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

It's nearly May, the time of year when -- for those of us who live in northern climes -- chaos breaks loose in the natural world. Things that were nearly forgotten during the long winter months are now, at every turn, sprouting, blooming, chirping and otherwise making spectacles of themselves. When Lerner & Loewe described it as "the lusty month on May," they weren't just whistling Dixie. It's a time when attention to real life -- or what passes for real life on the internet -- goes right out the window.

Nonetheless, here we are, slightly ahead of schedule.

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. Last month, we posted "Unrequired Reading" -- the sort of books you're not likely to find listed in the syllabus of any respectable food studies course, and "On Seeing Morels," the latest in a series of idle speculations on the ineffable fungi.

Leitesculinaria recently published our new article, "The Green Fairy Flies High," an exploratory sip of absinthe. The site is in the process of reposting, sometimes with shiny new updates and edits, some of my older articles. Recent re-postings include "High School Chemistry Pays Off…in Ice Cream," The entire list of our currently-posted LeitesCulinaria articles is available here.

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.


Here are a few excerpts, only tangentially-related to Spring, from -- or soon to be added to -- On the Table's culinary quote pages:

"How many flowers there are which only serve to produce essences, which could have been made into savory dishes." Charles Monselet

"Never serve oysters in a month that has no paycheck in it." P. J. O'Rourke

"There are three possible parts to a date, of which at least two must be offered: entertainment, food, and affection. It is customary to begin a series of dates with a great deal of entertainment, a moderate amount of food, and the merest suggestion of affection. As the amount of affection increases, the entertainment can be reduced proportionately. When the affection IS the entertainment, we no longer call it dating. Under no circumstances can the food be omitted." Miss Manners

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.

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Art of the Menu
(a collection of old menu covers; also take a look at "Vintage Grocery Store Displays")

Basil
(online magazine about eating, drinking, living and giving)

Cook Books
(huge collection of public-domain and self-published cookbooks)

Crafting the Magazine Query Letter
(when Irena Chalmers gives you advice about how to be a successful food writer, pay close attention)

Drowning in a Dry Town
("where prohibition-era New Yorkers got drunk," a PDF map of NYC speakeasies)

Fast Casual
(online trade magazine of the fast foods and casual restaurant business)

Food
("The dish on organic, sustainable, local grub, plus tasty, healthy recipes," from environmental news magazine Grist)

Foodies: Culinary Democrats or Cultural Snobs?
(interview with Josée Johnston and Shyon Baumann, authors of Foodies: Democracy and Distinction in the Gourmet Foodscape)

Forgotten Fruits: Manual & Manifesto
(downloadable booklet, from Slow Foods, about apple diversity and the effort to preserve heirloom varieties)

Tree of Life
(Nancy Harmon Jenkins' article, in Saveur, on olive trees)

"What Does it Take to be a Good Restaurant Critic?"
(Denise Winterman's article in BBC News Magazine)

Wormwood Society, The
(the low-down on the Green Fairy -- absinthe)



BetumiBlog

Food for the Thoughtless

Greg Patent Gets You Cooking

Mexico Cooks

Ruth Bourdain: Comfort Me with Offal
(hysterically funny -- but not for the squeamish or overly fastidious; you've been warned)

Spin the Bottle

Word of Mouth



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.