On the Table: The Curious Home of Gary Allen, Food Writer & Dillettante

Cornfield, Hurley, New York

In the spring, everything seems new, but if you really want to experience newness, visit a farm stand in high summer. It's practically August and already local sweet corn, tomatoes that actually taste like tomatoes, and fragrantly juicy melons have come into season.

Life is good.

Regular subscribers to our updates newsletter receive these updates from our blog, Just Served , directly… but other examples of the blogs's bloviating don’t show up as uninvited guests in their mailboxes. However, should one experience an inexplicable desire for blather, last month's included: "A Bunch of the Boys Were Whooping it Up" -- a cooking story of the sort that has to wait for the statutes of limitation to run out , "More Blather About Fishing and Memory," a guest essay from the entirely imaginary Dr Sanscravat, a frequent contributor to my blog, and "The Color of Cheese," which -- oddly enough -- is actually about the color of cheese.

Leitesculinaria is still in the process of reposting, sometimes with shiny new updates and edits, some of my older articles. The entire list of our currently-posted LeitesCulinaria articles (nineteen, so far) is available here.

Here are some suitably corny remarks gleaned from On the Table's culinary quote pages:

"It is not elegant to gnaw Indian corn. The kernels should be scored with a knife, scraped off into the plate, and then eaten with a fork. Ladies should be particularly careful how they manage so ticklish a dainty, lest the exhibition rub off a little desirable romance." Charles Day

"Hunger makes you restless. You dream about food -- not just any food, but perfect food, the best food, magical meals, famous and awe-inspiring, the one piece of meat, the exact taste of buttery corn, tomatoes so ripe they split and sweeten the air, beans so crisp they snap between the teeth, gravy like mother's milk singing to your bloodstream." Dorothy Allison

"In the light of what Proust wrote with so mild a stimulus, it is the world's loss that he did not have a heartier appetite. On a dozen Gardiner's Island oysters, a bowl of clam chowder, a peck of steamers, some bay scallops, three sauteed soft-shelled crabs, a few ears of fresh picked corn, a thin swordfish steak of generous area, a pair of lobsters, and a Long Island Duck, he might have written a masterpiece." A.J. Liebling

"Nothing rekindles my spirits, gives comfort to my heart and mind, more than a visit to Mississippi... and to be regaled as I often have been, with a platter of fried chicken, field peas, collard greens, fresh corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes with French dressing... and to top it all off with a wedge of freshly baked pecan pie." Craig Claiborne

"Sex is good, but not as good as fresh sweet corn." Garrison Keillor

Gary

August, 2010

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 .

----the new sites----

Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC)
("...resources about sustainable food systems and practices in support of USDA's effort to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture and farmers worldwide")

Ancient Kitchenware in the Ancient Agora Museum (Athens)
(9 photos of really old ceramic cookware)

'Classic' Greek Cuisine: Not So Classic
(Aglaia Kremezi's article, in The Atlantic, mostly about the iconic -- and thoroughly modern -- moussaka)

Europe 1700-1914
(a brief history of globalization and consumption that focuses on coffee, sugar, tea, and the wares used in their consumption)

Food & Recipes
(the Asia Society's site features recipes, plus articles and interviews about Asian cuisine)

History of In-flight Food, A
(a radio report from American Public Media)

Is Food Irradiation The Future?
(Alisha Prakash's article in Food Safety News)

ResepDapur
(Dutch site featuring recipes from Indonesia and Thailand)

Sophie Grigson
(biography and bibliography of the British food writer)

Sundries: An Eighteenth Century Newsletter
(Chef Jim Chevallier's eclectic newsletter often features articles on foods, menus, and recipes gleaned from period documents)

When Beans Were Bullets
(food as an ingredient of patriotism; a well-documented exhibit of World War II era food posters at the National Agricultural Library)

Zenchilada, The
(online magazine from Northern New Mexico; each issue focuses on a single food – the first issue, of course, was dedicated to corn)

----changed URLs----

Paula-Wolfert.com

----how-to blogs----

Blogs about blogging -- and about the writing process in general -- can help us become better, and possibly more successful, writers (and, for most of us, blogging is writing). Here're this month's favorites:

Blood Red Pencil

Reading Under the Covers

----still more blogs----

Culinary Historian, The

eatocracy

Educated Palate: Giuliano Hazan and Lael Hazan's Blog

English Kitchen, An

Flying Foodie, The

History Chef!, The

Hungry Locavore, The

Take Out: Culinary News To Go

Veritas in Vino

Vintrospective

----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 #118" 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) 2010 by Gary Allen.

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food sites for August 2010

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