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

It's April, one of the busiest months of our year, at least that's an excuse to which we're sticking for the lateness of this issue. If that one seems unconvincing, we'll come up with several others... when we find some free time. Let's just say that editing one book, assembling the graphics for another, and collecting reference materials for a third have pretty much used our waking hours.

Apparently, we must learn to either work in our sleep or learn to do without sleep altogether

Regular subscribers to our updates newsletter receive these updates from our blog, Just Served, directly -- but there is much more at the blog that isn't sent automatically. We understand that many (OK, most) folks have better things to do with their time than wade through countless unwanted e-missives, so we won't add ours to that pile. However... should you feel an inexplicable craving for exactly the sort of self-indulgent claptrap we periodically post, you can satisfy that urge at Just Served. Last month we posted but one article, Something from an Old Journal, and even that was recycled from a time before blogs, and even the World Wide Web were even imagined.

Leitesculinaria is still in the process of reposting, sometimes -- with shiny new updates and edits -- some of our older articles. The entire list of our currently-posted LeitesCulinaria articles is available here, along with several other articles on food history & science.

For hard-core addicts of our stuff (assuming such unlikely beings exist), Marty Martindale's Food Site of the Day has been completely redesigned, and has returned to posting A Quiet Little Table in the Corner -- an index of our writings on the web.

Here's a selection soon to be added to On the Table's culinary quote pages. Now that we've all gotten April Fools pranks out of our systems...

"Try a chilli with it, Miss Sharp", said Joseph, really interested. "A chilli," said Rebecca, gasping, "Oh, yes!" She thought a chilli was something cool, as its name imported, and was served with some. "How fresh and green they look," she said, and put one into her mouth. It was hotter than the curry; flesh and blood could bear it no longer. She laid down her fork. "Water, for Heaven's sake, water!" she cried. William Makepeace Thackeray

and that baseball season has finally started...

Sure I eat what I advertise. Sure I eat Wheaties for breakfast. A good bowl of Wheaties with bourbon can't be beat. Dizzy Dean

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.


Africooks.com
(site of culinary historian Jessica B. Harris)

America's Largest Cookbook Collection
(New York University's Fales Library Food Studies Collection -- some 55,000 volumes)

Big Fat Debate, A
(Kristin Wartman's Huffington Post article on why fat is not the problem)

Cider Museum Hereford, The
(British museum dedicated to "... to preserv[ing] the history of cider making worldwide")

Fire and Knives
(a food-writing quarterly)

Food, Glorious Food: Baking Blogs and Food Memoirs
(Joanne Conte's article from the NY Public Library's blog)

History, Art and Biography
(the USDA's National Agricultural Library shows some its collections, including: war-era food posters; "digital reproductions of original artwork, nursery and seed trade catalogs, manuscript collections, and portions of rare books from across the agricultural specialties;" "agricultural texts published between the early nineteenth century and the middle to late twentieth century;" "farm weekly newspapers published in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries;" an "historical timeline of American agriculture;" and more)

How 8 Famous Cheeses Got Their Names
(a cheesy little history lesson)

Nutrition and Food Sciences
(free online access to 31 journals)

Pine Nuts (Pignolia): Species, Products, Markets, and Potential for U.S. Production
(paper by University of Missouri's Leonid Sharashkin and Michael Gold; in PDF format)

Rambling Epicure, The
(a daily online international food newspaper)

Remedy Quarterly
("…an independently published magazine of food stories with recipes at the heart")

Taking Root: Cassava Claims its Place on the American Table
(Dorothy Irwin's article in Saveur)

USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (ESMIS)
(Cornell University and USDA provide detailed info on over 2,500 American and international agricultural subjects, as well as related topics)

Vertical Farming: Does it Really Stack Up?
(The Economist looks at "growing crops in vertical farms in the heart of cities")



Blog posts about blogging -- and writing, design, photography, promotion, and ethics -- can help us become better, and possibly more successful, writers (i.e., having more people read our stuff). Here are a few recent favorites:

Food Photography Lighting Tips

Fritinancy

Knock, Knock….Who is at Your Door?

Learn Food Photography

New Google Recipe Search Means Extra Coding for Food Bloggers



Marché Dimanche

Musing Bouche, The

Simple Italy

Sweet Paul



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.