Food & Writing Sites for November 2025
Friday, October 17, 2025
Carnival Squash, Cucurbita pepo
If not already, it’s only a matter of time before, as James Whitcomb Riley sang, “the frost is on the punkin.” Okay, that squash is not the usual “punkin”—it’s a hybrid of acorn and sweet dumpling squashes—but it’s still the same species as “punkins,’ so I’m stickin’ with it.
Since the last issue of these updates, we’ve posted a lot more pages via Substack:
“Before My Time...” some vaguely culinary recollections of genealogy;
“The Salt of the Earth…” a love letter to sodium chloride;
“Alliteratively Yours...” on the joys of rustication;
“It's Theft, Whatever You Call It...” on plagiarism and copyright;
“Something Very Different...” a retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic;
“On This Date...” Revolutionary War history, etc.;
“Fossilization...” on the legacy of art;
“American Food?” or maybe Dutch?; and
“The Apple of My Eye” some Shakespearean speculations.
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 food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.
A seasonal selection from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:
“My favorite word is ‘pumpkin.’ You can’t take it seriously. But you can’t ignore it, either. It takes ahold of your head and that’s it. You are a pumpkin. Or you are not. I am.” Harrison Salisbury
Gary
November 2025
PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or if you 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 Jan Whitaker)—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 —
All the Biggest Whiskey Myths, Debunked
(Kirk Miller’s review of The Whiskey Bible, in The Spill)
Ask a Bartender: What Makes a Liquor a “Sipping Spirit”?
(a hint from VinePair’s Pete O’Connell: price)
(a substack page about astrology cakes, by KC Hysmith)
Birth of the Farm to Table Movement, The
(Ruth Reichl’s 1983 article in Metropolitan Home)
Chocolate-Brewing Witches of Colonial Latin America, The
(Reina Gattuso’s bitter-sweet history at GastroObscura)
Discreet Charm of a Well-Made Drink, The
(Michael Procopio on Luis Buñuel and the perfect martini)
Does Eating Spicy Food Help You Lose Weight? Science Has a Clear Answer.
(provided by Diana Hubbell, in Popular Science)
Easy Wontons/Dumplings: Spilled Milk #363
(Andrew Zimmern explains them… and has recipes for subscribers)
For Centuries, Nobody Knew Why Swiss Cheese Has Holes. Then, the Mystery Was Solved.
(Dr. Katie Spalding describes the process and the results in IFLScience)
Fried Seafood: Spilled Milk #369
(Andrew Zimmern’s substack page on the multi-faceted origin of Italy’s fritto misto)
How WWII Made Hershey and Mars Halloween Candy Kings
(Diana Hubbell, in Popular Science, on how sugar rationing remade the candy industry)
If You Care About Food, You Care About Farms
(Nancy Harmon Jenkins uses tomatoes to show what’s wrong with “modern” agriculture)
“Intoxication Thesis,” The: The Evolutionary Benefits of Getting Drunk
(inebriation fosters social cohesion; an interview with Edward Slingerland, in Big Think)
Liquid Bewitchment: Gin Drinking in England, 1700–1850
(James Brown’s essay on the effect of Dutch genever on British society)
Lost World of the London Coffeehouse, The
(Matthew Green’s account of the intellectual life stirred in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British coffeecups)
Most Famous Secret Recipes in Food and Drink History, The
(Brian Boone almost tells all at The Takeout)
Original Location of America’s Largest National Chain Restaurants, The
(Olivia White provides a map and early histories for VinePair)
(substack page of a food & beverage photographer, stylist, and writer: Laura Scherb)
Takeoff and Descent of Airline Dining, The
(Khelil Bouarrouj takes on in-flight meals for The Takeout)
Tasting History with Max Miller
(previews are free, but paid membership is required to see complete videos)
Traditional Food as an Archive of History and Culture
(Alampik Debbarma’s paper in Unnati International Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research)
What Does “Reading the Pearls” Mean in Mezcal Production?
(Hannah Staab, at VinePair, on a traditional method for measuring mezcal’s alcohol content)
(Joe Pinsker’s article in The Atlantic)
World’s Best Crab Cake, The: Spilled Milk #375
(according to Andrew Zimmern)
Would You Eat a Grasshopper? In Oaxaca, It’s Been a Tasty Tradition for Thousands of Years
(Stephen Khan reports on Mexican entomophagy, in The Conversation)
— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —
5 Dairy Myths Experts Want to Correct
10 Nutrition Myths that Experts Wish Would Go Away
10 States with the Highest Density of Fast Food Restaurants, The
13 Meats That Are Now Illegal In The US
13 Unique Sports Stadium Foods from Around the US
16 Vintage Foods Popularized During Wartime That We Still Eat Today
20 International Foods Most Commonly Mispronounced by Americans, The
Americans Have Planted So Much Corn That It’s Changing the Weather
Artificial Intelligence in Food Safety and Nutrition Practices: Opportunities and Risks
Bean Week: Mexico's Mealtime Mainstay
Cookbooks are a Little Like Video Games, Says Polina Chesnakova
David Lebovitz on Boring Headnotes, New Editions, and the Cookbooks that Got Away
David Lebovitz on the Writing Life
Delicious Universe of Asian Culinary Comics, The
Harvesting the Heirloom Corn That Nourishes the Oneida Nation
How 5 Popular Candy Bars Got Their Names
How Did Boston Baked Beans Get Their Name?
Indigenous Cuisine Is Being Served in the Back of a Berkeley Bookstore
Life and Death of the American Foodie, The
Marian Burros, 92, Dies; Food Writer Famed for Her Plum Torte and More
No. 105: The Inverse of Chinatown
Older than Automobiles: Tailgating’s Ancient Roman Roots
Oldest Restaurant In Every State, The
The Semicolon, “The Most Feared Punctuation On Earth,” Is in Decline; Does It Matter?
The Writer or Editor of 15,000 Recipes (so far) Tells us How It’s Done
To Understand What Books Are Published, You Must Understand How Books Are Sold
Twelve Surprising Ways to Use Cauliflower
Victorious Women of Terezín, The
What Happened to Turtle Soup? How a Dish Became a Delicacy Then Disappeared
What Happens to School Lunches in the MAHA Era?
What Will Food Be Like in the Future?
When the Useless Is Bewitching: The Japanese Tea Ceremony
Why Food and Murder Pair So Well in Fiction
— podcasts, et cetera —
1974: Working in a Traditional English Brewery
Art of the Impersonal Essay, The
Eric Kim on Writing a Moving Memoir
Harvesting Tequila, Surfing Secret Coves & Tasting Legendary Mexican Flavors | DIRT Guadalajara
How Archaeologists Try to Smell, Hear, and Taste the Past
Ivan the Terrible—Feeding Russia’s Cruelest Czar
Julia Child Omelette via Beans
Let the Sky Rain Potatoes: Rebecca Earle on the Potato in Shakespeare’s England
Nutrition Myths; MedAnimations
Old-School Alcohol Nicknames Nobody Uses Anymore
Two Dollar Banquet | The French Chef Season 10 | Julia Child
Worst Story in Food History, The: How Sugar Destroyed Everything
— 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
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(Kindle)
Prophet Amidst Losses
(Paper)
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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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Hot Hot Hot/Risky Business
(Paper)
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The Long & Short of It: A Miscellany
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Beer Taste & Other Disorders
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Galloping Gourmand: A Culinary Collection
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates
(Paper)
(Kindle)
Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year
Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year
Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year
Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...
...for the moment, anyway.
______________
The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #301 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.
As the author of this page—being a real living person—I have not used AI for any purpose (beyond routine spellcheck). Nor do I permit the use of any of its content for training of AI systems, or in the generation of AI content.
Copyright ©2025 by Gary Allen.
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