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

March is pretty much devoid of holidays, unless you count the First Day of Spring (which is usually a let-down for folks who have endured months of the kind of weather we’re seeing right now). We long for balmy days, sauntering through budding forests, stooping to pluck the occasional ramp or morel, or watching a dry fly drifting toward an especially cooperative brookie, while wildflowers nod on mossy banks, and soft breezes carry melodious birdsong. 
March provides none of that. 
What we do have is a window view of a snow-topped bird-feeder (surrounded by juncos, cardinals, downy woodpeckers, chickadees, and sparrows—so many greedy bickering sparrows), a warm house, soon to be filled with smell of slow-cooked foods suitable for the season, and the chance to forestall the onerous shoveling of snow by producing this newsletter.
Regular subscribers to this newsletter receive them from our blog, Just Served, directly—but there is much more at the blog that isn’t delivered automatically. You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook, and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner. 

This month’s quotation is not from On the Table’s culinary quote collection but, we feel, is more along the lines of venting:

Winter is icummen in, 

Lhude sing Goddamm, 

Raineth drop and staineth slop,  

And how the wind doth ramm!   

         Sing: Goddamm. 

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,  

An ague hath my ham,  

Freezeth river, turneth liver,  

          Damn you, sing: Goddamm.  

Goddamm, Goddamm, ‘tis why I am, Goddamm,  

          So ’gainst the winter’s balm.  

Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm.  

Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.  - Ezra Pound

PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or know of wonderful sites we’ve missed (as has my virtual friend, Elatia Harris)—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 or—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’ll find links at the bottom of this page to fix everything to your liking.
5 Things to Look for Next Time You Buy a Cookbook 
(Emily Contois, at Zester Daily, on Nika Hazelton’s advice; it was good in 1963, and it still is)
American Food, Whatever That Is
(interview with Jonathan Gold and Robert Sietsema, on food and food writing)
Cherry Bombe
(biennial magazine on women and food)
Country Housewife’s Family Companion, The
(facsimile edition of William Ellis’ 1750 book)
Diner Journal
(independent ad-free food magazine)
Early English Books Online: Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP)
(searchable database of many old texts)
EARLY ENGLISH BREAD: Barm or sourdough?
(Jim Chevallier’s efforts to thresh out the truth about Medieval British baking)
Euell Gibbons: The Father of Modern Wild Foods 
(a short biography by John Kallas; see also John McPhee’s New Yorker profile of Gibbons)
Food and Romance: The Tissue of Little Things
(Dwight Furrow, writing at the intersection of the two primary hungers)
HANNAH GLASSE: Stolen Identity During the Eighteenth Century
(food writers might have a hard time today, but Victoria Rumble explains that it was once worse…)
How the Sense of Taste Has Shaped Who We Are
(“…John McQuaid on the science and history of flavor;” in Scientific American)
Mysteries of Chili Heat, The: Why People Love the Pain
(John McQuaid summarizes the latest scientific evidence, in Salon)
Regional Chinese Cooking
(Joe DiStefano’s series at Serious Eats:
More Than Ma La: A Deeper Introduction to Sichuan Cuisine
Secrets of Cantonese Cooking, The: America's First Chinese Cuisine
Song of Spice and Fire, A: The Real Deal With Hunan Cuisine)
Science of Saturated Fat, The: A Big Fat Surprise About Nutrition?
(Nina Teicholz, in The Independent, with good news for butter lovers)
Short Stack
(publisher of small single-subject cookbooks)
Toast
(e-zine; “a celebration of food & ideas”)
What Americans Can Learn from Other Food Cultures
(Amy Choi, via TED)
What Gives Wine its Color?
(Eleanor Shannon provides a brief introduction to the subject)
Why Lyon is Food Capital of the World
(Bill Buford, in The Guardian)
Curse of Modern Food Writing, The: The Dearth of Pleasure
Essay Expert, The
How Food Journalism Got as Stale as Day-Old Bread
It’s All About Trust and Ethics in Food Blogging
China South of the Clouds
eat this poem 
Les Leftovers
Maureen B. Fant: Discovering Italy through its Food 
Science Meets Food
Red Cook
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