Gary Allen's Blog, page 3

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

Ancient Egyptians Celebrated the Feast of Drunkenness with Blood-Red Beer

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on April 19, 2024 08:49

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 dro p 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 —

(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)

How to Speak Wine Speak

(in vino veritas, from Dwight Furrow)

In Defense of Eating Brains

(Andrew Coletti’s article in Gastro Obscura)

Spring Nettles

(Kate McDermott’s account of Urtica dioica)

Steeped in War and Erasure

(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

Art of Cooking, 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

Cookbooks and Criticism

Cookbooks for the People

Disentangling the Production of the panis quadratus from Pompeii: A New Interdisciplinary Perspective

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

Goya

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

On Bread Alone

Playing with Fire and Food

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

Stalk Market Soars, The

Techniques!

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 —

DIRT | Adventure Local

Owamni

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

7 Hottest Peppers In The World, The: From Pepper X To Naga Viper

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 24, 2024 07:02

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 —

(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?)

1933 Cocktail Parade

(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)

“Dining with the Sultan”: A Unique Exhibit Explores the Fine Art of Feasting in Historic Islamic Lands

(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)

Lebanon Bologna

(Brian Yarvin’s Gastro Obscura article on a Pennsylvania specialty)

Pompeii Thermopolium

(Gastro Obscura restaurant review of a fast food eatery that closed in 71 BCE)

Stable Isotope Chemistry Reveals Plant-Dominant Diet Among Early Foragers on the Andean Altiplano, 9.0–6.5 Cal. KA

(Jennifer C. Chen, et. al., cast doubt on assumptions about the paleo diet; in PLOS One)

Ultimate Aromatherapy

(putting wine into words, by Cong Cong Bo, at Tim Atkin)

What’s in a Name?

(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)

You Just Ate Mold—Now What?

(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.

Consider the Food Writer

Defining and Refining a Food Justice Lens

Dining Dangerously

Eat a Burrito About It

Freshman 15—Why We Think It’s a Toxic Myth + Tips for Healthy Diet as a Student

Global Diversity of French Fry Dips, The

History of Horseradish

Ingredient Importance in Food

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

Theatre of Food, The

Wondrous Wordplay of Lunar New Year Food, The

— another blog —

Frascati Cooking That’s Amore

— podcasts, etcetera —

Does the Shape of a Wine Glass Really Matter?

Facts About 80s Snacks

Food Ranger, The

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

Munchies: Josh Ozersky

OTR Food & History

— 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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

“How Do You Reduce a National Dish to a Powder?”: The Weird, Secretive World of Crisp Flavours

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 17, 2024 11:00

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 —

Absinthe Minded

(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)

Cow Milk Mafia

(Marielle Williamson, in The Bittman Project, on legal restrictions of First Amendment rights in support of the dairy industry)

(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)

What Did Crusaders Eat?

(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?

Craft as a Teacher

Economics Behind Grandma’s Tuna Casseroles, The

Feast of Seven Fishes, The: Cultural Images That No Longer Exist

Fish & Chips, a History

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

Lost and Found on My Computer

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

Papa’s Tomato Pies

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

Vinegar

Why is Food Education so Unappetising?

Why Osage Chef Ben Jacobs Launched a Direct-to-Tribe Meal Delivery Service

— another blog —

Vulgar Chef, The

— podcasts, etcetera —

Eat, Drink, Read: Dwight Garner’s Obsession with Word and Table

Hot Stove Radio

Return to Recipe Graves, A

What Medieval Junk Food Was Like

What We Ate 60 Years Ago / Rare Commercials from the 50s and 60s

Who Invented Peanut Butter?

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

American Thanksgiving as a Republican Meal, a Repudiation of the High Cuisine of Monarchies

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 18, 2024 07:03

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 dro p 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 —

(Rachel Laudan explains the political underpinnings of the most American of traditions)

Beer Foam: Friend or Foe?

(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)

Pettuleipä

(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)

You Are When You Eat

(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 and the Senses in Film

Food of History, The

Food Traditions and “Prostitution”

For Cocktail Bars Across the U.S., Is Fancy Ice Really Worth the Expense?

Forgotten Food Writer, A

Gutting American Cuisine

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

Turmeric and Cumin Instead of Stock Cubes: An Internet Survey of Spices and Culinary Herbs Used in Poland Compared with Historical Cookbooks and Herbals

United States of Soup, The

Why Russell Norman Was a Restaurant Genius

Wine and Mystery

— another blog —

On the Food Scene

— podcasts, etcetera —

History Bites

Weird History 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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

Ancient Switch to Soft Food Gave Us an Overbite—and the Ability to Pronounce ‘F’s and ‘V’s

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on December 18, 2023 08:38

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 —

(Ann Gibbons, in Science, on how cooking changed not only our anatomy but our language)

Brief History of… Oysters, A

(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)

History in a Can

(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)

Meat and the Free Market

(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)

Thinking About Pepper

(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?

Abundance: the Proposal

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

Dog Food Fingers

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 Do the Dishes

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

Revenge of the Colonized

Salmon on Your Plate Has a Troubling Cost, The. These Farms Offer Hope.

Shut Up and Drink!

things we cling to, the

Turns Out Not Eating Salt Is Not the End of the World

Understanding Food and Culture; Finding Their Quintessence in Cookbooks

“We Find Nowadays Perpetual Disenchantment on the Score of Cookery”: Victorian Food Writing and Anachronistic Nationalism

What Happens to Your Body When You Eat an All-Meat Diet?

What the Neo-Prohibitionists Won’t Tell You

What You’re Eating

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.

Wonder of Bread, The

Writing Is Not About the Routine

Your Book Cover Is Everything

— another blog —

Olga Massov

— podcasts, etcetera —

Beans, Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit

Chocolate: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Choreography of Cooking, The

Copper and Heat

Eating the New World’s Hottest Pepper: “Pepper X”

Foreign Foods That Are Banned in the U.S.

Glen and Friends Cooking

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

14 Surprising Health Benefits of Coffee Backed by Science

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on November 16, 2023 11:32

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 —

(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

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 —

America’s First Food Spy

Did Meat Make Us Human?

Discovering the World’s Oldest Winery

Latest Findings on What to Eat and What Not to Eat, The

Live! Cookin’ Up Stories

On the “Grandma Rule”

Poison of Tomorrow, The

Red, White, and Brew

Special: People Eating People

Stopping Knockoff Knockwurst and Phony Fromage

That Brunch in the Forest

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

750 ml Wine Bottles: History and Marketing

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 18, 2023 11:29

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 dro p 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 —

(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)

Drink of the Gods, The

(Julia Skinner’s substack posting about mead)

From Millet to Mapo Tofu

(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)

Vin Mariani, the 19th-Century Cocaine-Infused Wine, Imbibed and Endorsed by Presidents, Popes & Writers

(Open Culture’s report on a bottle you’re not likely to find in your local liquor store)

What Is a Bay Leaf, Exactly?

(as Gastro Obscura’s Andrew Coletti explains, it’s five different species, with five different flavors/culinary uses)

What Spice Means to Gin

(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

Culture of Terroir, The

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

Image Gallery: Redness!

Is Ice the Ultimate Luxury?

Is Scarr’s the Best Pizza in New York?

Last of the Fungus, The

Lydia Davis from Revising One Sentence

MSG Convert Visits the High Church of Umami, An

No. 74: Double Starching

On Publicity

On Seasons

Politics of Flavour in Coffee, The

Rebel’s Guide to Creative Integrity, A

RENDERED 27: Eels

RIP to These Extinct Fast Food Hot Dogs

Taste of the Past, A: A Food Writer on the Power of Timeless Flavours

University’s Cookbook Collection Celebrates 20 Years of Making Historic American Recipes Available To the Public

What The Original Versions Of 12 Popular Dishes Actually Tasted Like

What We Tell and What We Hide

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?

Early American

How Much Booze Did Medieval People Really Drink?

Lies in Your Grocery Store, The

Modern Marvels: The Surprising World of Cold Cuts

Munchies

Not Another Cooking Show

Sandwiches of History

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

6 Stories That Will Make You Scream—For Ice Cream

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on September 18, 2023 14:33

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 —

(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)

Curse of Cane

(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)

Diet of Ancient Greece

(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)

Jewish Food History

(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)

PB&J: An American Love Story

(Linda Rodriguez McRobbie shares the history of the ubiquitous sandwich in the Saturday Evening Post)

Spice Migrations: Nutmeg

(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)

Tamper Evident

(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)

Who “Invented” the TV Dinner?

(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

Clarifying Cut, The

Cooking Up Community

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

Mother Sauce

Mr. Trillin Picks a Peck of Unpickled Peppers

Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result

Of Recipes & Resistance

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

Sam Sifton is Depressed

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

Pass the Flamingo

— 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

Food Blogger Pro Podcast, The

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.

Field Notes: On Native Grounds

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on August 20, 2023 10:16

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 dro p 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 —

Crack One Open

(Tedium’s history of the modern beer can)

(Elizabeth Pochoda’s article on Native American foods in The Magazine Antiques)

Food in Bloom

(Annie Ewbank’s Gastro Obscura article about edible flowers)

From Lutefisk to Seagull

(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)

Imperial Daiquiri, The

(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

Cookbook Diaries, The

Dated but Not Forgotten, These Old Food Trends Deserve a Revival

Disgusting Food Museum

Forgotten Foods #10: Porpoise

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

Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks

Ketchup Conundrum, The

Maggie Hennessy

Meal is a Composition, A

Meals for One

Nomads and Gastronomes

On Recipe Writing

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

What’s Old is New Again

Whither Typicity?

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

Food History: Dumplings

How Fine Dining in Europe and the US Came to Exclude Immigrant Cuisine

Italian War on Pasta, The

Modern Agriculture Harvesting Machines

No Taste Like Home

Off Menu Podcast

Remembering Cara De Silva a Zoom Presentation

Saltyseattle

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)

Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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.