food, The
Turn Fact Into Fiction—Without Hurting Someone or Getting Sued
Use AI as Your Free Virtual Assistant
What Are The 23 Secret Flavors In Dr Pepper?
What Does “Good Enough” Even Mean?
What Working at Restaurants Can Teach Writers
What Your Grocery Cart Says About You
Why Italy Fell Out of Love with Cilantro
— podcasts, etcetera —•
America’s First Celebrity Bartender and the Book That Changed Bars Forever
Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
New York City’s Black Oyster King
What “Couscousgate” Tells Us About French Food
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin': Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin': Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #286 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
June 22, 2024
Food Sites for July 2024
Red wine, and brown liquor, are all very well—in colder seasons—but now it's time to switch to beer (preferably a locally-brewed one, like this).
If we had harbored any doubts about the arrival of summer, they’ve been sweated out of us. Every day, this week, the actual temperature has been in the nineties—plus, augmented by higher-than-average humidity. It’s been brutal. Baking (as in dinner) was out of the question. Even standing, outside, near the grill, was ridiculously hot.
Last month, still in various kinds of recovery, we didn’t do much serious writing. However, we did manage to post more Substack pages:
“TK” some speculation about part of the writing life, with a short story;
“It’s the Sweet of the Year...” more idle thoughts, this time about fishing and the mental make-up of trout, also with a short story;
“De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum” answers a question about food aversions;
“Back to Work...” an apologia, along with part of a new memoir;
“A Different Kind of WIP...” a short story, sans introduction, about getting published;
and
“Something to Chew On...” some speculations on culinary etymology.
We’ve started work on a new book, but haven’t made much progress on it. Perhaps that’s because we edited and designed—and published—a book for someone else. It’s a baseball novel that was delight to read (it’ll be available on July 17th, to coincide with the All-star Game).
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
A few summery observations, some from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
A hot dog at the ballpark is better than steak at the Ritz. Humphrey Bogart
Although the frankfurter originated in Frankfurt, Germany, we have long since made it our own, a twin pillar of democracy along with Mom's apple pie. In fact, now that Mom's apple pie comes frozen and baked by somebody who isn't Mom, the hot dog stands alone. What it symbolizes remains pure, even if what it contains does not. William Zinsser
You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars. Charles Kuralt
Gary
July 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual 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.
— the new sites —
Complete Guide to Quick Breads, The
(a quick introduction from the staff at Chowhound)
Frequent Spicy Meals Linked to Human Longevity
(according to some Chinese research, capsaicin is good for you—alcohol, not so much)
(“short incursion into the history of Romanian cuisine” in the anonymously-posted, Romanian Food Blog)
In the Middle Ages, European Beer Was Hallucinogenic
(Olivia White’s Vinepair article; spoiler alert: they used black henbane, not hops)
Mezcal vs. Tequila: What’s the Difference?
(Christopher Osburn explains, in The Manual)
Pilsner vs. Lager: What’s the Difference?
(Christopher Osburn raises quite a few to find out, in The Manual)
Warmer Climate, Spicier Food. But Which Country Is the Spiciest?
(according to Frank Jacobs, in Big Think, attitude—toward hot & spicy foods—is related to latitude; mostly)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
25 Essential Pasta Dishes to Eat in Italy, The
Are We Living Through a Bagel Renaissance?
Breakfast Is the Most Important Meal of the Day—Or Is It?
Don’t Call It an “Ethnic” Grocery Store
How Bad Are Ultraprocessed Foods, Really?
How to Handle Being a Picky Eater As an Adult
In Puerto Rico, the Piña Colada Is Always Evolving
Making a Living by Writing Is As Rare as Being a Billionaire
My Macro—and Micro—Food Writing Life
Mystery of Italy’s Saltless Bread, The
“No Pickles? No Deli”: Archetypal American “Secular Jewish Space” Gains Due Regard
Pitch-Perfect Ode to Korean “Drivers’ Restaurants”, A
Restaurant Groups Are the New Chains
Surprising Joys of Indie Publishing, The
There’s a Scientific Reason Why Cold Beer Tastes Better
This Is Why You Add Water to Whiskey (Plus, Our Best Tips)
Toni Morrison: Write, Erase, Do It Over
What’s Cooking? A Culinary Journey through History
Why Calling Hamburgers “Burgers” Is Actually Incorrect
Why Hot Dogs Are Sold in 10-Packs But Hot Dog Buns Are Sold in 8-Packs
Woman Who Created the Modern Cookbook, The
— podcasts, etcetera —•
Archaeologists Reveal How a Town in Syria Survived the Bronze Age Collapse of Civilizations
Chat with Rosa Jackson, Cookbook Author and Cooking School Teacher, A
Day in the Life as a Candy Factory Worker, A
Dr. Chris Van Tulleken: How Ultra-Processed Foods Are Making Us Sick
How a Taiwanese Grandma Makes Over 1,000 Potstickers per Day
How Civilization Was Created by Bread
Most Elaborate Final Meals of Death Row Inmates, The
What Happens to Your Body When You Have a Hangover
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin': Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin': Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #285 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
May 18, 2024
Food Sites for June 2024
Isn’t it curious that infantilized images of pigs are routinely used to promote the consumption of pork? Do cute piggies want to be eaten?
(seen at Due South BBQ, Roanoke, VA)
Last month, we were—for the most part—otherwise occupied. Rather than belaboring you with the details, redundantly, you should be able to deduce them, yourself, from the links below. They might also explain why so many entries are about alcohol.
Still, we did manage to post more Substack pages:
“Flaubert’s Parrot,” or my life as a stuffed bird;
“Paleontology, or Something Like It,” on searching for the Nature of Things;
“The Mything Link,” a look at memory and remorse, with a little story;
“Rhetorical Question” explores a few figures of speech; and...
“The Best Laid Schemes o’ Mice an’ Men” recaps an event we’re calling “roadtrippus interruptus;” it’s served with a small appetite-suppressing story.
We also published, in book form, two entire years of “In Other Words” (our Substack posts). Substack Lightnin': Volume One, The First Year, and Substack Lightnin': Volume Two, Second Year are already available through Amazon.
You can, should you choose to do so, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
More liquid distractions, some from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
Cocktails are society’s most enduring invention! Elsa Maxwell
...the Song of Songs, to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini cocktail, have been given to humanity by men who, when the hour came, turned from tap water to something with color in it, and more in it than mere oxygen and hydrogen. H.L. Mencken
Beer is not a good cocktail party drink, especially in a home where you don’t know where the bathroom is. Billy Carter
The glances over cocktails
That seem to be so sweet
Don’t seem quite so amorous
Over Shredded Wheat. Frank Muir
Gary
June 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to Aaron Rester—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.
— the new sites —
Brewed from Old Bread Crusts, the World’s Oldest Beer Recipe Is Experiencing a Revival
(the hymn to Ninkasi leads to another new brew—this time to fight climate change)
Chutney & Subcontinental Cuisines: A Historic Relationship
(an introduction from New Jersey restaurant/caterer Laree Adda)
Even Older Polish Cookery for Complete Beginners
(Karol Palion’s blogpost, at Forking Around with History, about the search for—and bibliographic methodology employed in—the hunt for the first Polish cookbook)
Food Design, Nutrition, and Innovation
(paper by Fabio Parasecoli, in Frontiers in Public Health)
From Ancient Egypt to Roman Britain, Brewers are Reviving Beers from the Past
(Norman Miller’s BBC survey of modern recreations)
Hangxiety: Why Alcohol Can Leave You Feeling Anxious
(Queensland Health explains what goes on with your brain chemistry, the morning after)
How a ‘Strange,’ ‘Evil’ Fruit Came to Define Italy’s Cuisine
(Ligaya Mishan’s New York Times article about the tomato—”the prince of [Italian] cuisine.”)
In Its Birthplace, the G&T Is a Reclamation
(Jaya Saxena, in Punch, on the Indian history and reinvention of gin & tonic)
Mastering the Art of Making a Cookbook
(Adam Gopnik’s New Yorker article about legendary editor Judith Jones)
Tasting Roman Wine from the Time of Jesus
(Nathan Steinmeyer’s article in Bible History Daily)
Waffles: Breakfast, Dinner, Dessert
(Edward Bottone doesn’t waffle; he tells the whole story at The Vooks Cook)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
600-Year History of Cookbooks as Status Symbols, A
About French Cooking… It’s Not All Haute
Are Tacos and Burritos Sandwiches? A Judge in Indiana Ruled Yes.
Before Jell-O, Colorful Gelatin Desserts Were Haute Cuisine
Cookbooks Have Always Been Political—Whether Readers Knew It or Not
Cooking in the Books: Cookbooks and Cookery in Popular Fiction
Embracing the Coffee Heritage of Saudi Arabia: From Tradition to Sustainability
Fast Food Forever: How McHaters Lost the Culture War
First Direct Evidence of Adult European Eels Migrating to Their Breeding Place in the Sargasso Sea
Fish Farming on Lake Victoria: A Lethal Ecological Threat
Food Crazes Make Me Want to Roll My Eyes. But First, Pass Me a Crookie
How Natural Wine Became a Symbol of Virtuous Consumption
In Defense of Human Intervention
Insatiability of Recipe Writing, The
Invisible Labor of Being a Food Writer in 2024
Meat-Filled Desserts from Around the World
No, Your Spaghetti Doesn’t Have to Be al Dente: 5 Pasta Myths, Debunked
On Paying Attention to Seasons
Tastes of a Nation, The: M.F.K. Fisher and the Genre of Culinary Literature
We Should All Be Cooking with Fresh Turmeric
What Do Maple Syrup Bottles Have Those Tiny Handles For?
What Do You Want from a Cookbook?
What if Recipes Were Written for Everyone?
— podcasts, etcetera —
AnthroChef: The History of Food
Anything’s Pastable: Eat Sauté Love
Craft Books for Cookbook Writers
Experiencing Reality through Cookbooks: How Cookbooks Shape and Reveal Our Identities
Treacherous, Untold Toll Bartending Takes on the Body, The
Why You Can’t Get a Restaurant Reservation
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Noirvella (the expanded edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin': Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin': Volume Two, Second Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #284 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
April 19, 2024
Food Sites for May 2024
Myosotis, Forget-me-nots—appropriate for writers—just began blooming this week
I should've been basking in Spring sunshine—but, while writing this, it was cool and rainy in the Hudson Valley.
No worries; in another week or so, morels and ramps will be up, and herring will swarm into the streams that connect to the Hudson. Right behind the herring, striped bass and shad will churn the waters of Rondout Creek, about a hundred yards from my front porch.
That will be Spring.
Last month, we were—for the most part—otherwise occupied. We did manage to write a new short story (see below) and, of course, post more Substack pages:
“As an Illustration...,” a small portfolio of former work;
“Vanishing Acts,” a political essay of sorts;
“Sentimental Education,” some fiction about part of American history and personal loss; and
“In Conversation...” contains the story mentioned above.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
More seasonal items, some from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
What could be got from the woods was free and amounted to a diurnal dining diary that everyone kept in their heads. May was wild asparagus, arugula, and artichokes. June was wild lettuce and stinging nettles. July was cherries and wild strawberries. August was forest berries. September was porcini. Bill Buford
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
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
Gary
May 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to Alicia Kennedy—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.
— the new sites —
(David Shields’ account of the traditional American spirit)
(Andrew Coletti’s history of the bain-marie, at Gastro Obscura)
How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food
(Helen Zoe Veit, in The Smithsonian’s The Conversation)
How Scientists Keep the World’s Greatest Delicacies From Going ‘Extinct’
(Vivian Wong’s article on lab-grown alternatives in the Robb Report)
Power of Pickles, The: How Does Fermentation Make Food Last Longer?
(Maddy Chapman’s answer at IFL Science)
(Jordan Taylor explains “the science behind your nagging hunger pangs” for Valet)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
5 Famous Food Festivals Around the World
6 Things You Should Never Say to Someone You’re Dining With—and Why
48 Scenes from a Century of New York Dining
Desk Dispatch, The: Seeking Gustu in La Paz
Empanadas with a Taste of Venezuelan History
Enabling Conditions of Culinary Art, The
Forget Wine—Beer and Cheese Is an Unbeatable Combination
How British Chinese Takeaway Became a Viral, Controversial Cuisine
How Did Jelly Beans Become an Easter Candy?
Is Craft Beer Cringe Right Now?
It’s Time to (Officially) Cancel the Dining Room
Nothing Left to Say?: The End of Wine Writing
Raise Your Hand if You Hate to Cook
Realities of Cookbook Criticism, The
Taste, Organic Unity, and Creative Tasting
Why I Don’t Write About Restaurants
— podcasts, etcetera —
Good Editors and Bad Experiences
Shooting Incredible iPhone Photos in a Busy Food Market
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #283 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
March 24, 2024
Food Sites for April 2024
A normal person might think—after witnessing the vernal equinox over seventy times—that Spring would not come as a surprise. However, the long, colorless, and dead-silent season that precedes tends to blot out our memory of previous Springs. A world that is gray and white (well... with climate change, not so much white, lately) is short on stimulation.
First a few timid green sprouts appear and then, just before dawn, the first bird decides to sing—and suddenly it’s April. The shock of fresh color is everywhere—and that single chirper becomes an avian riot, with countless birds singing their fool heads off. We suspect the source of Spring’s surprise is its speed. Other seasons change gradually, but Spring literally springs forward, accelerating madly with adolescent incandescent passion.
Last month, we finished writing a collection of stories based on an earlier novella, and merged them all into a different book (see below). As you no doubt expect, we’ve posted more Substack pages:
“Retrospective,” a memorial for a lost friend;
“Revision,” on tweaking already-published work;
“False Modesty” examines some writers’ attempts at self-promotion;
“And So It Continues...” announces an expanded edition of an existing book; and
“Another Try...” reworks an old story using a new structure.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
Some seasonal items, from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
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
Red onions are especially divine. I hold a slice up to the sunlight pouring in through the kitchen window, and it glows like a fine piece of antique glass. Cool watery-white with layers delicately edged with imperial purple...strong, humble, peaceful...with that fiery nub of spring green in the center... Mary Hayes Grieco
Palpating, crackling, splitting on the grill, Boudins whistle louder than blackbirds in April. Paul Harel
Gary
April 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual 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.
— the new sites —
Ancient Egyptians Celebrated the Feast of Drunkenness with Blood-Red Beer
(Diana Hubbell’s thoughts on Hathor, the goddess of intoxication, at Gastro Obscura)
Auguste Escoffier and the Invention of the Restaurant Kitchen Brigade System
(Cynthia Bertelsen, on the development of modern kitchen-staff organization)
Cambridge Companion to Literature and Food, The.
(book review by Alexandra Mitrea in East-West Cultural Passage)
Chip by Chip, This Ice Cream Flavor Is Melting Away
(Matt Richtel reports, in The New York Times, on chocolate chips inexplicable decline in popularity)
Honoring the Ancestral Tradition of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico
(Nneka M. Okona’s article in Eater)
How Cultures Around the World ‘Pour One Out’ for the Dearly Departed
(Rich Manning, at VinePair, on in-memoriam drinking)
(in vino veritas, from Dwight Furrow)
(Andrew Coletti’s article in Gastro Obscura)
(Kate McDermott’s account of Urtica dioica)
(Amitav Ghosh, in Literary Hub, on how tea funded the British Empire’s expansion)
This Is What Ancient Roman Wine Tasted Like
(Julia Binswanger’s Smithsonian article on the effect of fermentation in clay pots)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Aesthetics of Fine Cuisine, The
Beware Your Choice of Ice Cream. It Says A Lot About You.
Bite Me: Food in Popular Culture
Brief History of Irish Coffee, A
Consumption and the Literary Cookbook
Drink Like an (Ancient) Egyptian
Experiencing Reality through Cookbooks: How Cookbooks Shape and Reveal Our Identities
Food, Age, and the Life Course in Europe, 1800-2000
FOOD NERD FESTIVAL: Official playground for India’s Hottest Food Nerds
In Defense of Not Using Kosher Salt
Inside the Lurid History of Ortolan, the French Delicacy That’s So Tasty It’s Illegal
Inside the Pineapple Pizza Scandal Dividing Italy
Is Oat Milk Unhealthy? That’s the Wrong Question.
It’s Been Scientifically Proven That Pasta Makes You Happier
Look for These 9 Red Flags to Identify Food That Is Ultra-Processed
Mise en Place is Overrated. There are Often Faster Ways to Cook.
Neolithic Bread at Catal Hoyuk
and:
Discovery of 8,600-Year-Old Bread Gives Rise to Half-Baked Claims
New Science on What Ultra-Processed Food Does to Your Brain, The
Please Don’t Tell Me About Every Single Dish on the Menu
Revealed: The Authors Whose Pirated Books are Powering Generative AI
Risotto Crisis: The Fight to Save Italy’s Beloved Dish from Extinction
This American Fast Food Staple Was Actually Invented by the Romans
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Picky Eaters
Winemaker and Hauteur, The: Who Is the Coward Here?
— podcasts, etcetera —
Savory History of the McMuffin, The
What Happens to the Food You Try to Sneak Into the Airport?
Wine Supertasters, Vinotype Quiz and Your Taste in Wine?
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #282 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
February 17, 2024
Food Sites for March 2024
March is when Spring officially arrives—at least that’s what the astronomers tell us. However, with their eyes firmly fixed upon the heavens, it’s easy for them to ignore the sloppy snow that vexes us, here on Earth—at least on the part of our planet that we occupy. Oh sure, there are signs of Spring, even as we write this. But we certainly don’t expect to be standing in the backyard (cool cocktail in hand, charmed by the musical offerings of several avian neighbors, while ogling the verdant garden, and savoring the smoky aroma of grilling meats) any time soon.
We are, however, still scribbling away—working on a collection of stories based on an earlier novella, and—of course—another book. As you no doubt expect, we’ve posted more Substack pages:
“Roads Not Taken...” a sample from one of those (possible) new books;
“Ideopathic Ideation” another rambling essay on the creative process;
“In Praise of Idleness” comes closer to answering the questions from the previous substack post; and
“Fossils” some idle speculations on poetry and paleontology.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
More seasonal items, some from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. Doug Larson
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: When it is Summer in the light, and Winter in the shade. Charles Dickens
Are you sure the mango is a food? Seems more like a spring tonic to me. Earl Derr Biggers
The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size. Gertrude S. Wister
Gary
March 2024
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 corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to Natalie MacLean—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.
— the new sites —
7 Hottest Peppers In The World, The: From Pepper X To Naga Viper
(the topic for All That’s Interesting’s Austin Harvey is—literally—too hot to handle)
10 Weirdest Ingredients Ever Put into Beer, The
(Pete O’Connell creeped me out at VinePair—really? roasted goat brains?)
(complete recipe book, with some very odd concoctions)
Beefalo, a Hybrid Blend of Cows and Buffalo, The
(bison, actually; Rachel Funnell’s article in IFLScience)
Beginner’s Guide to Clarified Milk Punch, A
(history, technique, and recipes from Corin Hirsch at WineEnthusiast)
(an exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
Have a Trophy? Mix This Victorian Drink in It
(Anne Ewbank’s Gastro Obscura article on drinking from loving cups)
(Brian Yarvin’s Gastro Obscura article on a Pennsylvania specialty)
(Gastro Obscura restaurant review of a fast food eatery that closed in 71 BCE)
(Jennifer C. Chen, et. al., cast doubt on assumptions about the paleo diet; in PLOS One)
(putting wine into words, by Cong Cong Bo, at Tim Atkin)
(Gastro Obscura’s Andrew Coletti removes the confusion between several unrelated plants used for food that share a common name: “arrowroot”)
White Castle System of Eating Houses, The
(American fast food history, one response to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle)
(Emily Laurence’s GQ Daily article on the pros—and some serious cons—of ingesting mold)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
10 Candies from the ’80s You Didn’t Know Still Exist
38 All-Time Best Food Movies, The
Around the World in 10 Sandwiches
Breweries Are Great Third Places. But We Deserve Even Better Ones.
Defining and Refining a Food Justice Lens
Freshman 15—Why We Think It’s a Toxic Myth + Tips for Healthy Diet as a Student
Global Diversity of French Fry Dips, The
Inside the Beef Industry’s Campaign to Influence Kids
Latest Findings on What to Eat and What Not to Eat, The
Longed-For Taste of Home in The Exile’s Cookbook, A
Murky Campaign to Discredit Lab-Grown Meat, The
Rise and Fall of Oat Milk, The: Has the Trendiest Dairy Alternative Finally Fallen from Grace?
Smoked Monkey and Whole Sharks: The Suitcase Smugglers Feeding Europe’s Hunger for Bushmeat
Wondrous Wordplay of Lunar New Year Food, The
— another blog —
— podcasts, etcetera —
Does the Shape of a Wine Glass Really Matter?
How an Indian Stew Shaped the Modern World: From Cleopatra to Queen Elizabeth
How To Make Dim Sum | Yan Can Cook | KQED
Making American Cheese to Debunk a Conspiracy
my backstory and how i became a creator
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing 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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this 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)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #281 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
