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

This winter is one for the books. Before January was gone, crocuses (croci?) had sprouted, and we have had actual blooms for over a week already. Before today, February had delivered just 1/2 inch of snow, and we've only accumulated two inches more this morning. Some wild greens (like bitter Garlic Mustard) are already showing.

We're grateful, naturally, but the whole thing is decidedly weird.

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 (regretfully) realize that even readers such as our own do not possess unlimited tolerance. Just Served dishes out more than reasonable people want to chew -- but, if you're feeling particularly unreasonable, and don't want to wait for these newsletters, you can follow us on Facebook, or Twitter.

Facebook friends who follow our soi-disant "progress" have already been exposed to a miniscule scrap of doggerel, "A Revelation of Sorts" -- but it can also be found here. Facebook and twitter friends have also been alerted about the book launch party for our latest book, Herbs: A Global History. If you're interested in joining the festivities (and can't think of anything better to do), you can find details here.

The Roger Smith Cookbook Conference was delightful, giving us a chance to reconnect with old friends, as well as meet new ones, and put faces on virtual friends we've had for years. If you missed any or all of the panels, videos of the conference are now available online.

Meanwhile, we're still stuffing words into our sausage book (for Reaktion's Edible Series). The book is already longer than the contract specifies, and there's still much to be written. Writing, like sausage, is a delicate balancing act between juicy plumpness and just too much fat.

Speaking of too much fat, "A Quiet Little Table in the Corner" is an annotated ("annotated" being academic-speak for "yadda yadda yadda... whatevah") directory of our writings -- mostly on other people's sites.

Leitesculinaria has reposted several of our articles (the entire list is available, along with several more noteworthy pieces on food history & science.

This month's quotations -- soon to be added to On the Table's culinary quote pages -- revel in procrastination (with an over-the-shoulder glance at one of the more recently expired New Year's celebrations):

When it comes to Chinese food I have always operated under the policy that the less known about the preparation the better. ...A wise diner who is invited to visit the kitchen replies by saying, as politely as possible, that he has a pressing engagement elsewhere. Calvin Trillin

When I'm at a Chinese restaurant having a hard time with chopsticks, I always hope that there's a Chinese kid at an American restaurant somewhere who's struggling mightily with a fork. Rick Budinich

Chopsticks are one of the reasons the Chinese never invented custard. Spike Milligan

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!

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American Food: A Call for Culinary Independence
(Josh Ozersky's article in TIME Magazine)

Archive for the "Cuisine Articles" Category
(articles on Moroccan cookery)

Art of the Menu
(many individual articles about graphically-elegant menu designs)

Cake Recipes
(from Godey's Lady's Book, 1860)

Christmas Dinner
(from Godey's Lady's Book, 1860)

Eating Alone
(Tucker Shaw's article in the Denver Post; "There's nothing quite like sharing a meal with someone you love - yourself")

English Housewife, The
(transcription of Gervase Markham's 1683 book)

Food Industry in Italy, The
(a report by four professors at the University of Bologna; in PDF format)

Impact of Slow Cooker Cuisine, The
(Megan Elias looks at a device that has gone in and out of fashion, for centuries)

In Italian Food, What's Authentic and Does It Really Even Matter?
(Sara Jenkins article in The Atlantic)

Inquisitive Eater, The
(online food magazine from The New School's Writing Program and Food studies program)

People Read Menus Differently Than Everyone Thought
(Paula Forbes writes about recent research into one of the sacred tenets of the restaurant industry; includes a link to the original study)

Recipes
(from Regency England, late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries)

Renaissance at the Dinner Table, The
(Dr. Alessandro Giacomello's essay, notes, and recipes from fifteenth-century Germany and Italy)

Sip for the Ancestors, A
("The True Story of Civilization’s Stumbling Debt to Beer and Fungus;" series of articles in Scientific American's blog, on the origins of agriculture)

USA Pears
(pear recipes, nutrition, and press releases from The Pear Bureau Northwest)

What's on the Menu?
(view, search within, read about -- and even help the development of -- the New York Public Library's online collection of historic menus)



Here are a few Facebook groups that might interest food writers:

Cookbook Friends
(this is a closed group; it's by invitation only)

Food Pursuit

Writers and Readers United - Living Wages for Lit!



Hunger and Thirst

Pilgrim Seasonings

White on Rice Couple



Except, of course, for the usual legalistic 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 are currently available. Advance orders for Herbs: A Global History can also be taken.

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.