Food Sites for April 2024
Sunday, March 24, 2024
A normal person might think—after witnessing the vernal equinox over seventy times—that Spring would not come as a surprise. However, the long, colorless, and dead-silent season that precedes tends to blot out our memory of previous Springs. A world that is gray and white (well... with climate change, not so much white, lately) is short on stimulation.
First a few timid green sprouts appear and then, just before dawn, the first bird decides to sing—and suddenly it’s April. The shock of fresh color is everywhere—and that single chirper becomes an avian riot, with countless birds singing their fool heads off. We suspect the source of Spring’s surprise is its speed. Other seasons change gradually, but Spring literally springs forward, accelerating madly with adolescent incandescent passion.
Last month, we finished writing a collection of stories based on an earlier novella, and merged them all into a different book (see below). As you no doubt expect, we’ve posted more Substack pages:
“Retrospective,” a memorial for a lost friend;
“Revision,” on tweaking already-published work;
“False Modesty” examines some writers’ attempts at self-promotion;
“And So It Continues...” announces an expanded edition of an existing book; and
“Another Try...” reworks an old story using a new structure.
You can, should you choose to, follow us on Facebook (where, among other things, we post a lot of photographs), and Twitter. Still more of our online scribbles can be found at A Quiet Little Table in the Corner and other Substack pages. There’s even an Amazon author’s page, that includes our food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
Some seasonal items, from On the Table’s culinary quote collection.
In the vegetable world, there is nothing so innocent, so confiding in its expression, as the small green face of the freshly-shelled spring pea. William Wallace Irwin
Red onions are especially divine. I hold a slice up to the sunlight pouring in through the kitchen window, and it glows like a fine piece of antique glass. Cool watery-white with layers delicately edged with imperial purple...strong, humble, peaceful...with that fiery nub of spring green in the center... Mary Hayes Grieco
Palpating, crackling, splitting on the grill, Boudins whistle louder than blackbirds in April. Paul Harel
Gary
April 2024
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 Cynthia Bertelsen—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 —
Ancient Egyptians Celebrated the Feast of Drunkenness with Blood-Red Beer
(Diana Hubbell’s thoughts on Hathor, the goddess of intoxication, at Gastro Obscura)
Auguste Escoffier and the Invention of the Restaurant Kitchen Brigade System
(Cynthia Bertelsen, on the development of modern kitchen-staff organization)
Cambridge Companion to Literature and Food, The.
(book review by Alexandra Mitrea in East-West Cultural Passage)
Chip by Chip, This Ice Cream Flavor Is Melting Away
(Matt Richtel reports, in The New York Times, on chocolate chips inexplicable decline in popularity)
Honoring the Ancestral Tradition of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico
(Nneka M. Okona’s article in Eater)
How Cultures Around the World ‘Pour One Out’ for the Dearly Departed
(Rich Manning, at VinePair, on in-memoriam drinking)
(in vino veritas, from Dwight Furrow)
(Andrew Coletti’s article in Gastro Obscura)
(Kate McDermott’s account of Urtica dioica)
(Amitav Ghosh, in Literary Hub, on how tea funded the British Empire’s expansion)
This Is What Ancient Roman Wine Tasted Like
(Julia Binswanger’s Smithsonian article on the effect of fermentation in clay pots)
— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
Aesthetics of Fine Cuisine, The
Beware Your Choice of Ice Cream. It Says A Lot About You.
Bite Me: Food in Popular Culture
Brief History of Irish Coffee, A
Consumption and the Literary Cookbook
Drink Like an (Ancient) Egyptian
Experiencing Reality through Cookbooks: How Cookbooks Shape and Reveal Our Identities
Food, Age, and the Life Course in Europe, 1800-2000
FOOD NERD FESTIVAL: Official playground for India’s Hottest Food Nerds
In Defense of Not Using Kosher Salt
Inside the Lurid History of Ortolan, the French Delicacy That’s So Tasty It’s Illegal
Inside the Pineapple Pizza Scandal Dividing Italy
Is Oat Milk Unhealthy? That’s the Wrong Question.
It’s Been Scientifically Proven That Pasta Makes You Happier
Look for These 9 Red Flags to Identify Food That Is Ultra-Processed
Mise en Place is Overrated. There are Often Faster Ways to Cook.
Neolithic Bread at Catal Hoyuk
and:
Discovery of 8,600-Year-Old Bread Gives Rise to Half-Baked Claims
New Science on What Ultra-Processed Food Does to Your Brain, The
Please Don’t Tell Me About Every Single Dish on the Menu
Revealed: The Authors Whose Pirated Books are Powering Generative AI
Risotto Crisis: The Fight to Save Italy’s Beloved Dish from Extinction
This American Fast Food Staple Was Actually Invented by the Romans
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Picky Eaters
Winemaker and Hauteur, The: Who Is the Coward Here?
— podcasts, etcetera —
Savory History of the McMuffin, The
What Happens to the Food You Try to Sneak Into the Airport?
Wine Supertasters, Vinotype Quiz and Your Taste in Wine?
— 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)
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)
The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #282 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 ©2024 by Gary Allen.
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