On the Table - the curious home of Gary Allen, Food Writer & Dillettante

It's January, and we assume that if you're anything like us -- and thoughtlessly made resolutions involving your relationship with food and drink -- you've already thought better of them. At least our inner enabler hopes so.

A new blogger, Julie(t) Summers, of Not Too Much. Mostly Plants?, made a resolution that seems to do with Michael Pollan what Julie Powell did with Julia Child. We wish her luck, of course, but -- given the nature of today's restaurants and grocery stores -- fear that she might very well starve to death before the year is out.

Subscribers to our updates newsletter receive only these updates from our blog, Just Served, in their e-mailboxes. The rest of our little non-update screeds still go into the blog, but they no longer intrude themselves in our subscribers' mailboxes.

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. The Quiet Little Table is 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.

In February, we'll be participating in The Future of Food Writing Conference where, ostensibly, we'll be moderating a panel discussing the future of food blogging (and other electronic food-writing media). So far, Irena Chalmers, Mitchell Davis, Bret Thorn, and Laura Weiss have agreed to be on the panel as well. There will be more surprises (some of which we're not allowed to mention yet)... so watch for the next update!

Here're some seasonally-appropriate comments, either already in, or soon to be added to, On the Table's quote pages:

"I know the look of an apple that is roasting and sizzling on the hearth on a winter's evening, and I know the comfort that comes of eating it hot, along with some sugar and a drench of cream... I know how the nuts taken in conjunction with winter apples, cider, and doughnuts, make old people's tales and old jokes sound fresh and crisp and enchanting." Mark Twain

"When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries." Kenneth Grahame

"The Highlanders regale themselves with whisky. They find it an excellent preservation against the winter cold." Tobias Smollett

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.


Bibliography
(Japanese cookbooks, including books in English and Japanese)

Cooking in Silico: Understanding Heat Transfer in the Modern Kitchen
(video of a talk about understanding the science of cooking, given by "Nathan Myhrvold and Chris Young of Intellectual Ventures, a Seattle-based invention company")

Daily Fork
(the food pages of New York's Village Voice)

Deborah's Pantry
(if you're planning to recreate some old recipes, this is the place for "...hard-to-find, test driven and approved ingredients for your 18th century culinary efforts")

Foods of the Chinese New Year
(six small articles on ingredients, dishes and traditions)

Fortnum & Mason
(starting point of official history of the mother of all gourmet grocers)

Human Use of Insects as a Food Resource, The
(an annotated bibliography and listing of species eaten around the world)

Online Pizza History Museum
(NYC's Food Museum traces pizza back to Middle Eastern flatbreads)

Real American Pie, The
(it's not what you think... it's mince!)

Society of Economic Botany
("...economic botany includes all or parts of many established disciplines such as: agronomy, anthropology, archaeology, chemistry, economics, ethnobotany, ethnology, forestry, genetic resources, geography, geology, horticulture, medicine, microbiology, nutrition, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology, in addition to the established botanical disciplines")

Welcome to Good Cooking
(an online shop -- but with many informative articles on beverages & wine, cheese, fish & seafood, food & cooking dictionaries, recipes and a cooking forum)


Blog Appetit

Cooking in Theory and Practice

DimSumDolly

Dr. Vino

Four Pounds Flour

Over a Tuscan Stove


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.