Food Sites for July 2023
Thursday, June 15, 2023
On the Road: selfie with dromedary.
With this issue, we begin our 24th year of sending out these newsletters. We are astounded by this event—especially since we’re barely out of our teens (or, facing facts, admitting that we’re no more mature than we were in our teens).
Since our last issue, we’ve been traveling (and, to some extent travailing). We visited—and ate our way across—Portugal, Spain, and Morocco.
We contracted COVID along the way—probably in Fes (a place known for its intensely crowded narrow alleys, crammed with infected people from all over our infected planet, not one of whom thought to wear a mask). Frankly, if we hadn’t caught the disease there, we probably couldn’t catch it anywhere. The experience of the plague, itself, wasn’t bad—but we missed part of our trip during our mandatory isolation in Madrid. Worse, one of our meals (cous cous, outside of Marrakech, after our camel ride) was rendered tasteless by the virus.
Still, considering what could have happened, we were pretty lucky.
Having been in our sic transit, we haven’t written much. Well, we did add a bit to one of the books we haven’t finished, wrote a little story (it’s part of “Tasty,” below), and posted three Substack pages:
“The Royal ‘We’” asserts that royalty is not what it used to be—or, at least, hopes so;
“Tasty” is a kind of love story, speaking in—and of—tongues;
“Doubt” wrestles with imposter syndrome.
Access to most of the substack posts is free, but we’re giving free editions of two of our books to paid subscribers.
You can, if you wish, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Even more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and on various Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that’s mostly about our food writing.
A few gastronomic complaints, penned by other travelers (which, we have to say, have not been confirmed by our experience), from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
More than any other in Western Europe, Britain remains a country where a traveler ... has to think twice before indulging in the ordinary food of ordinary people. Joseph Lelyveld
The French are not rude. They just happen to hate you. But that is no reason to bypass this beautiful country, whose master chefs have a well-deserved worldwide reputation for trying to trick people into eating snails. Nobody is sure how this got started. Probably a couple of French master chefs were standing around one day, and they found a snail, and one of them said: “I bet that if we called this something like ‘escargot,’ tourists would eat it.” Then they had hearty laugh, because ‘escargot’ is the French word for ‘fat crawling bag of phlegm.’” Dave Barry
He that travels in theory has no inconveniences; he has shade and sunshine at his disposal, and wherever he alights finds tables of plenty and looks of gaiety. These ideas are indulged till the day of departure arrives, the chaise is called, and the progress of happiness begins. A few miles teach him the fallacies of imagination. The road is dusty, the air is sultry, the horses are sluggish. He longs for the time of dinner that he may eat and rest. The inn is crowded, his orders are neglected, and nothing remains but that he devour in haste what the cook has spoiled, and drive on in quest of better entertainment. He finds at night a more commodious house, but the best is always worse than he expected. Samuel Johnson
Gary
July 2023
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 who have pointed out corrections or tasty sites (this month we’re tipping our virtual hat to Dianne Jacob), 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.
— the new sites —
Brief (But Complicated) History of Coffee and Tea, A
(Michele Debczak’s cuppa at Mental Floss)
(excerpts from several technical books on the subject)
Complete Beer Guide to IPAs, The: From Hazy to West Coast and More
(Joshua Bernstein’s course at Gear Patrol)
(Annie Ewbank’s homage to the original meals-on-wheels, at Gastro Obscura)
Food Innovations That Came from War
(Diana Hubbell’s Gastro Obscura history lesson)
(a Simply Recipes page by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee)
How Humanity Has Changed the Food It Eats
(Nicola Temple’s article at the BBC’s Future)
ISSUE 77, BEGINNINGS, Part 3: The Coming of the Cook Stove
(David Shields’ substack page that investigates the curiosities of food history)
ISSUE 77, BEGINNINGS, Part 5: Beginning the Quest for Food Purity
(David Shields’ substack page continues its investigation of food history)
MSG Is Finally Getting Its Revenge
(Yasmin Tayag shows that not all sodium is bad for our health, in The Atlantic)
Neanderthals Carb Loaded, Helping Grow Their Big Brains
(starchy foods made us who we are—according to research reported in Science)
(a shrine to the world’s most famous mystery-meat-in-a-can)
Table Full of Weird Science, A
(Pat Willard’s substack page about AI and the mystery of taste)
What Did the Ancient Greeks Eat and Drink?
(Robert Garland’s answer, at HistoryHit)
— another blog —
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
11 Defunct Restaurant Chains That Are Sorely Missed
Are These the Worst Recipes Ever Conceived?
Before AI Recipes, There Was This $90,000 Kitchen Computer.
Future of Classic New York Slice Shops Hangs in the Balance, The
Gentleman’s Guide to Ordering a Drink, A
Go Ahead and Make Your AI Recipe. It Won’t Be Good.
Have We Finally Hit Peak Wellness Food?
How to Stop Thinking and Start Writing
Kate Lebo on Making and Remaking Recipes on and Off the Page
Kwame Alexander on the Legacies of Love Passed Down Through Food
Rebirth of Embodiment, The: Hand-Compiling an Early Modern Recipe Book
Revise, Revise! Anna Badkhen on the Joys of Revision
Where Are All the California Cookbooks?
Why is American Cuisine So Pervasively Sweet?
Why We Have No Theory of Gastronomy
— podcasts, etcetera —
3 Salting Methods for Better-Tasting Meats
Episode 98: How to Cook and Eat Like an Italian
Podcast: A Chat with Dianne Jacob, author of Will Write for Food
— that’s all for now —
Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:
As an Amazon Associate, this newsletter earns from qualifying purchases made through it. These include our own books (listed below), and occasional books mentioned in the entries above. If you order anything via those links, the price you pay is not increased by our commission.
Occasionally, URLs we provide may take you to commercial sites (that is, they’ll cost you money to take full advantage of them), or publications that have paywalls. We do not receive any compensation for listing them here and are providing them without any form of recommendation—other than the fact that they looked interesting to us.
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 for our own books:
The Resource Guide for Food Writers
(Hardcover)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
(newsletters like this merely update the contents of the book; what doesn’t appear here is already in the book)
The Herbalist in the Kitchen
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food And Drink Industries
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Human Cuisine
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Herbs: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sausage: A Global History
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Can It! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Foods
(Hardcover)
(Kindle)
Sauces Reconsidered: Après Escoffier
Terms of Vegery
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Serve Man:
On Cannibalism, Sex, Sacrifice, & the Nature of Eating
(Paper)
(Kindle)
How to Write a Great Book
The Digressions of Dr Sanscravat: Gastronomical Ramblings & Other Diversions
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Ephemera: a short collection of short stories
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Future Tense: Remembrance of Things Not Yet Past
(Paper)
(Kindle)
The Backstories: As retold by Gary Allen
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Tabula Rasa, Baby: (Not Written in Stone)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Unbelievable: A Modern Novella
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #273 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 ©2023 by Gary Allen.
1 Comments:
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