Gary Allen's Blog, page 3
January 18, 2024
Food Sites for February 2024
Winter is citrus season... not that it grows here in the northeast.
February is so unpleasant that the ancients wisely made it shorter than all the other months. Later, pitiless scientists decided to add an extra February day every four years. Their excuse was that this was required to make the calendar come out right... but I suspect it was just to remind us that it’s an election year—so, basically, rubbing salt in a wound.
We are, however, still scribbling away—working on a collection of stories based on an earlier novella. January saw us adding new stories about Natty Vero (“The Social Contract” and “About Face”). Naturally, we’ve also posted more Substack pages:
“WIP-lashes” adds one of those new stories about our current favorite anti-hero;
“Who Was That Masked Man?” who knows, anymore?;
“Everything I learned from Hipparchus” offers proof that math is not required to achieve nerdiness;
“Position Desired” is a tongue-in-cheek classified ad;
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 from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
“...a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness”― William Shakespeare
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”—John Steinbeck
“February, when the days of winter seem endless and no amount of wistful recollecting can bring back any air of summer.”― Shirley Jackson
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”— Edith Sitwell
“The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination.”—Terri Guillemets
Gary
February 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 —
(Barnaby Conrad III—author of Absinthe: History in a Bottle—writes, in The New Criterion, on the role of the green fairy in the arts)
(Marielle Williamson, in The Bittman Project, on legal restrictions of First Amendment rights in support of the dairy industry)
“How Do You Reduce a National Dish to a Powder?”: The Weird, Secretive World of Crisp Flavours
(a British take on the science behind potato-chip flavors, by Amelia Tait, in The Guardian)
Origin and Spread of Domestication and Farming
(PDF of Premendra Priyadarshi’s 2021 book, based on research using archaeology and DNA analysis)
School Lunches: the Last 120 Years
(Lexi Earl’s essay at Vittles)
Sweet Wine, Explained: Everything You Need to Know About the Delicious, Sugary Tipple
(Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen are pouring in the Robb Report)
This Prohibition-Era Map Is a Love Letter to Alcohol
(Frank Jacobs’ “Big Think” article for Gastro Obscura)
Unending Quest to Build a Better Chicken, The
(Boyce Upholt reports, in Noēma, on the history of man-made changes in Gallus gallus domesticus)
(according to Nathan Steinmeyer, in Bible History Daily, archaeology provides some answers)
What Is Gingerbread? The Answer Is Complicated
(Anne Ewbank’s answer at Gastro Obscura)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Biblical Bread: Baking Like the Ancient Israelites
Consumers Equate Healthy with Sustainable Food. But Is It Always True?
Economics Behind Grandma’s Tuna Casseroles, The
Feast of Seven Fishes, The: Cultural Images That No Longer Exist
Food Design, Nutrition, and Innovation
From Birch-Tree Juice to Christmas Bread, Our Food Tells the Story of Who We Are
How a Midnight Feast Became a Month-Long Dining Extravaganza in New Orleans
How America’s Beloved Meyer Lemon Caused a Mid-Century Citrus Panic
It’s Time to Rewrite the Rules of Historical Fiction
Jane Grigson: Her Life and Legacy
Kitchen Chemistry Hacks Explained
Kugel and Pudding: Tasting Jewish American Foodways
Ladle Me a Bowl of the Midwestern Good Stuff
Meatballs Made with Mammoth DNA Created by Australian Food Startup
Messy History of Emily Dickinson’s Black Cake Recipe, The
Most Famous Local Dish from Every State, The
One Day—and One Night—in the Kitchen at Les Halles
Recipes in Memoirs and Narrative Nonfiction
Revolutionary Chicago: from the Rise of the Hog Butcher to Modern Culinary Capital
Scammy AI-Generated Book Rewrites Are Flooding Amazon
Scientists Played Music to Cheese as It Aged. Hip-Hop Produced the Funkiest Flavor
Seaweed: Should We Be Eating More of It?
Sriracha Shortage Is a Very Bad Sign, The
These Books Will Help Heal Your Relationship with Food
Why is Food Education so Unappetising?
Why Osage Chef Ben Jacobs Launched a Direct-to-Tribe Meal Delivery Service
— another blog —
— podcasts, etcetera —
Eat, Drink, Read: Dwight Garner’s Obsession with Word and Table
What Medieval Junk Food Was Like
What We Ate 60 Years Ago / Rare Commercials from the 50s and 60s
Why Don’t We Roast Chestnuts Anymore?
— 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 #280 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.
December 18, 2023
Food Sites for January 2024
Janus—not to be confused with singer Janis Joplin, or art dealer Sidney Janis, or even the muppet Janice—was the Roman god of doorways (actual and metaphorical transitions). He was generally portrayed with two masks, one facing ahead, the other back. That’s why our first month is named “January.” The transition to a new year, in many religions, is marked by hopes for the future and reflections upon the past.
January tends to be a dark and solemn month.
The past year has been a busy one, around here, for writing (and publishing: we squeezed out four books, twelve of these update newsletters, and sixty-nine substack pages). It’s not going to be easy to maintain that kind of pace in the new year!
We are, however, still scribbling away—working on a collection of stories based on an earlier novella and, of course, posting more Substack pages (these are the ones posted since the last updates newsletter):
“Unattainable” is a tale of unrequited—and unrequitable—longing;
“” tries to track down the source of a family tradition;
“Despicable” serves up a new sample from the collection of stories, mentioned above. It’s about the main character in Unbelievable: A Modern Novella.
You can, if you wish, 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 new seasonal items from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. Charles Lamb
Winter blues are cured every time with a potato gratin paired with a roast chicken. Alexandra Guarnaschelli
Honestly, I just go to restaurants to eat so I won’t die. If there was a pill I could take in January and then I wouldn’t have to eat again for the rest of the year, I would take it. Of course, I wouldn’t want to sacrifice my chocolate cake and ice cream. Steven Wright
If I had my way, I would remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead. Roald Dahl
Gary
January 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 Fabio Parasecoli—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 —
American Thanksgiving as a Republican Meal, a Repudiation of the High Cuisine of Monarchies
(Rachel Laudan explains the political underpinnings of the most American of traditions)
(Mike Dunphy’s Insidehook article on recent changes in attitudes about the head on Czech lager)
Delicious History of Hot Chocolate, The
(Leila El Shennawy melts the ice—and marshmallows—for Readers Digest)
Fantastical Feasts of England’s First Celebrity Chef, The
(Amanda Herbert’s account—in Gastro Obscura—of the outrageous productions of Robert May in the seventeenth century)
Food and Power in Early Medieval England: a Lack of (Isotopic) Enrichment
(paper by Sam Leggett and Tom Lambert, in Anglo-Saxon England, Volume 49)
Gelatine: The ingredient with the Wonder Wobble
(Veronique Greenwood’s report for the BBC)
History of Baking and Pastry Cooking
(rahul, at Winni, discusses cakes—from ancient times to today’s wedding and birthday cakes)
In the Gut’s “Second Brain”’ Key Agents of Health Emerge
(Quanta Magazine’s Yasemin Saplakoglu on the role of glial cells “in digestion, nutrient absorption, blood flow, and immune responses”)
Is the Burn from Foods Like Wasabi Different from Chile Pepper Heat?
(obviously, they are; Cynthia Graber’s and Nicola Twilley’s Gastropod article, at Eater, explains why)
(Gastro Obscura article on Finnish famine food, bread flour made from pine bark)
“Prison Bakery” Discovered in Pompeii Is a Grisly Reminder of a Darker Aspect of Ancient History
(Russell Moul’s IFLScience article about findings from a recent archaeological excavation)
Reconstructing the Menu of a Pub in Ancient Pompeii
(culinary archaeologist Farrell Monaco tells us how to “eat like a first-century Roman” in Gastro Obscura)
There Is Something You Should Know About Wasabi
(Holly Large’s article about real Wasabia japonica, in IFLScience)
(Frank Jacobs, at GastroObscura, on the history and global spread of umami awareness)
(neuroscientist Iris Kulbatski on some unexpected effects of intermittent fasting, in TheScientist)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
AI Revolution Is an Opportunity for Writers (the Human Kind), The
Before Drinking Coffee, People Washed Their Hands With It
Bitter Taste of ‘Not Too Sweet’, The
Cooking the World’s Largest Egg
Food Traditions and “Prostitution”
For Cocktail Bars Across the U.S., Is Fancy Ice Really Worth the Expense?
Hipster Coffee Enthusiasts Have Taken the Joy Out of Coffee
History of the Cuban Sandwich, The
How a Vibrant, Factory-Made Sweet Usurped the Original Maraschino Cherry
Is Trying a Classic Cocktail Where It Was Created Actually Worth It?
Jacques Pépin Says Following a Recipe Can Lead to Disaster
Menu was the Message, The: 1904-1931
Scary Things for Writers to Do to Challenge Themselves
Timeless Allure of Oysters and Alcohol, The
Why Russell Norman Was a Restaurant Genius
— another blog —
— podcasts, etcetera —
— 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 #279 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
November 16, 2023
Food Sites for December 2023
Someone else's idea of holiday joy
December is a month replete with food-intensive holidays—dished out by several different religions and/or ethnicities. It continues the gastronomic (AKA, gastrointestinal) excesses that begin (in the US, at least) with Thanksgiving. It’s a time of relentless joy and—occasionally, alas—anxiety, disappointment, and/or other forms of family-induced agita. If the endless parade of holiday extravaganzas begins to overwhelm you, may we recommend some festive Xanax-laced cupcakes? Some antacid sprinkles on the frosting might also be just the thing to help keep the holiday merry.
Bon appetit!
We’re still scribbling away here in the Hudson Valley—and self-published two books: a collection of stories (Beer Taste & Other Disorders) and another collection of articles about food and eating (Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection) and, of course, posting more Substack pages:
“No New Is Good News” on what we can learn from sales reports;
“Readin’ an’ Writin’” announced the publication of Beer Taste & Other Disorders.
“Involuntary Shudder” is a tale of book-induced stresses;
“Don't Even Think of Doing That” wonders about things that don’t mix;
“What? Another Book Already?” about our latest book:(finally... something about food!);
and:
“Ott, Ott, Ott/Risque Business...” on exceptions to one’s introversion.
You can, if you wish, 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.
Two other takes on one type of holiday dining offense—from some of our favorite curmudgeons—that are included in, or soon to be added to, On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
In these random notes on contemporary American life, the conviction has been not infrequently expressed that banquets are bores, that he who arranges one... is at least a semi-public-nuisance. Alexander Woollcott
A banquet is probably the most fatiguing thing in the world except ditchdigging. It is the insanest of all recreations. The inventor of it overlooked no detail that could furnish weariness, distress, harassment, and acute and long-sustained misery of mind and body. Mark Twain
Gary
December 2023
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 Elissa Altman—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 Switch to Soft Food Gave Us an Overbite—and the Ability to Pronounce ‘F’s and ‘V’s
(Ann Gibbons, in Science, on how cooking changed not only our anatomy but our language)
(Miranda York’s four-minute read, at Mr. Porter)
Can Eating Spicy Food Increase Your Lifespan? Why The Science Is Still So Mixed
(Paul D. Terry—an epidemiologist—tries to answer)
Dark and Complicated History of Monterey Jack Cheese, The
(Pete O’Connell’s tale of real estate skullduggery at VinePair)
Dough You Know the Difference?: The 5 Basic Types of Pastry
(the answer, from Chloee Lee, at Food for Thought)
Everything You Wanted to Know About Salt but Were Too Afraid to Ask
(Claire Lower’s seasoned words, at lifehacker)
(Gastro Obscura’s account of the origin of canned food)
History of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, The
(a thick slathering from Southern Living’s Melissa Locker)
Holy Mole: Celebrating Mexico’s Iconic Sauce
(Joseph Sorrentino’s Culinary Backstreets article)
(Livia Gershon—in conversation with Roger Horowitz, Jeffery Pitcher, and Sydney Watts—about “the relationship between governments and industry, [and] regulation”)
Milkshake Neuroscience: How the Brain Nudges Us Toward Fatty Foods
(Max Kozlov, in Nature, on research reported in The Journal of Neuroscience)
Neurology of Taste, The: How Your Brain Perceives Flavor
(Laura Simmons introduces us to the gustatory cortex in IFL Science)
Seaweed Has Been a Superfood Since Prehistoric Times
(fossilized dental evidence from 28 archaeological sites in Europe)
(John Birdsall peers through the dark history of Piper nigrum in his substack pages)
Why Do Onions Make You Cry? Biology
(an excerpt from Mark Kurlansky’s book, The Core of an Onion)
Why Insect Meals Could Soon Be on Your Plate
(Dr. Beccy Corkill’s IFL Science article)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
10 Strangest Foods in The Bible, The
10th-Century Master Chef Who Wrote Food Poetry, The
25-Year Lasagna, Special Ops Oatmeal, and the Survival Food Boom
#198: Who Benefits from the Food We Buy?
Ammonium Chloride: A Surprising Sixth Basic Taste May Join Salty, Sweet, Sour, Bitter and Umami
Confessions of a Tableside Flambéur
Could Your Family Recipes Become a Bestselling Cookbook?
Decadent Diet of Aleister Crowley, The
Eating at the End of the Earth
Enduring Legacy of Elizabeth David, Britain’s First Lady of Food, The
Every Burger Topping Imaginable, Ranked
How Plant-Based Cuisine Challenges the Authenticity Trap
How to Tell What Kind of Procrastinator You Are (and What to Do About It)
How to Write a Good Pitch Email
Iconic Pasta Causing an Italian-American Dispute, The
Ordering Off a 5,000-Year-Old Mesopotamian Menu
Pasta and Rice May Be Healthier as Leftovers. Here’s Why.
Remembering When America Banned Sliced Bread
Restaurant Revolution Has Begun, The
Resurgence of Solar Agriculture, The
Salmon on Your Plate Has a Troubling Cost, The. These Farms Offer Hope.
Turns Out Not Eating Salt Is Not the End of the World
Understanding Food and Culture; Finding Their Quintessence in Cookbooks
What Happens to Your Body When You Eat an All-Meat Diet?
What the Neo-Prohibitionists Won’t Tell You
What’s a Predicate and Who Cares, Anyway?
When Cheese Can Tell the Future
Why Does Wine Taste Different on a Plane? We Asked an Airline Sommelier.
Writing Is Not About the Routine
— another blog —
— podcasts, etcetera —
Beans, Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit
Chocolate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Eating the New World’s Hottest Pepper: “Pepper X”
Foreign Foods That Are Banned in the U.S.
History and Evolution of Chili Peppers, The
How the Cup Noodles Empire Was Built
Inside Ina Garten’s Kitchen | Ina’s Favorite Things | NYT Cooking
Simple Hacks for Amazing Food Photography in Natural Light
Surprising Real Origins of Your Favorite Ethnic Foods, The
You Are What (Your Microbes) Eat
Your Last Meal with Rachel Belle
— 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 #278 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
October 18, 2023
Food Sites for November 2023
Pottery at Plymouth Plantation.
November, as near as we can tell, has but one thing going for it: Thanksgiving dinner. Well... maybe leftovers. And pies... we mustn’t forget pies.
This holiday is—in one sense—a uniquely American invention, ’though it has predecessors that go back as far as the Paleolithic (because almost everyone, at least in the northern hemisphere, wanted to celebrate the plenty of harvest with one big blow-out of a feast before the arrival of winter). Included, below, are several podcasts from the Smithsonian, suitable for listening while you prepare your Thanksgiving dinner... even one that is specifically about the first Thanksgiving.
Bon appetit!
Despite this being a larger issue than usual (a feast of sorts), we’ve still been scribbling—some work on old projects that have been lying idle and, of course, posting Substack pages:
“On the Road, Again” traverses a road less traveled;
“Bibliomania Revisited” explains the reason these updates exist, and how they got started;
“Book. Cover. Judging By...” bares all. Sort of;
“Reading Poetry Was Hard...” reminisces about, of all things, eighth-grade English;
“Clothing Optional?” is another embarrassing trip down memory lane;
“Hurtling Down the Gastro-intestinal Track”...a gustatory confessional;
and
“Why Bother?” is about these updates (but you already suspected that didn’t you?)
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Yet 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 covers both food writing and whatever else we manage to get into print.
The impending holiday season—coinciding with the approach of the darkened part of the year—almost requires the inclusion of some drinking quotes (especially those in a darker voice) from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
...all our respected forbears indulged in the flowing bowl to such an extent as to make fishes seem land animals by comparison. H. P. Lovecraft
With so many other destroying agencies at work, liquor may well be classed as a minor evil—and after all, it does not greatly matter whether or not civilization decays—or at what speed it decays. H. P. Lovecraft
I feel like a midget with muddy feet has been walking over my tongue all night. W.C. Fields
Gary
November 2023
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 Sally Ekus—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 —
14 Surprising Health Benefits of Coffee Backed by Science
(Michael Van Gerpen’s cuppa’ joe justification for java junkies at Filtered Grounds)
Eat Like an Ancient Greek Philosopher
(Andrew Colletti waxes rhapsodic about the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, for Gastro Obscura)
Here’s What Actual Witches Eat on Halloween
(Jamie Davis Smith stirs the cauldron at Huffpost)
How Cults and Religious Groups Forever Changed American Food
(Diana Hubbbell’s review of Christina Ward’s book, Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat—An American History)
In Jordan, an Ancient Bread Tradition Rises Again
(Sam Lin-Sommer’s Gastro Obscura article about the resurgence of baking with Jordanian native wheat)
Is an All-Meat Diet What Nature Intended?
(Manvir Singh’s New Yorker article, which could be summarized as “Humans eat whatever’s available”)
Karuk Cook Restoring California’s Native Cuisine, One Acorn at a Time, The
(Naomi Tomky’s review of Sara Calvosa Olson’s Chími Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen)
Like Hungry Locusts, Humans Can Easily Be Tricked Into Overeating
(Tim Vernimmen, in Knowable Magazine, explains that low-protein/low-fiber diets are the cause of obesity)
Made in Taiwan Is a Love Letter to the Island Nation
(Diana Hubbell’s Gastro Obscura interview with Clarissa Wei—author of the first cookbook dedicated to the food of Taiwan)
Mastering the Art of Ecuadorian Cooking
(Abril Macías Avila, in New Gastronome, compares and contrasts the Manual de la Cocinera with Mastering the Art of French Cooking)
Oktoberfest’s Beer-Soaked History, Explained
(Dana Hatic raises a stein at Eater)
Remembering “America’s Beer,” Old Milwaukee
(Pete O’Connell’s VinePair article)
Rewriting the History of Cacao
(New Worlder article on archaeological evidence of chocolate’s origin—in Ecuador)
Salt Taste Is Surprisingly Mysterious
(Amber Dance, in Knowable Magazine, on how our sense of taste tells us that the amount of salt in a dish is just right, not too much)
Understanding Food and Culture; Finding Their Quintessence in Cookbooks
(PDF of Abza Bharadwaj’s paper examining “the cultural fabric embedded in the narrative styles of writers of food”)
Understanding the Mechanisms of Umami Taste
(Carmen Leitch, in labroots, on why we’re able to perceive certain tastes)
Where Does Salt Come From? Ask Paul
(Paul Adams asks and answers, in Cook’s Illustrated)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Additives and Ingredients That These Food Scientists Personally Avoid, The
AI Detection Startups Say Amazon Could Flag AI Books. It Doesn’t
Ají, Excluded While Essential on Our Table
Beekeepers Who Don’t Want You to Buy More Bees, The
Big Farms and Flawless Fries Are Gulping Water in the Land of 10,000 Lakes
Black Pepper: From India’s “Black Gold” to Afterthought
Coffee Drinks Are Sweeter and Sillier Than Ever—and That’s a Good Thing
Does 75% of the World’s Saffron Really End Up in Fernet?
Food Studies in the Romantic Period:(S)mashing History
Food Writing and Food Cultures
Her New Cookbook Takes Readers (and Chefs) on a Journey Through History
How Much Coffee Is Too Much Coffee?
How the UK Stole Portugal’s Marmelada and Convinced the World to Change Its Definition
How TikTok Is Reshaping the American Cookbook
“It’s Like Trying to Quit Smoking”: Why Are 1 in 7 of Us Addicted to Ultra-Processed Foods?
It’s Time for a Glorious, Uncompromising Re-Politicizing of Wine
Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum
Next Time You Read a Food Nutrition Label, Pour One Out for Burkey Belser
On the Edge: Exploring Cookbook Spines
Once-Popular Foods That We All Stopped Eating
OpenAI’s GPT-4 Scores in the Top 1% of Creative Thinking
Queens of Prohibition: The Wild Story of 8 Women Bootleggers, Moonshiners, and Rum Runners
Sexual Politics of Cooking, The: A Feminist Analysis of Culinary Hierarchy in Western Culture
Taking a Break As an Online Creator
These Iconic Fast Food Chains No Longer Exist
Three Types of Publishing: What You Need to Know
Totally Normal Comments for Online Recipes
What Would You Eat in a Cold War Fallout Shelter?
Writing My Next Book, Here, Live
— podcasts, etcetera —
Discovering the World’s Oldest Winery
Latest Findings on What to Eat and What Not to Eat, The
Stopping Knockoff Knockwurst and Phony Fromage
We’d Like to Teach the World to Slurp: The Weird and Wonderful Story of Ramen’s Rise to Glory
Why Do Men Keep Fingering 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
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #276 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
September 18, 2023
Food Sites for October 2023
Autumn is squash.
“Shine on, shine on harvest moon.” Tomatoes and corn are pretty much over... but squashes and tree fruits, like apples and pears, are really coming on strong. The nights grow cooler—and longer—and the days are taking on a warm glow that belies the approach of you-know-what.
Our summer has been one long series of short vacations, which has played havoc with our commitment to writing. Still, we did manage to write a few short stories and post a few Substack pages—they're mostly about our non-food writing, but foodie stuff sometimes creeps in along the way:
“Everything We Know About Life We Learned from Death” features one of those new (really new) short stories;
“Love, Past Tense” questions our memories of young love;
“Pets Perdu” is, literally, a tear jerker;
“Uncertainty Principle” is an excuse for posting another new short story;
“Don’t Get Me Wrong” is a sort of rock n’ roll confessional;
and
“It’s Un-American...” speculates about something that probably should never be written.
You can, if you wish, 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’s mostly about our food writing.
This being the season for Cucurbits, a couple of tidbits from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:
High-tech tomatoes. Mysterious milk. Supersquash. Are we supposed to eat this stuff? Or is it going to eat us? Annita Manning
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
Gary
October 2023
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 Nancy Harmon Jenkins, who got us started on Substack), 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 —
750 ml Wine Bottles: History and Marketing
(Aaron Moore reveals the reason wine bottles are all the same size, in Gratsi—a company that markets its wine in boxes)
Beyond Bread: How To Save A Grain
(Hollie Stephens on the importance of genetic diversity in cereal crops, specifically wheat)
Brief History of Drinking Cocktails From Coconuts, A
(Kelsey Lawrence’s Eater piece on a tiki classic)
(Julia Skinner’s substack posting about mead)
(Miranda Brown’s review, in Literary Review, of Fuchsia Dunlop’s Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food)
Savory Cocktail Ingredients Open Up Fresh Galaxies of Flavor
(Matthew Rowley’s umami-enhanced article in imbibe)
Sowing Culinary Tradition in the Saffron Fields of La Mancha
(Esme Fox’s article is about more than just Spanish saffron)
This Book Created Italian Food as We Know It
(Andrew Coletti’s Gastro Obscura article about Pellegrino Artusi’s book, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well)
This Cookbook Explores Why “Rice Is Culture”
(Dianna Hubbell’s review of JJ Johnson’s The Simple Art of Rice, in Gastro Obscura)
Vermouth: A History of Changing Attitudes Towards Alcohol, Health and Pleasure
(Simone Lai’s pour at Sourced)
(Open Culture’s report on a bottle you’re not likely to find in your local liquor store)
(as Gastro Obscura’s Andrew Coletti explains, it’s five different species, with five different flavors/culinary uses)
(Nikhita Venugopal’s article suggests that there’s more to a Gin & Tonic than juniper and false history)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
19th-Century Swill Milk Scandal That Poisoned Infants With Whiskey Runoff, The
A Cookbook Deal is about More than Social Media Stats, says Literary Agent Amy Collins
“A Plague on the Industry”: Book Publishing’s Broken Blurb System
Actual Historians Answer Questions About Food
Amazon Issues New AI Guidelines for Its KDP Platform
Art, Craft and (Gendered) Labour of Achaar, The
Book Publicity: What Works and What Doesn’t
Field Guide to the Great Hot Dogs of America, A
“ICE” Is One of the Rudest Dining Habits Ever, and You Might Be Doing It
Is Scarr’s the Best Pizza in New York?
Lydia Davis from Revising One Sentence
MSG Convert Visits the High Church of Umami, An
Politics of Flavour in Coffee, The
Rebel’s Guide to Creative Integrity, A
RIP to These Extinct Fast Food Hot Dogs
Taste of the Past, A: A Food Writer on the Power of Timeless Flavours
What The Original Versions Of 12 Popular Dishes Actually Tasted Like
Write for Your Best Readers Instead of Your Worst Readers
— podcasts, etcetera —
11 of the Most Faked Foods in the World
Can ChatGPT Help Maine Food Professionals Save Time?
How Much Booze Did Medieval People Really Drink?
Lies in Your Grocery Store, The
Modern Marvels: The Surprising World of Cold Cuts
Umami: You Never Say Its Name, Yet You Taste It Every Day
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #276 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
August 20, 2023
Food Sites for September 2023
Small signs that Autumn is just beginning to appear.
As we write this, it’s still August, with September just around the corner. The days remain hot, but—each evening—the temperature dips a little lower. Summer’s sparkling white daisies have been replaced by golden black-eyed susans, and farm stands reveal different produce than they had just a few weeks ago.
The equinox is coming, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
This summer has been one long series of short vacations, which has played havoc with our commitment to writing. Still, we did manage to post a few Substack pages:
“Holy Acid Flashback, Batman...” looks back at events from the summer of 1969;
“Appetite” is a tale of adolescent wandering and wondering;
“Absinthe Makes the Tart Grow Fonder” is an ode to the Green Fairy;
“It’s a Puzzlement” asks, and tries to sidestep an answer to, the question “What, Exactly, are Herbs?”;
“Geriaticks” suggests that memories, like youth, are sometimes better off being lost;
“It All Comes Back to Me, Now...“ revisits the issue of memory, as well as a certain character about whom we’ve written in the past;
and,
“Bibliomania” that is, at you might expect, too much about too many books.
You can, if you wish, 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’s mostly about our food writing.
“To everything there is a season,” and this is the season for quotes about seasonality from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
No dish changes quite so much from season to season as soup. Summer’s soups come chilled, in pastel colors strewn with herbs. If hot they are sheer insubstantial broths afloat with seafood. In winter they turn steaming and thick to serve with slabs of rustic, crusty bread. — Florence Fabricant
The right food always comes at the right time. Reliance on out-of-season foods makes the gastronomic year an endlessly boring repetition. — Roy Andries de Groot
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
September 2023
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 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.
— the new sites —
6 Stories That Will Make You Scream—For Ice Cream
(frozen treats from Gastro Obscura)
Arabic Medieval Cookbooks in English Translation: Treasure Troves for Near Eastern Material Culture
(an overview from Nawal Nasrallah, in The Ancient Near East Today)
Can Music Change the Way Food and Drink Tastes? New Data Says Yes
(Finlay Mead’s article—in Dmarge—on how sound affects our perception of taste)
Curry May Have Landed in Southeast Asia 2000 Years Ago
(Phie Jacobs, in Science, on archeological evidence of ancient spice trade)
(David Edgerton’s review of Ulbe Bosma’s The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years, in Literary Review)
(an overview, with links, from Hellenica World)
Eat Like Jane Austen with Recipes from Her Sister-In-Law’s Cookbook
(Reina Gattuso’s GastroObscura article about the publication of the cookbook of Austen’s sister-in-law: Martha Lloyd’s Household Book)
Gene-Edited Yeast Is Taking Over Craft Beer
(Anna Kramer’s Wired article on what’s brewing in GMO these days)
Jambu & its Electric Leaves & Flowers
(Nicholas Gill’s New Worlder article about Splilanthes oleracea, a South American herb that makes your mouth tingle like Sichuan Pepper)
(recipes and articles on noshes, from bagels to za’atar)
Major Oyster Regions of the U.S.
(Hannah Staab’s guide, at VinePair)
Most Famous Regional Hangover Food Across the U.S., The
(VinePair’s Olivia White serves the dishes to have when even the idea of eating food is off the table)
(Linda Rodriguez McRobbie shares the history of the ubiquitous sandwich in the Saturday Evening Post)
(Jeff Koehler’s article in AramcoWorld)
Surprisingly Cool History of Ice, The
(Linda Rodriguez McRobbie on the history of harvesting ice—in New England, for use in the summer, and even in the tropics—for The Saturday Evening Post)
(the history of dome-top jar lids, at Tedium)
Tingly Tongues, Music, and Scents: Behind the Rise of Multisensory Cocktails
(Leena Tailor, at VinePair, on recent developments in mixology)
What Is Old Bay Seasoning, Anyway?
(Ellen Gutoskey tells the story of Gustav Brunn’s spice mixture at Mental Floss)
(answer provided by the Science Reference Section, Library of Congress)
Why Did the Soviet Union Suffer Chronic Food Shortages?
(Harry Sherrin, in HistoryHit, on how not to manage a country’s food supply)
Why the Tomato Was Feared in Europe for More Than 200 Years
(K. Annabelle Smith’s history lesson, from Smithsonian)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
415: How and Why to Self-Publish a Cookbook with Matt Briel from Lulu
Accuracy and Precision in Food Writing
Before Humans Ate Chickens, We Treasured Them as Exotic Pets
Beyond Escoffier: The Evolving Restaurant Kitchen
Dirty, Dank, and (Occasionally) Dangerous: What Makes a Dive Bar a Dive Bar?
Fair-Weather Vegans Should Remember It’s a Diet, Not a Fad
Food and Art: Changing Perspectives on Food as a Creative Medium
Food, Sex, Language: The Lost Lovers and Later Words of M. F. K. Fisher and Elizabeth David
How Cooking Videos Took Over the World
How to Make Viking Funerary Flatbread
I Was a Champion of Fake Meat: But I’m Not Surprised People Are Losing Their Taste for It
In Ancient Rome, Everyone—Yes, Everyone—Was Hammered
Magnificence of the Bluefin Tuna, The
Mr. Trillin Picks a Peck of Unpickled Peppers
Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result
On the Joys of Food-Centered Fiction
On the State of Literary Magazines
Plea for Culinary Modernism, A
Problem with National Dishes, The
Right Way to Describe a Wine, The
Rise of Cookbooks in America, The
To Know a Place, You Must First Know Its Snacks
Why Do So Many Cookbooks Have Similar Recipe Lists?
— more blogs —
Blood and Sandwiches: Classicists in the (Roman) Kitchen
— podcasts, etcetera —
Calvin Trillin: Food as Comic Relief
Chris Morocco: What Is a Recipe and What Is a Template?
Eating It…In the Hudson Valley: Gary Allen
Everything You Need to Know About Bitters
How Big Business Built the Food Pyramid
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #275 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
July 17, 2023
Food Sites for August 2023
Crabapples, harbingers of the fruit bonanza to come.
“Hot, Hot, Hot”—it’s not just the title of one of our books (or a song played entirely too often at weddings); it’s what life is like these days. We might be tempted to call this period “our salad days”—but that phrase refers to something else altogether (and those salad days are so long gone that we can barely remember them).
Our memories, sad to say, are not forever.
Still, as I remarked to one of my correspondents, recently: “I spend a lot of thinking, and reading, and sometimes even writing, about memory.” Because, as writers, what tool is handier, and more often useful, than memory? The fact that the factuality of our memories is of questionable value in no way diminishes their story-telling utility. Mutability is the seasoning that gives re-telling its umami.
But I digress.
We’re back to real life (whatever that is)—which is to say we’re back to posting Substack pages:
“Call me Al...” wonders about an Arabic oversight;
“Something for Nothing...” introduces Unbelievable, with a kind of sales pitch;
“A Garlic-scented Memory” recalls escargot perdu;
“It Made Me an Offer I Couldn’t Resist” is just another short story;
“What is a Simile?” is, naturally, not what the post is about;
“What a Pity” offers tales of culinary disappointment.
and
“Passing Like Sheeps in the Night” ponders the proclivities of particular Pastoral poets.
Penwipe Publishing has released another of our books (The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany). It’s a collection of short stories and poems that—for some reason—have never appeared in print. In the interest of fair disclosure, a few pieces have appeared in pixels.
(feel free to make snide remarks that include the adjective “pixelated”)
You can, if you wish, 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’s mostly about our food writing.
August is when the garden kicks into second gear, so a few quotes about dealing with vegetal largesse (two on zucchini, alone, from ”Attack of the Squash People”) from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
They’re coming, they’re on us, the long striped gourds, the silky babies, the hairy adolescents, the lumpy vast adults like the trunks of green elephants. Marge Piercy
You give and give too much, like summer days limp with heat, thunderstorms bursting their bags on our heads, as we salt and freeze and pickle for the too little to come. Marge Piercy
Summer cooking implies a sense of immediacy, a capacity to capture the essence of the fleeting moment. Elizabeth David
Gary
August 2023
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 —
(Tedium’s history of the modern beer can)
Field Notes: On Native Grounds
(Elizabeth Pochoda’s article on Native American foods in The Magazine Antiques)
(Annie Ewbank’s Gastro Obscura article about edible flowers)
(Diana Hubble interviews Simon Spalding—author of Food at Sea: Shipboard Cuisine from Ancient to Modern Times—about the history of eating at sea, for GastroObscura)
Getting to the Heart of Mexico, One Chile at a Time
(Belkis Wille toured the country for The New York Times)
History in a Jar: The Story of Pickles
(Tori Avey’s account in The History Kitchen)
How Do Certain Foods Become National Dishes?
(Irina Dumitrescu’s review of National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History, and the Meaning of Home in The New York Times)
(Ian Seavey’s “Brief History of American Empire in One Cocktail” at The American Historical Association’s Perspectives Daily)
In Salts, a Pinch of Bali or a Dash of Spain
(Harold McGee’s “Curious Cook” column in The New York Times)
Quest to Save Chili Peppers, The
(Clarissa Wei’s New Yorker article about a Taiwanese seedbank)
Science of Spices, The: How Your Food Gets Its Flavor
(excerpt from Lessons from Plants, by Beronda L. Montgomery in The Conversation)
What Happened to Peanut Butter and Jelly?
(Ashawnta Jackson’s history of the iconic sandwich, at JSTOR Daily)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
9 Fascinating Foods with Royal Roots
130-Year-Old Menus Show How Climate Change Is Already Changing What We Eat
Amazon’s Problem with AI Copycat Cookbooks
Back Forty: They Only Want You to Believe It’s Food
Collection of Vintage Kitchen Gadgets Many People Would Not Know How to Use Nowadays, A
Dated but Not Forgotten, These Old Food Trends Deserve a Revival
Foundation for Food Politics, A
How a Solitary Monk, Known for His Soup, United a Community
How Basque Food Got to Northern Nevada
How the Bloody Mary Garnish Lost Its Mind
How to Actually Find Good Recipes Online
How to Be Alone (Actually Alone)
How to Make a Podcast (and Earn Money)
Inconvenient Truths about Food
Inside NASA’s Contest to Develop the Space Food of the Future
On U.S. Cuisine: All-American Food is Corporate Food.
Sustainable Food Systems: What, Why, & How?
Instant Pot and the Miracle Kitchen Devices of Yesteryear, The
The Washington Post’s Joe Yonan Welcomes Story Pitches, with Caveats
Three Sisters and 120 Sweet Potatoes: Mexican Farmers Embrace Maya Traditions
We’ve Officially Entered a New Era of “Cultivated” Meat Production
Whose Fault Is Obesity? Most of the Blame Rests with One Culprit.
Why Does Day Drinking Feel Different?
Wine Science Makes Some Peculiar Inferences
— podcasts, etcetera —
5 Iconic Hot Dog Toppings from Across the USA
Around the Table Podcast: Historical Recipes in the Digital Age with Elaine Harrington
Farm Mechanization in Harvesting and Grading
How Fine Dining in Europe and the US Came to Exclude Immigrant Cuisine
Modern Agriculture Harvesting Machines
Remembering Cara De Silva a Zoom Presentation
This Hot Dog Video Went Viral on Tik Tok
This Is Not a Joke: Chinese People Are Eating—and Poking Fun at—#whitepeoplefood
What Is Bourbon? Where Did It Come From?
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #274 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
June 15, 2023
Food Sites for July 2023
On the Road: selfie with dromedary.
With this issue, we begin our 24th year of sending out these newsletters. We are astounded by this event—especially since we’re barely out of our teens (or, facing facts, admitting that we’re no more mature than we were in our teens).
Since our last issue, we’ve been traveling (and, to some extent travailing). We visited—and ate our way across—Portugal, Spain, and Morocco.
We contracted COVID along the way—probably in Fes (a place known for its intensely crowded narrow alleys, crammed with infected people from all over our infected planet, not one of whom thought to wear a mask). Frankly, if we hadn’t caught the disease there, we probably couldn’t catch it anywhere. The experience of the plague, itself, wasn’t bad—but we missed part of our trip during our mandatory isolation in Madrid. Worse, one of our meals (cous cous, outside of Marrakech, after our camel ride) was rendered tasteless by the virus.
Still, considering what could have happened, we were pretty lucky.
Having been in our sic transit, we haven’t written much. Well, we did add a bit to one of the books we haven’t finished, wrote a little story (it’s part of “Tasty,” below), and posted three Substack pages:
“The Royal ‘We’” asserts that royalty is not what it used to be—or, at least, hopes so;
“Tasty” is a kind of love story, speaking in—and of—tongues;
“Doubt” wrestles with imposter syndrome.
Access to most of the substack posts is free, but we’re giving free editions of two of our books to paid subscribers.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Even more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and on various Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that’s mostly about our food writing.
A few gastronomic complaints, penned by other travelers (which, we have to say, have not been confirmed by our experience), from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
More than any other in Western Europe, Britain remains a country where a traveler ... has to think twice before indulging in the ordinary food of ordinary people. Joseph Lelyveld
The French are not rude. They just happen to hate you. But that is no reason to bypass this beautiful country, whose master chefs have a well-deserved worldwide reputation for trying to trick people into eating snails. Nobody is sure how this got started. Probably a couple of French master chefs were standing around one day, and they found a snail, and one of them said: “I bet that if we called this something like ‘escargot,’ tourists would eat it.” Then they had hearty laugh, because ‘escargot’ is the French word for ‘fat crawling bag of phlegm.’” Dave Barry
He that travels in theory has no inconveniences; he has shade and sunshine at his disposal, and wherever he alights finds tables of plenty and looks of gaiety. These ideas are indulged till the day of departure arrives, the chaise is called, and the progress of happiness begins. A few miles teach him the fallacies of imagination. The road is dusty, the air is sultry, the horses are sluggish. He longs for the time of dinner that he may eat and rest. The inn is crowded, his orders are neglected, and nothing remains but that he devour in haste what the cook has spoiled, and drive on in quest of better entertainment. He finds at night a more commodious house, but the best is always worse than he expected. Samuel Johnson
Gary
July 2023
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 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.
— the new sites —
Brief (But Complicated) History of Coffee and Tea, A
(Michele Debczak’s cuppa at Mental Floss)
(excerpts from several technical books on the subject)
Complete Beer Guide to IPAs, The: From Hazy to West Coast and More
(Joshua Bernstein’s course at Gear Patrol)
(Annie Ewbank’s homage to the original meals-on-wheels, at Gastro Obscura)
Food Innovations That Came from War
(Diana Hubbell’s Gastro Obscura history lesson)
(a Simply Recipes page by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee)
How Humanity Has Changed the Food It Eats
(Nicola Temple’s article at the BBC’s Future)
ISSUE 77, BEGINNINGS, Part 3: The Coming of the Cook Stove
(David Shields’ substack page that investigates the curiosities of food history)
ISSUE 77, BEGINNINGS, Part 5: Beginning the Quest for Food Purity
(David Shields’ substack page continues its investigation of food history)
MSG Is Finally Getting Its Revenge
(Yasmin Tayag shows that not all sodium is bad for our health, in The Atlantic)
Neanderthals Carb Loaded, Helping Grow Their Big Brains
(starchy foods made us who we are—according to research reported in Science)
(a shrine to the world’s most famous mystery-meat-in-a-can)
Table Full of Weird Science, A
(Pat Willard’s substack page about AI and the mystery of taste)
What Did the Ancient Greeks Eat and Drink?
(Robert Garland’s answer, at HistoryHit)
— another blog —
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
11 Defunct Restaurant Chains That Are Sorely Missed
Are These the Worst Recipes Ever Conceived?
Before AI Recipes, There Was This $90,000 Kitchen Computer.
Future of Classic New York Slice Shops Hangs in the Balance, The
Gentleman’s Guide to Ordering a Drink, A
Go Ahead and Make Your AI Recipe. It Won’t Be Good.
Have We Finally Hit Peak Wellness Food?
How to Stop Thinking and Start Writing
Kate Lebo on Making and Remaking Recipes on and Off the Page
Kwame Alexander on the Legacies of Love Passed Down Through Food
Rebirth of Embodiment, The: Hand-Compiling an Early Modern Recipe Book
Revise, Revise! Anna Badkhen on the Joys of Revision
Where Are All the California Cookbooks?
Why is American Cuisine So Pervasively Sweet?
Why We Have No Theory of Gastronomy
— podcasts, etcetera —
3 Salting Methods for Better-Tasting Meats
Episode 98: How to Cook and Eat Like an Italian
Podcast: A Chat with Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for 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
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #273 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
May 7, 2023
Food Sites for June 2023
It’s definitely cocktail season!
Our June issue is coming out very early—because we’re going on vacation and probably won’t be able to post in a timelier manner. We also plan to be busy occupying ourselves with whatever tourists do to amuse themselves. In keeping with the spirit of the thing, we’re sharing a number of libational links, so you can join us—virtually. If not virtuously.
(and yes, we made up “libational”—you needn’t bother looking it up)
We’ve never been able to limit ourselves to reading just one book at a time, but our affliction has only intensified. We’re now writing several at the same time—and, understandably, not completing any of them. Worse, we continue to distract ourselves by posting more Substack pages at the same time:
“Food for Thought” is a post about thinking, and thinking about, the unthinkable;
“If You Knew Scusi, Like I Know Scusi...” is something like an apology about apologies;
“Spring Hopes Eternal” is a kind of love story;
“Trinity” wrestles with ultimate mysteries and (as you might expect) loses.
In our spare time, we self-published a little book about ridiculously hot chiles, and other things we would probably have been wise not to ingest. Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business is the latest item from Penwipe Publishing.
You can, if you wish, 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’s mostly about our food writing.
Some entries to wet your whistle from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
I like to have a martini, two at the very most. After three I’m under the table. After four I'm under the host. Dorothy Parker
There can be nothing more frequent than an occasional drink. Oscar Wilde
Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne. Winston Churchill
Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough. Mark Twain
No amount of physical contact could match the healing powers of a well-made cocktail. David Sedaris
Writer’s block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they can have an excuse to drink alcohol. Steve Martin
Gary
June 2023
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 Roz Cummins), 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 —
Almost-pioneer from Basel, The
(Michael van Orsouw’s article about the first Swiss food writer, Anna Wecker)
Ancient Rome Did Wine Very, Very Differently
(Josh Wussow, at The Takeout, explains why modern wine is better—and safer—than the stuff served in Imperial Rome)
(a galley of gorgeous garnishes, from Moss & Fog)
Curious Case of Colonial India’s Breakfast Curries, The
(Lily Kelting, at Gastro Obscura, on curry—whatever that is— and The Raj)
(Anne Ewbank’s history of lemonade, poured at Gastro Obscura)
(Christopher Doell, at Valet Magazine, on tequila's smoky cousin)
(history and descriptions, from Wikipedia)
History of the Dark and Stormy Cocktail, The
(from Bermuda, via Moss & Fog)
History of the Mai Tai Cocktail, The
(from Trader Vic Bergeron, via Moss & Fog)
History of the Negroni Cocktail, The
(from Florence, Italy, via Moss & Fog)
History of the Old Fashioned Cocktail, The
(from Louisville, Kentucky, via Moss & Fog)
History of the World’s Most Popular Cocktail, The: The Margarita
(from Tijuana, México—maybe—via Moss & Fog)
(Dwight Furrow sniffs and tells, at Edible Arts)
How England Became the “Sweetshop of Europe”
(Mimi Goodall‑in the University of Oxford’s The Conversation—demonstrates “the history of sugar is also the history of capitalism, of exploitation, of globalization, and of industrialization”)
In Texas, Barbecue Has Gone Global
(Gastro Obscura documents the explosion of multi-ethnic flavors now found in the Lone Star State)
(Sharanya Deepak’s article, in The Baffler, on what’s behind the Hindu/vegetarian “cow vigilantes”)
Issue 77, BEGINNINGS, Part 2: Onset of the Sugar Binge
(David Shields explains how sugar became an inexpensive commodity)
Oyster Stew, Sturgeon Soup: Historic Menus from Lincoln’s Inaugural to San Quentin Prison
(a Guardian account of an exhibit at NY’s Grolier Club)
(remember when we all thought—or wanted to believe—that alcohol was good for our health? Slate’s Tim Requarth is a party pooper)
(“Tips from the experts on sushi rules to follow,” by way of the BBC’s World’s Table)
Shocking Story of the Boureka, The: Israel’s Favorite Snack
(Aryeh Genger’s Aish article about pastries, both sweet and savory)
Sweet and Sour Origins of Amish Soul Food, The
(Sam Lin-Sommer, on Chris Scott’s fusion of Amish and African American cuisines, in Gastro Obscura)
Sylvester Graham, Health Food Nut, Makes Butchers and Bakers Go Crackers
(New England Historical Society’s post about the prototypical Puritan food prophet)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Conversation with the Memoirist and Food Writer Elissa Altman, A
Eating Invasive Species is More Adaptation Than Solution
Goodbye to the Bread Basket. Hello to the Bread Course.
How the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich (BEC) Became an Urban Go-To Breakfast
Ironies of the Food Revolution
Making P&A, pt.1: How to Write a Cookbook Proposal
May Sarton on How to Cultivate Your Talent
On Research: Writing as Cleaning Up a Mess
Preserving My Family’s Food Culture
Secret Roving Recipe Book Is the Ultimate Boomerang, The
Surprising, Overlooked Artistry of Fruit Stickers, The
Thrills and Spills: An Architect’s Absurdist Homeware—in Pictures
Visualizing Chairs Out of Fruit and Vegetables
What’s the Point of Reading Writing by Humans?
Why Does Food Taste Different When You Are Flying?
— podcasts, etcetera —
How a Restaurant Is Helping Diners Think Deeply About Immigrant Culture and Food
Smithsonian Scientist: I Found the 8th Wonder of the World in a Coffee Shop
Why Do We Eat Popcorn at the Movies?—Andrew Smith
— 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 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 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)
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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #272 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
April 21, 2023
Food Sites for May 2023
It’s nearly morel season!
Late April and early May: the sweet of the year. Need we say more?
Non-literary duties have prevented most writing, of late, but we did manage to post a few Substack newsletters:
“It’s a Snowday” was a rant about parking restrictions;
“Sugaring Off” recalls the maple syrup of the past;
“Flashback” paired chronicles of beans and bananas;
“Fools Rush In...” just one of many lies told by this angler;
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud...” a capital-R romantic moment; and
“A Texas Twofer” to paraphrase Mark Twain, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics literature.”
We also managed—in our free time—to self-publish a little book about hot chiles (and other things we imprudently put in our mouths). Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business is the usual salmagundi of exhausting facts and utter foolishness.
You can, if you wish, 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’s mostly about our food writing.
A few fungal entries from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
It’s a curious idea perhaps, but a mushroom grows for such a short time and if you happen to come across it when it's fresh it’s like coming across a sound which also lives a short time. John Cage
Every mushroom is edible, but some only once. Old Czech saying
There are old mushroom hunters, and bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters. Another old saying
Gary
May 2023
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 Bob DelGrosso), 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-American Appeal of the Bundt Cake, The
(Anne Ewbank slices into its history, at Gastro Obscura)
Company Creates Meatball from the Cells of an Extinct Woolly Mammoth
(Jessica Stewart, reveals the latest thing in cultured meats, at My Modern Met)
Cookbook on a Budget: Ruby Tandoh’s Glorious Cook as You Are
(a review from Marian Bull’s substack page, Mess Hall)
Cookies and Breads: The Baker’s Art
(an exhibit at New York’s Museum of Contemporary Crafts)
(“how Chinese food won-over the-world,” by Sam Lin-Sommer, at Gastro Obscura)
How a Vibrant, Factory-Made Sweet Usurped the Original Maraschino Cherry
(Robert Lamb explains at Gastro Obscura)
How Professional Cheese Tasters Sample 100 Cheeses Per Day
(Marnie Shure answers at The Takeout)
In a Word: The Proof of Liquor
(ABV, in other words—Saturday Evening Post article by Andy Hollandbeck)
Impressions of American Hotels
(viewed through Henry Voigt’s eyes, at The American Menu)
Italian Food Traditions Aren’t So Traditional
(Dwight Furrow, takes on notions of authenticity, at Edible Arts)
Story of India as Told by a Humble Street Snack, The
(the BBC’s Justin Rowlatt views samosas as historical artifacts)
(a Serious Eats article by Kristina Razon)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Are burnt foods really bad for you—and why do we love them so much?
Are Nutrition Science and Nutritional Guidelines Racist?
Exit Strategies: So How Are You Supposed to End a Story?
Glossary of Tedium, The: Vol. 2: Food
How a People’s Food Culture Disappears
How Cookie Jars Capture American Kitsch
José Andrés: “Behind Every Plate of Food is a Story”
Liberating Pleasures of Eating Meat with Your Bare Hands, The
So You Want to Be a Food Historian
— podcasts, etcetera —
Bittersweet Tale of Cocoa, The
Candies That Were Discontinued Over the Last Century
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Taro
Pagans, Lost Sailors, and Grieving Widows: The Weird History of Hot Cross Buns
— 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 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 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)
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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #271 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
