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Food Sites for August 2009

Sunday, August 2, 2009
It's August and, still, monsoons continue to drown the Hudson Valley. While everything is really lush, it hasn't been warm or sunny enough for the tomatoes to do anything but grow leaves. A few days ago cherry tomatoes began to flower (we should be eating them, already!), but plum tomatoes have done nothing, nothing at all. The constant rain and gray skies are beginning to make us think that this is a second "year without a summer."

A few people have complained that our new format has too many updates -- no doubt because the updates are published by our blog, which includes other articles besides the updates. As we have no wish to inconvenience anyone -- but seem to be unable to restrain ourselves from posting new items to the blog -- we've come up with a kind of compromise. From now on, you will receive only the updates via our blog, Just Served. Our little non-update screeds will still go into the blog, but they will no longer intrude themselves in our subscribers' mailboxes.

For those rare individuals who receive these updates and might actually want to read more, we'll provide links to newly-added pieces here, in the update headnotes, such as:

The updated discussion of St-Germain, and adjustments to the recipe -- explaining, along the way, what passes for our reasoning in the matter.

We also restored Frutta al Marzapane, something that had never been moved from the old site. It celebrates a confectioner's shop in Florence, with a side of history and unsupported speculation about the nature of art.

True gluttons for punishment should visit A Quiet Little Table in the Corner, a page that provides an ever-changing master index of any other web places that carry our stuff. It's hosted by Marty Martindale's Food Site of the Day, and you should check out some of the goodies she's got posted while you're there.

Here are two excerpts from On the Table's quotes pages -- which swelled by some 160 new quotes this month.

"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

"When you pour yourself down as rain on earth, every living creature is filled with joy and knows food will be abundant for all." Prashna Upanishad

Gary, August, 2009


PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs -- or know of wonderful sites we've missed -- please drop us a line. It helps to keep this resource as useful as possible for all of us. To those of you who have suggested sites -- 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, go here.

PPPS: If you've received this newsletter by mistake, and/or don't wish to receive future issues, you have our sincere apology and can have your e-mail address deleted from the list immediately. We're happy (and continuously amazed) that so few people have decided to leave the list -- but, should you choose to be one of them, let us know and we'll see that your in-box is never afflicted by these updates again. You can unsubscribe here.

PPPPS: Leitesculinaria has been redesigned -- and it still contains some of the best food writing and recipes around. So far, it contains only a few of our own articles -- but, eventually, they'll all be here.


----the new sites----

Bon appetit! A Celebration of Canadian Cookbooks

(an exhibition that "...portrays the evolution of cooking in Canada" from 1000 CE to the 1980s)

Books for Cooks

(the British Library Board's collection of digitized -- and annotated -- cookbook pages, dating from medieval times to twentieth century)

Book for Receipts, 1731

(anonymous bound journal; scanned pages from Virginia Tech's Special Collections, downloads as PDF)

Cooking

(over a hundred cookbooks available as e-books -- in many different formats)

Cooking Recipes

(undated bound journal, signed only as "Helena;" scanned pages from Virginia Tech's Special Collections, downloads as PDF)

Diets

(links to all sorts of information about what we do and don't -- or should or shouldn't -- stuff in our faces; compiled by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health)

Food History Links and Documents

(exhaustive list: libraries, exhibitions and museums; the ancient world through the renaissance; culinary history groups; magazines, e-zines and specialist newsletters; courses and conferences)

History of Mead

(the history of a drink that's older than wine)

Internet Archive

(nearly a thousand digitized cookbooks; complete texts, readable online or downloadable as PDFs)

Ketchup

(analysis of ketchup's primal appeal; by Jonah Lehrer, author of Proust Was A Neuroscientist)

Manuscript Cookbooks

(bibliography of manuscript cookbooks in print, and links to some that are available online)

Mead Maker's Page, The

(as site-holder Forrest Cook says, "Honey is to mead as malt is to beer and grapes are to wine.")

Nancy Figgat Recipe Book, 1860

(very fragile bound manuscript; scanned pages from Virginia Tech's Special Collections, downloads as PDF)

Receipts and Home Remedies, circa 1869

(fragile bound manuscript with some period newspaper clippings; scanned pages from Virginia Tech's Special Collections, downloads as PDF)

Seed History Site, The

(listings of heirloom seeds from old-time seed catalogs, 1822-1958, by catalog, type or variety)

Soy Info Center

(history of soy products, bibliographies, library, timeline; "...the world's most comprehensive computerized database on soybeans and soyfoods")

U.S. Soyfoods Directory, The

(soy research, nutrition, products, books, organizations, links)


----changed URL----

Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920


----still more blogs----

Dianabuja's Blog

Lapin Gourmand

New Gastronomes, The

One Plate At A Time

Real Potato, The

Snooth

Tapas Tutor.com

Virginia Willis Culinary Productions

What I Talk About When I Talk About Cooking

Wild Food!


----that's all for now----

Except, of course, for the usual legal mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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:

Our books, The Resource Guide for Food Writers, The Herbalist in the Kitchen, The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries, and Human Cuisine can be ordered through the Libro-Emporium.

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.


"The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #106" is protected by copyright, and is provided at no cost, for your personal use only. It may not be copied or retransmitted unless this notice remains affixed. Any other form of republication -- unless with the author's prior written permission -- is strictly prohibited.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Gary Allen.

2 Comments:

Anonymous dianabuja said...

Thanks for all the good links. The 'wildman' link for foraging is interesting because the collection and eating of 'wild' foods - especially greens, fruits and nuts - continues as a basic strategy in much of Africa. Think I'll write a blog about it!

August 3, 2009 at 5:28 AM  
Anonymous Gary said...

Hi Diana,

Happy to include a link to your blog -- it's fascinating! Foraging sounds like a natural topic for you -- let me know when it appears so I don't miss it!

BTW, I'd like to pick your brains a bit for a project on which I'm working. If you're a willing subject, contact me directly at gary@onthetable.us.

August 3, 2009 at 8:38 AM  

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