Gary Allen's Blog, page 4
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.
March 12, 2023
Food Sites for April 2023
Root vegetables hold us over until the first spring greens appear.
According to Eliot, “April is the cruelest month” but, for our money, March is the bad guy. Perhaps it’s just the difference between Eliot's British April and our Hudson Valley April. Even now—with a huge snowstorm in the forecast—crocus, snowdrops, and hellebores sit blooming, waiting to be crushed.
These newsletters are always posted around two weeks before their title months, but our longed-for April is nowhere to be seen. The clocks have just sprung ahead, foreshadowing The Spring equinox, less than two weeks away but—in March—all we managed to do was cook, write, and post Substack newsletters.
This month, we added:
List-making 101, an excursion into the history of—of all things—taxonomy as it applies to sauces.
A Little Story; an attempt to tell a war story that isn’t gung-ho patriotic.
Knowledge Aforethought introduced our latest book, Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business.
Afterthought revisited an enormous dinner of Maryland crabs.
Another New Story spun a Kafkaesque tale of lunchtimes gone awry.
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, mostly about our food writing.
Rondout Creek flows into the Hudson not far from our house. With the Opening Day of trout season fast approaching, I’m reminded of a passage that—for once—does not appear in On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
“If I were a trout, I should ascend every stream till I found the Rondout. It is the ideal brook. What homes these trout have, what retreats under the rocks, what paved or flagged courts ... what crystal depths where no net or snare can reach them.” John Burroughs
Does that make me an April Fool—or must I actually stand in icy waters with a flyrod in hand to qualify?
Gary
April 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 Alicia Kennedy), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again.
— the new sites —
(Tony Rehagen, at experience, on the application of modern technology to ancient brewing methods)
Curados, Kombuchas, Pulques: A Flowering of Fermented Flavors in Oaxaca
(Joe Ray’s article in Wired)
Delicious History of Deep-Fried Foods, The
(the short version, from Fried Generation)
Hollywood History of Fettucine Alfredo, The
(according to Giada De Laurentiis)
Little-Known History of Champagne, The
(from Lily Radziemski, at BBC’s World Table)
Most Iconic Sandwich in Every State, The
(Hannah Doolin’s gallery at delish)
(Andrew Snavely’s primer, at Primer)
Surprisingly Sacred Roots of Chocolate, The
(Sam O’Brien’s article in Gastro Observer)
(shaken—or stirred—by Punch)
(Courtney Iseman’s list in Punch)
Why Is It Called “Corned Beef” If It Doesn’t Contain Corn?
(Ellen Gutoskey has the answer, at Mental Floss)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Digging in the (Orange) Crates
Experts Explain the Science of Why You Get “Hangry”—and How to Avoid It
Gastronomy and Everyday Aesthetics
In Praise of Indie Coffee Shops
Let’s Talk About the Writing Process
Lust, Lies, and Empire: The Fishy Tale Behind Eating Fish on Friday
Metaphysics of Waffle House, The
My Day in the KFC Test Kitchen
On Acceptance: Thinking Through Traveling via Flavor
On Culinary Tourism: The First Lecture in the Class I'm Teaching This Semester
On Food Destinations: The Construction of Desire
Push for Food Sovereignty Is Evolving Puerto Ricans’ Relationship with the Land, A
Raise a Toast in Honor of the World’s Oldest Known Beerhall!
Support Group for Former Trendy Foods, A
— podcasts, etcetera —
Michel Houellebecq: “Writing Is Like Cultivating Parasites in Your Brain.”
Thick and Tangy History of Ketchup, The
Where Did Cheese Really 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 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 #270 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.
February 16, 2023
Food Sites for March 2023
Croci are starting to sprout... so things are looking up!
Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day are in the rearview mirror, President’s Day is right around the corner, but we’re looking forward to the next important milestone: The Spring equinox. For now, all we do is cook, write, and post Substack newsletters:
A Toast for a geriatric wedding.
Paddling Down the Old Milne Stream... about some writers’ feelings about “tiddely-pom.”
Raising Another Glass...on self-doubt and how one writer overcame it.
Tapping Our Family Trees on things we might learn from our DNA>
Something in the Air, in which Salman Rushdie gave us an excuse to revisit ancient writings.
Just My Type... on our life-long struggle with keyboards.
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, mostly about our food writing.
Late winter is about hope—often thwarted hope. Consequently, some comments that may, or may not, be from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast... Alexander Pope
“Hope” is the thing with feathers. Emily Dickenson
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man. Friedrich Nietzsche
Gary
March 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 —
7 Strange but Scrumptious Facts About the History of the Hamburger
(Thom Dunn, at Upworthy, reveals the fact that hamburger’s origin is still mysterious)
American Cheese Deserves Your Respect
(Shilpa Uskokovic’s Bon Appetit article about stuff that’s either white or yellow)
(Gastro Obscura’s Senior Editor, Sam O’Brien on chocolate’s history)
Did You Know Velveeta Cheese Has Hudson Valley Roots?
(and not just Velveeta; David Levine’s article in Hudson Valley)
(Tori Avey’s article for PBS’s The History Kitchen)
(meow, Cynthia Bertelsen!)
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fermented Shrimp
(Eater’s Annie Hariharan and Alia Ali tell the pungent story of Southeast Asia’s signature ingredient)
(Emily Monaco’s article at Epicure & Culture)
From Fish to Mushrooms to Tomatoes
(ketchup history from Julia Skinner)
I Desperately Want to Have a Beer at This Ancient Sumerian Bar
(Barry Petchesky visits an Iraqi archaeological site)
(Ruth Reichl’s substack pages)
Last Mustard Maker in Dijon, The
(Emily Monaco’s Gastro Obscura article on the Gallic condiment)
Murky, Salty Mystery of Worcestershire Sauce, The
(provided by Matthew Zuras, at Epicurious)
Reviving the American Chestnut
(Nicholas Gill’s New Worlder article on the endangered Castanea dentata)
Tour of America’s Beloved Regional Cocktails, A
(Guided by Nicole Hansen, at Punch)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Best Places to Write Your Novel According to Authors, The: Tried and Tested
Capturing Family Recipes for Digital Sharing Across the Generations
Chef’s Knife, The—A Blade of Glory
Cottage Cheese Is Making a Comeback
Final Meal, A: Remembering a Friend Through the Food We Shared
Food Expiration Dates You Should Actually Follow, The
From the Trenches: The Joy of Breakfast
Glories of Dining Out Alone, The
How Did “Recipe Developer” Become a Famous Job?
How These AI-Powered Chatbots Keep Getting Better
Long Forgotten Snack Foods of the 1970s
Magic of Mushrooms in Arts, The— in Pictures
Sauce That Survived Italy’s War on Pasta, The
We Need to Talk About Wine Talk
What You Buy When You Buy the Classics
Word Processors Through Time: Before MS Word & Google Docs
— more blogs —
— podcasts, etcetera —
Conversation with Daniela Galarza, A
Inside an Insect Farm: Are Mealworms a Sustainable Meat Alternative?
Stories From the Torrid History of Absinthe
Why Sweden Loves Food in Tubes
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #269 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.
January 12, 2023
Food Sites for February 2023
One of our favorite Peekamoose waterfalls—
with not much in the way of falling water.
Winter has finally arrived with a vengeance—not a lot of snow, so far, but it’s been damned cold around here. Definitely soup, stew, and baking season. We haven’t once been tempted to go wandering in the woods (that photo was taken from the side of the road, not far from the car’s heater). Consequently, we’ve been cooking, writing, and posting Substack newsletters:
Portrait of the Artist as The Invisible Man. Excruciating self-analysis and a bit more of the story from the last episode (Once More, Under the WIP).
Another WIP, interrupted. Another excerpt from yet another book-in-progress.
WIP-lash added another sample from the previous post, but—just to make things interesting (that is: difficult)—out of chronological order.
Chuck Full o’ Something: an exercise in unmitigated digression.
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, mostly about our food writing.
We hoped to find some wintery comments from On the Table’s culinary quote collection but, instead, found these about frozen food.
Go figure.
If it weren’t for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the television, we’d still be eating frozen radio dinners. Johnny Carson
I personally prefer a nice frozen TV Dinner at home, mainly because it’s so little trouble. All you have to do is have another drink while you're throwing it in the garbage. Jack Douglas
Gary
February 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 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 —
(Eric Dursteler’s chapter in Insatiable Appetite)
Add “Electric” to Your Flavor Palate.
(Sam Lin-Sommer explores Sichuan Pepper—and similar spices—for Gastro Obscura)
Cookbook for Dining with the Dead, A
(Sam O'Brien’s Gastro Obscura article on the foods of Día de los Muertos)
Forgotten Baking Technique That Turns Bacteria Into Delicious, Cheesy Bread, The
(Natalie Zarrelli describes baking bread with bacteria in place of yeast at Gastro Obscura )
Forgotten Cookbooks That Fueled Women’s Suffrage, The
(Sam O'Brien’s Gastro Obscura article about an 1886 book that merged cookery with activism)
History of the Martini Glass, The
(a toast from Olivia White, at VinePair)
How Countries Use Food to Win Friends and Influence People
(an excerpt from Fabio Parasecoli’s book, Gastronativism: Food, Identity, Politics)
I Eat, Therefore I Am: Disgust and the Intersection of Food and Identity
(Daniel Kelly and Nicolae Morar in The Oxford Handbook of Food Ethics)
(anthropologist Stephen Wooding addresses the question in Sapiens)
Mysterious Origin of Corn, The
(the history and genetics of maize, from Carol A. Westbrook at 3 Quarks Daily)
Passion (and Fantastical Fashion) of France’s Food Brotherhoods, The
(Anna Mindess on the serious—and sometimes seriously silly—groups that revere regional specialites in France; article at Gastro Obscura)
Same Compounds: Different Flavours?
(Barry C. Smith's paper in Proceedings of Wine Active Compounds 2008 )
(database of 5,000 historical cookbooks and related food history, started by Barbara Ketcham Wheaton six decades ago but online now)
“Squirrel, if You’re so Inclined”
(“recipes, narrative and the rhetoric of southern identity” by Carrie Helms Tippen, in Food, Culture & Society)
These Medieval Food Habits Changed the Way Food is Eaten Today
(Larry Holzwarth, at History Collection, on what ordinary people ate)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
4 Library Collections Filled with Culinary Treasures
AI Reveals the Most Human Parts of Writing
Challenges of Writing a Continent-Spanning Cookbook, The
Eat Like England’s First Non-Royal Ruler with This Propaganda-Filled Cookbook
Food of the Gods: Cure for Humanity? A Cultural History of the Medicinal and Ritual Use of Chocolate
“Hot Girl Food”: How Food Porn Changed in 2022
How Food Influencers Sharpen Their Brands: Print Cookbooks
Is Your Favorite Food Genetic? Study Identifies 325 Genes That Influence Taste
Quest for the Gros Michel, A: the Great Banana of Yesteryear
Southern Cooking Myths You Shouldn’t Believe
Taste of Louisiana, A: Mainstreaming Blackness Through Food in The Princess and the Frog
To Cook a Wolf–Baking with M F K Fisher
What You Need in Your Kitchen Most, According to Cookbook Authors
— podcasts, etcetera —
Everything You Know About Mexican Food Is a Lie
Food Origins: Why Jesus Never Ate a Banana
Inspiring Persistence of Marion Nestle, The
Making Pots from German Helmets 1946
Many Rooms in the House, The: Research on Past Foodways in Modern Europe
Mysterious Rise of Food Allergies, The
Super Heroes: Our Favorite Italian Sandwich Shops in...
Texas Is Having A Testicle Festival & You Can Taste Them Battered, Fried Or Grilled
Trouble with Money and Publishing, The
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #268 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.
December 15, 2022
Food Sites for January 2023
At times like this, we really miss our old woodstove.
December brought the season’s first snow, and bitter cold (or, at least, what seems bitter—as we’ve fallen out of practice since the beginning of last Spring). Since we haven’t had much incentive for getting out of the house, we wrote one short story, made notes for the next one, and posted several Substack newsletters:
Holiday Dinner with Friends... reaffirmed Dr Sanscravat’s misanthropic approach to celebratory dining.
Lucre, Feeeeelthy Lucre described one’s early days as a freelancer.
Booksigning is about unwarranted optimism and unexpected results.
Once More, Under the WIP is about editing—and a little taste of a work-(that was, at the time)-in-progress.
Who knows what January will bring?
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, mostly about our food writing.
A few wintery words from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:
There is nothing like a plate or a bowl of hot soup, its wisp of aromatic steam making the nostrils quiver with anticipation, to dispel the depressing effects of a grueling day at the office or the shop, rain or snow in the streets, or bad news in the papers. Louis P. De Gouy
Skiing consists of wearing $3,000 worth of clothes and equipment and driving 200 miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and drink. P.G. Wodehouse
The Highlanders regale themselves with whisky. They find it an excellent preservation against the winter cold. It is given with great success to the infants in the confluent smallpox. Tobias Smollett
Out of snow, you can't make cheesecake. Jewish Proverb
Gary
January 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 Jonell Galloway), thanks, and keep them coming!
PPS: If you wish to change the e-mail address at which you receive these newsletters, or otherwise modify the way you receive our postings or—if you’ve received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don’t wish to receive future issues—you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We’re happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we’ll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again.
— the new sites —
5 Brewing Innovations That Are Changing Craft Beer
(Jerard Fagerberg, at InsideHook, on some hi-tech innovations to the ancient process of brewing)
Archaeologists Find 1,900-Year-Old Snacks in Sewers Beneath the Colosseum
(apparently, they also snarfed down pizza while they watched)
(detailed instructions from Elska á Fjárfelli, AKA Susan Verberg)
Fish That Sparked a National Obsession, A
(Robyn Wilson’s article on the history of Portugal’s love of bacalhau—salt cod—for the BBC)
(Diana Hubbell’s tribute to international foods-to-drink-by, at Gastro Obscura)
History of the Cocktail Party, The
(Jessica Fields’s article for VinePair)
(James Somers explains metabolism for The New Yorker)
How France’s King Charles VI Helped Protect Roquefort Cheese
(Nico Danilovich, in Tasting Table, on an early example of government protection of a regional product)
In The Miracle of Salt, Naomi Duguid Celebrates a Necessity
(Laura Brehaut reviews Naomi Duguid’s ninth book for National Post)
Inside the Scientific Quest to Understand Brussels Sprouts
(Inverse article that focuses on bitterness and biology)
(Scott Alexander revives—and expands on—questions about the veracity of oenophiles “expert opinions” for Asterisk Magazine)
Midwestern Origin of Fried Green Tomatoes, The
(Issue 72 of David S. Shields’ Unexpected Origins)
No More Fakelore: Revealing the Real Pennsylvania Dutch Cuisine
(NPR’s Nancy Shute gets the lowdown from William Woys Weaver)
Oldest Cooked Leftovers Ever Found Suggest Neanderthals Were Foodies
(article, in The Guardian, on recent discoveries in the famous Shanidar Cave)
(Linda Bartoshuk’s article, in Inference, on flavor as an “aggregate of all sensations”)
Short History of Espresso in Italy and the World, A
(Jonathan Morris’ paper in 2008’s 100% Espresso Italiano, edited by Maurizio Cociancich
Viking Nordic Food and Beverages Bibliography
(huge medieval list compiled by Susan Verberg, AKA Elska á Fjárfelli)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
10 Food Movies and TV Shows That Even Your (Very) Extended Family Will Love
Cooking and Tasting as Complex practice in the Work of Amy Trubek
Did You Know Africa Had a Major Impact on French Cuisine? Everything to Know
Drink Culture Doesn’t Have a “Foodie.” Here’s Why.
Get Back to the Land on a Foraging Adventure
How the Word “Vanilla” Came to Mean “Boring”
How to Make Autocorrect Work the Way You Want
Most Mispronounced Foods & Drinks from Every Country, The
Not Just How, But Why: Recipes That Teach
Please Take a Stand in Recipe Writing
Reflecting on A Year of Teaching
Researching Food Cultures Without Written Recipes
Restaurant-ing with John Margolies
Scientists Don’t Agree on What Causes Obesity, but They Know What Doesn’t
Should You Follow Expiration Dates and Sell-by Dates?
Skyline Chili, and Cincinnati Chili in General, Explained by a Local as Best She Can
Taste of Belonging, The: An Ethnographic Approach to the Study of Commensality and Collectivity
Technology of Writing, The: From the Essay to GPT-3
The Only Sure Thing with AI Is Writing Will Get Blander and the Rich Will Get Richer
What America’s First Cookbook Says About Our Country and Its Cuisine
Why Do We Stuff Foods with Other Types of Food, Anyway?
Why We’re Loving Mid-Century Middle-American Food
World Needs Processed Food, The
— 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 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #267 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 ©2022 by Gary Allen.
November 12, 2022
Food Sites for December 2022
March fourteenth might be Pi Day, but the holiday season—stretching from the end of November through the end of December—is all pie.
We’re just entering that eating season—or what director Marco Ferreri might have called La Grande Bouffe. While we might not, intentionally, be attempting suicide through excessive eating, it certainly might appear that way to an unbiased observer. In keeping with that thought, this issue of our newsletter is wurstig—bursting like an over-stuffed sausage.
Dismal November days (and nights) enabled us finish off not just one, but two novellas, alternating between more Substack newsletters:
Just Unbelievable announced the (self-)publication of a little book, Unbelievable: A Modern Novella, in kindle and paperback editions.
Reheated Chili revisits, and expands upon, an old article from Roll Magazine.
Mendacity...and its Rewards tried to look at the nature of truth but couldn’t find very much (it was, after all, election season).
Silliness is Serious Bizness, explored why we do what we do.
Spamalot! Spamalot! Began talking about the kind of Spam that doesn’t come through e-mail but, predictably, wandered off into the wild deserts of Digressia.
Another Book announced the (self-)publication of yet another little book, Noirvella, in kindle and paperback editions (it’s free to paid subscribers to our substack posts)
Gag (or Acid) Reflux announced the (self-)publication of one of our old books—done in collaboration with Jack Murphy. Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make—and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates is available in paper and Kindle editions
It is a truth universally acknowledged... addressed the elephant in the room. The elephant did not reply.
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 older online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, mostly about our food writing.
On the off-chance that you don’t get your fill of pie, this month, here are a few more slices from from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:
Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness. Jane Austen
A man that lives on pork, fine-flour bread, rich pies and cakes, and condiments, drinks tea and coffee, and uses tobacco, might as well try to fly as to be chaste in thought. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg
Although the frankfurter originated in Frankfurt, Germany, we have long since made it our own, a twin pillar of democracy along with Mom’s apple pie. In fact, now that Mom’s apple pie comes frozen and baked by somebody who isn’t Mom, the hot dog stands alone. What it symbolizes remains pure, even if what it contains does not. William Zinsser
I don’t think a really good pie can be made without a dozen or so children peeking over your shoulder as you stoop to look in at it every little while. John Gould
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. Carl Sagan
I prefer Hostess fruit pies to pop-up toaster tarts because they don’t require as much cooking. Carrie Snow
Gary
December 2022
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 —
Asafetida, India’s Odorous Taste of Home
(Madhur Jaffrey’s New Yorker post on Ferula foetida, AKA
“dyvels drekk” and “stercus diaboli”‑among other unsavory, but descriptive, terms)
Barbecue Is What Americans Agree On
(The Food Section’s Hanna Raskin interviews Datassential’s Mike Kostyo)
Brief History of People Eating Brains, A
(as Dennis Less said in Jonathan Dale’s Take-Out article, “Most offal is a lot easier to handle, mentally, but for some reason brains are some next-level shit”)
Coffee, the Great Literary Stimulant
(Ed Simon’s article—part history, part celebration—in The Millions)
Colonial Origins of Mexico’s National Dish, The
(an Atlantic article—by Nicola Twilley, Cynthia Graber, and Gastropod)
(Madhulika Dash, in Deccan Herald, on the new Indian cuisine, and the west’s recognition of it)
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tucupí
(Nicholas Gill’s substack page about South American sauces made from cassava)
Excavating the South’s African American Food History
(PDF of Anne Yentsch’s chapter in African American Foodways: Exploration of History and Culture)
Guide to Soy Sauce Varieties, A
(Sho Spaeth’s Serious Eats article)
How the Bloody Mary Garnish Lost Its Mind
(“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing exceeds like excess,” Oscar Wilde)
(Nicholas Gill on the Andean herb, Tagetes minuta)
I Did Not Love Squash as A Child.
(Andrew Zimmern’s paeon to pumpkins—and other members of the Cucurbita genus)
(Gastro Obscura’s Editorial Fellow—Diana Hubbell—spills the beans on old-fashioned methods of fortune telling with food)
(Chelsea Monroe-Cassel’s blog recreates real dishes that we might encounter in places that aren’t real: books, TV shows, and videogames)
Slaves for Peanuts Weaves a Complex Story Crossing Time and Oceans
(Martha Anne Toll’s NPR review of Jori Lewis’ book, Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History)
Taste of Chocolate: Biting Enhances the Taste of Chocolate
(Tania Dey’s paper tests and explains the phenomenon)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Are the Meat Sweats Fact or Fiction?
Bakery Creates “Pan Solo,” a 6-Foot Replica of Star Wars Hero Made of Bread
Cookbook for Surviving the End of the World, A
Echoes of a World War in Wines from the Early 1940s
Fascinating Connection Between New York City’s Jewish and Chinese Immigrants, The
Good Research Librarian Can Help You Find Information You Didn’t Even Know You Needed, A
Great Food Instagram Vibe Shift, The
How a Food Influencer Makes Money
How a Single Machine Revolutionized the Fresh Flour-Tortilla Game
How To Become a Food Stylist and Get Paid to Make Food Look Good
How to Become a More Productive Book Author
Inside a Legendary Designer’s Recipe Sketchbook
Italian Region Where Tomato Is Off the Menu, The
Opinion: Eating Right to Avoid Catastrophe
Prescription Dinner: Can Meals Be Medicine?
Q&A with Matt Sartwell, Managing Partner, Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore
Science Behind Feeling Hangry, The: and What to Do About It (Besides Eating)
This West Texas Farm Grows the Most Expensive Spice in the World
What It’s Like to Be a Food Writer When You Can Taste Everything You See
When a Country’s Cuisine Becomes a Cultural Export
Why Chef Gavin Kaysen Self-Published His New Cookbook
Writers, Be Wary of Throat-Clearers and Wan Intensifiers. Very, Very Wary.
— podcasts, etcetera —
Every BBQ Style We Could Find in the United States
If Soda Commercials Were Honest
Unsolicited: Fatties Talk Back
You’re Dead to Me: The History of Ice Cream
— changed URL —
Why Only 1% Of Japan's Soy Sauce Is Made This Way
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #266 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 ©2022 by Gary Allen.
October 9, 2022
Food Sites for November 2022
Wellfleet oysters, in Wellfleet.
We never went away on vacation this summer, so we took an early autumn trip to Cape Cod. It was mostly an excuse to indulge in a week-long bacchanal of unlimited marine invertebrates.
Clams, oysters, and lobsters, oh my!
An oyster is a metaphorical literary treat. Inside its hardback cover, once opened, we discover (“discover”—isn’t that an apt term for what happens when we open a book?) a sight that might very well discourage a newcomer from proceeding. And yet—for the initiated—the sight engenders an appetite that propels them through to the last “page” of bivalves. Edible oysters rarely produce pearls, but who really needs pearls? Like reading a great book, eating a perfect oyster is pure experience—an experience more lasting and lustrous than mere pearls.
Many autumnal rainy days have let us finish the first draft of a novella, interspersed with several more Substack newsletters:
Gene Therapy celebrated the life of another writing friend, one who prided himself on being as delightfully tasteless and cantankerous as ourself.
Salt of the Earth(ly) is, as you might expect, about Sodium Chloride.
Vital Tooth used a visit to the dentist to speculate on what we have on common with some of our primate relations.
Not Going to be Invited... allowed us to indulge in a bit of convivial spleen.
Pull Out a Plum let us pontificate about publishing (and writer’s block).
Balderdash went on a fruitless search for truth.
Navelgazing wondered who we are, or were, or both.
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 older online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, mostly about our food writing.
The world may not be our oyster... but here are a couple, ready-shucked, from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:
As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy, and to make plans. Ernest Hemingway
I have long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime “associates,” food, for me, has always been an adventure. Anthony Bourdain
Gary
November 2022
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), 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 —
16th Century Origins of the Word Curry, The
(Autumn Swiers’s account, at the Tasting Table, about an ingredient and concept created by “culturally inarticulate foodies”)
America’s Best Regional Desserts: 15 Sweet Treats to Try
(reading this gave me a three-year-old’s sugar rush)
(excerpt from The Oxford Handbook of Food History, edited by R. Kenji Tierney, and Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney)
(“A Food Scientist Indulges in the Secret,” at Inverse)
Brief History of the S’more, America’s Favorite Campfire Snack, A
(Jeffrey Miller, in The Conversation, on the antecedents of the Girl Scout’s treat)
Eating Like an Explorer Once Called for Plenty of “Portable Soup”
(Laura Kiniry’s Gastro Obscura post on the dessicated stock that provisioned expeditions before canning was invented)
(the tines they are a changin’: Marc de Ferrière le Vayer’s history in Alimentarium)
(beloved by pastry chefs, the beans are still “...illegal in the United States... because they contained trace elements of... coumarin”)
Global Diversity of French Fry Dips Is a Window into the Way We Eat Today, The
(Dan Nosowitz, at Gastro Obscura, begins with the history of fries, then categorizes the vast list of dipping sauces in a way that is manageable and informative)
History of Chicken and Waffles: Part 1, A
(H.D. Miller’s substack history of a southern favorite; Part 2)
(Tori Avey expands on the entry in the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink)
Issue 69, MEADOW TEAS, Part 2: Catnip Tea
(David Shields’ substack post about a forgotten beverage)
(Julie Etra on the wide range of edible wild greens, in The Eye, a magazine from Beach, Village & Urban Living in Oaxaca)
Mysterious, Vexing, and Utterly Engrossing Search for the Origin of Eels, The
(Christina Couch, at Hakai Magazine, on a seafood mystery)
Owamni: A (R)evolution of Indigenous Foods
(Stefanie Ellis, in the BBC’s World’s Table, about a restaurant that is turning Native American foodstuffs into haute cuisine; more, on similar restaurants, here)
Pacific Coast Food: An Insider’s Guide to L.A. “Russian Costco”
(Hadley Tomicki reviews this store for culinary backstreets but, along the way, introduces westerners to many unfamiliar Soviet-era foodstuffs)
Remembering When America Banned Sliced Bread
(Diana Hubbell recounts the story of a WWII-era rationing measure for Gastro Obscura)
(Aren M. Maeir’s review, in Biblical Archaeology, of Max D. Price’s book, Evolution of a Taboo: Pigs and People in the Ancient Near East)
Science Behind Nonalcoholic Wine, The
(Lauren Oster’s Smithsonian article)
What Has the Battle of Vienna Given Us?
(another culinary myth busted by Karol Palion’s blog, Forking Around with History)
Who Invented Mac and Cheese? This American Favorite Has Ancient Roman Roots
(Karima Moyer-Nocchi and Adrian Miller answer at epicurious)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Brain Signatures Tied to Appetite Could Reveal New Treatments for Depression
Can You Really Eat Crocs? An Investigation
Fear Not. Have Fun: Ann Beattie on Lessons in Cooking and Life from James Haller
Hemingway’s Famous Sandwich Isn’t as Gross as You Think
How an Ancient Food Technology Is Being Restored on BC’s West Coast
H.P. Lovecraft Writes Olive Garden’s Dinner Menu
Indulgent Pleasure of a Very Late Dinner, The
L.A. Has Been Obsessed with “Healthy” Foods for a Century—These Cookbooks Prove It
Me, Myself, and My Mason Jar: What Our Glassware Choices Say About Us
Nikolaos Tselementes: The “Father” of Greek Cookbooks
Philosophers Drinking Coffee: The Excessive Habits of Kant, Voltaire & Kierkegaard
Recipes and Food Discourse in English—a Historical Menu
Sally Schmitt, Trend-Setting Restaurateur, Is Dead at 90
Science Can’t Take the Art Out of Winemaking
Struggle Cookbook Authors Face In 2022, The
This Is Your Brain on Food Porn, a New Study Reveals
Understanding the Reader Without Pandering to the Reader
Wine Drinker as Sensualist, The
“World’s” Greatest Wine Library Continues to Grow
— another blog —
— podcasts, etcetera —
Jacques Pépin Is a Chef AND a Cook
— changed URL —
Art of Eating, The (trailer 2022)
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #265 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 ©2022 by Gary Allen.
September 9, 2022
Food Sites for October 2022
It’s a jungle out there.
This summer has brought drought to the Hudson Valley. Our city’s drought emergency has banned watering. Some parts of our gardens have died, but weeds and established plants have not merely weathered it—they’ve gone absolutely rogue. Watering the tomatoes and herbs with used dishwater has exhausted any charm it might once have had.
We longed for cooler and—hopefully—wetter days and nights. So, naturally, with the season beginning to change, we’ve just had continuous downpours: a summer’s worth of rain in one week.
By staying inside to escape the heat, we’ve posted several more Substack newsletters:
Not a Hugger is a Dr Sanscravat confessional piece, with snarky comments provided by an editor (who is one and the same).
There Are No Two Finer Words in the English Language Than “Encased Meats” tells the tale of how we came to write about sausages (false starts and a lot of years preceded Sausage: A Global History).
Not Fade Away is a kind of memento mori, with a side of hot sauce.
“WIP it, WIP it good...” reveals the opening bits of a story we’re still in the midst of writing.
deconstructs Texan naming patterns and, naturally, smothers it in more hot sauce.
Among the Missing segues from self-aggrandizement to another reading from Cenotaphs.
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 older online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, mostly about our food writing.
Just thinking about drought makes us thirsty—and thinking about thirst suggests some choice words from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:
All animals are strictly dry,
They sinless live and swiftly die.
But sinful, ginfull rum-soaked men
Survive three score years and ten.
And some of us—though mighty few—
Survive until we’re ninety-two. Anonymous
Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly... they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the water they loved to drink. This good man, Noah, having seen that all his contemporaries had perished by this unpleasant drink, took a dislike to it; and God, to relieve his dryness, created the vine and revealed to him the art of making le vin. By the aid of this liquid he unveiled more and more truth. Benjamin Franklin
Gary
October 2022
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 Abe Opincar), 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 —
(described by the folks at Happy DIY Home)
A to Z Guide to Restaurant Lingo (100+ Restaurant Terms Explained)
(Saif Alnasur translates chef-speak into English at Eat)
Almost Everything You Know About Cheese Is Wrong
(Stan Horaczek sets the record straight in Popular Science)
Bananas That Aren’t the Cavendish
(according to Gastro Obscura’s editor, Alex Mayyasi, not all peels are mellow yellow)
Botany Lab of the Month—August Edition: Rocky Top Corn Soup
(soup as a hook for botanical info about corn itself)
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ghee
(Rituparna Roy, at Eater, on an ingredient that is much more than just clarified butter)
Everything You Need to Know About Session IPAs
(Hop Culture taps lower-alcohol IPA)
Everything You Need to Know About Trying Nepal’s Hallucinogenic “Mad Honey”
(Christine Sarikas’ Matador Network article about nectar of the gods... or, at least, rhododendrons)
(not spicy hot, popular hot; Ligaya Misham’s article, in The New York Times)
How to Drink Wine Like an Italian
(Marcella Newhouse explains at Wine Enthusiast)
Issue 67, ARK OF TASTE, Part 3: Dry Monterey Jack Cheese
(David S. Shields on the history and process of a unique California cheese)
(Robert Romagnoli’s illustrated histories of New York’s iconic foods—bagels, black-and-white cookies, egg creams and more)
Pizza Topping That Divides the World, A
(Stephen Dowling and Richard Gray, in BBC Future, share too much about pineapple-ham pizza—and related crimes against humanity; can you guess how I feel about the subject?)
Rethinking Our Relationship with Cumin
(Diana Kuan surveys the international appeal of Cuminum cyminum for Taste)
Sorry, Scoville. Peppers Deserve Better Than an Archaic Heat Scale.
(Tamar Haspel makes the case, in the Washington Post, for a more scientific way to measure a chile’s heat)
Supercharged Biotech Rice Yields 40% More Grain
(Erik Stokstad reports, in Science, on how duplicating one of the plant’s own genes increases its production of rice)
What’s Behind America’s Pickle Craze?
(Kenneth Symsack and Jeffrey Miller spear some answers, at Fast Company)
What’s the Difference Between Natural, Vegan, Organic, Biodynamic, and 00 Wine?
(Kate Kassin clears things up, at Bon Appetit)
What’s the Difference Between Shrimp and Prawns?
(Stacy Ballis’ answer at Food & Wine)
When Every Ketchup but One Went Extinct
(Sam Lin-Sommer’s Gastro Obscura article tells the story behid Heinz’s market dominance)
(Alex Mayyasi—at Gastro Obscura—wonders why no one is making great wine using grape varieties other than those originally from Europe)
Why Do (Some) Humans Love Chili Peppers?
(Gideon Lasco—a medical anthropologist—approaches the question globally at Sapiens)
Why There’s No “Dijon” in Dijon Mustard
(the BBC’s World Table rephrases and answers the old question, “have you any Grey Poupon?”)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
10 Best Food Commercials of the ‘90s, The
10 Fancy Foods Everyone Used to Think Were Gross
20 of the Most Beloved Types of Pizza from Across the US
23 Hot Dogs from Around the World That You Need to Try
Beer To Be Made from Yeast Swabbed from Roald Dahl’s Writing Chair
Chicago’s Beloved Italian Beef Sandwich Is Ready to Conquer America
How I Got My Job: Writing Children’s Books About Food
How to Get Published: A Book’s Journey From “Very Messy” Draft to Best Seller
“I Fail Almost Every Day”: An Interview with Samin Nosrat
In Praise of Single-Subject Cookbooks
Masculine Urge to Eat Raw Meat, The
Pirate Who Penned the First English-Language Guacamole Recipe, The
Pleasure to Burn, A: Why Do People Like Spicy Foods?
Recipe Convention that Dooms Home Cooks, The
Remembering Pop Icon Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022)
Rise and Fall of Pushcarts, The
Spice Routes: Claudia Roden’s Culinary Diaspora
Texas Barbecue Quest That Started It All
We Asked 10 Brewers: What’s the Weirdest Beer You’ve Ever Brewed?
Woke Food Lovers Have Lost Their Minds Over “Cultural Appropriation”
— podcasts, etcetera —
Billy Connolly Cooking on Parkinson 1982
Ep. 45: Chef Pati Jinich on Mexican Food
How We Figured Out Fermentation
Pleasure To Burn, A: Why Do People Like Spicy Foods?
Why Sour May Be the Oldest Taste
Writing About Food is a Thrill Like No Other
— 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)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #264 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 ©2022 by Gary Allen.
