On the Table - Just Served

Food & Writing Sites for April 2026

2026-03-17T18:05:00.003-04:00

Spring-flowering Croci: an April Fool prank that only looks like the Autumn-flowering ones that yield saffron.

It’s not officially Spring, yet, but we’ve been teased enough to make us believe that it’s imminent. Only two weeks until trout season opens, and another week or two before morels start peeking out among the dead leaves of the departing season. The apple trees will, once again, be in bloom, and we can put this awful Winter behind us.

Since the last issue of these updates, we’ve posted yet more pages via Substack:

“Book, Cover, Judging by...” the intersection of life and Beatniks;

“Re: Quest…” recycling about recycling some old art;

“Birds w/o Words…” just photos this time;

“A Short Valentine's Day Story…” with nods to Puccini and Austen;

“A Hero Ain’t Nuthin’ but a Sandwich…” or food grammar;

“Joking in Bad Taste…” some cannibal humor; and

“WIPing a Book into Shape…” a new addition to a work-in-progress.

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.

Avant avril, a suitably Gallic pairing of Spring and sausages from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

Palpating, crackling, splitting on the grill, Boudins whistle louder than blackbirds in April. Paul Harel

Gary, April 2026

PS: If you encounter broken links, changed URLs—or if you know of wonderful sites we’ve missed—please dro p 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 Alison Pearlman)—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 —

18th- and 19th- Century Cooking in the Hudson Valley

(artifacts from Huguenot Street—"one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the United States”)

Chocolate Company Announces Plans to Produce Lab-Grown Cocoa

(Joe Wilkins’ article, in Futurism, on one approach to circumventing the effect of climate change on cacao farming)

Issue 105, Miracle Foods, Part 2: Tofu comes to America

(David S. Shields’ substack page on soy products)

Museo del Jamón

(Spanish museum celebrating all things Iberico)

Travelling Ingredient, The: How Migration Built Every Cuisine in the World

(as Jordi Luque says, in Feast, “the history of cuisine is the history of migration”)

Vinegar Connoisseurs International

(“the Grand Central Station for vinegar information”)

Welcome to our Online Collections Database!

(from the culinary arts museum at Johnson & Wales University)

Why Some Meat Tastes Gamey

(Mark Hay’s answer, in Popular Science)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

11 Celebrity Chefs Who Completely Changed How People Cook and Eat

“Cookbooks Are an Archive of a Moment:” A Conversation with Tanya Bush

Cute Food Gets Serious—and Savory

Dining Out/Dining In

Dinner Is Being Recorded, Whether You Know It or Not

Horse Meat Set to Be Banned in Italy Amid Draft Equine Bill

How Impressionist Artists Paved the Way for Declassified French Wine

How the Easy-Bake Oven, an Appliance that Allowed Kids to Heat Treats with a Light Bulb, Revolutionized the Toy Industry

Korsha Wilson on Being a Food Journalist

Most Beautiful Freezer in the World, The

No-Shame Adult Guide to Instant Noodles, The

Padma Lakshmi’s Cookbook Collection Is a Problem

Sad News from Maine: The Eels Are Out

Supreme Court Just Made AI Art Legally Worthless, The

What I Ate as an Unpaid Intern at Noma

— podcasts, et cetera —

Chip Tasting with Sommelier Natalie MacLean

Food Chain, The: How to Write a Recipe

Food Programme, The: Eating Together

Hungry Society, A

IKEA Roasted a Modern Food Photography Obsession

Love and Sausages with Bruce McCulloch

Remedial Sandwich Reading

This New Book Shares the Farm-to-Table Indian Cooking the World Hasn’t Tasted

— 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, there’s a price to take full advantage of them, or they 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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, The Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, The Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #306 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.

Food & Writing Sites for March 2026

2026-02-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

Lenten Rose, Helleborus genus, Ranunculaceae family

We’re still in February, with March just around the corner. In most years, there would be hellebores blooming atop the very frozen soil of our garden. This year, deep snow prevents even a teasing early-season glimpse of the blooms. That's alright... we know that Spring WILL come.

Eventually.

Since the last issue of these updates, we’ve posted yet more pages via Substack:

“According to The Good Doctor...” on how writers support themselves;

“A Change of Heart…” a new Vero story;

“Seasoned with Regret…” some “celebrity” culinary memories;

“Decades Ago...” where does wisdom come from?;

“Stirring Prose…” on writing in jail; and

“Incipit Vita Nova…” a valentine from Dante.

For March, a suitably quixotic and ambiguous selection from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

You might just as well say that “I like what I get” is the same thing as “I get what I like”! The March Hare, in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Gary
March 2026

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 Alison Pearlman)—thanks, and keep them coming!

— the new sites —

Bananas are Seedless! Really?

(Dorothy Patent, on threats to the cavendish banana)

Cultural History of Food in the Modern Age, A

(paper by Amy Bentley)

Forgotten Chefs Who Made Carne con Chile a Texas Mexican Standard, The

(Tom Little’s Gastro Obscura post)

Grain of Terror

(Joe Zadeh’s Vittles article about the fear of reheating rice)

History of American Cheese, A

(individually wrapped at The Retroist)

New Study Reveals Stark Disparities in Ultra-Processed Food Purchases Among U.S. Households

(report from ”the Global Food Research Program at UNC-Chapel Hill and The George Institute for Global Health”)

What Did America’s First Bourbons Taste Like?

(Aaron Goldfarb, at VinePair, on how white lightning evolved into modern bourbon)

When Sugar Grew in the Holy Land

(Nathan Steinmeyer’s report, in Bible History Daily, on recent archaeological finds)

Why Do Leftovers Taste Better the Next Day?

(Nitya Rao explains at Mentalfloss)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

8 Types of Potatoes and the Best Ways to Use Them

Comfort Foods You Have To Try At Least Once, The

1968: American Cooking

American Food Traditions That Started as Marketing Ploys

America’s Slop Bowls, Ranked

Ark-Mex Edges Toward Extinction

Biggest Difference Between a Winery and a Vineyard, The

Brief History of “Salads,” A—the Jell-O Kind

Cajun Food, as It Used to Be

Can Civilization Function Without Alcohol?

Chef Recreating 18th-Century Recipes From a Thrift-Shop Find, The

Cookbook Marketing and Publicity

Cost and Affordability of Plant-Based Diets: Global Evidence from 2000 to 2025

Eating Behind Bars: When Food Is an Active Form of Punishment

Everything You Need to Know About the True Origins of the Everything Bagel

For Men, How Much Alcohol Is Too Much?

For When You Feel Like You Can’t Write

Gourmet Magazine Is Back. It’s Not Exactly Sanctioned.

How a Top Cookbook Editor Builds Her List

How I Create a Recipe

How to Use Boredom as a Performance Enhancer

How “Wine Moms” Entered the Conversation About ICE

Index Flex

ISSUE 104, CULINARY CHARACTERS, Part 3: Evelyn Haines and Strange Food

It’s OK to Say “Mocktail”

Jessica B. Harris on Writing History Through Recipes

MSG? Please Pass the Parmesan

Natasha Pickowicz Is Way More Than Cake

No Cocktail History Is Complete Without Tom Bullock

No. 114: Or Not?

On Collecting—and Reviewing-Cookbooks

People Born Before 1970 Share What They Ate for Dinner Growing Up, and It’s a Blast From the Past

Portrait of the Pie Artist as an Instagram Star

Promontory, Vine Energy, and the Condition of Art

Short History of the Autobiographical Restaurant, A

Skewers and the Stakes, The: On Negative Reviews of Restaurants

So Much Madeira

Tamar Adler on “The Exquisite Beauty of the Commonplace”

The Naked Emperor and 100 Point Scores

There’s a Reason American Kids Are Such Picky Eaters

These Tamales are Red Hot

What Actually Makes a Martini a Martini?

What You’re Eating—Is It Genuine?

Why Cooking Is the Best: Part Two

Why Does Every Menu Have a Mocktail? Inside the Evolution of Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Why MLK Is Relevant to Today’s Food Industry

Why We Need Cookbooks More than Ever

Wine Needs a New Imaginary

Wine-Ordering Mistake a Lot of People Make (And Why You Should Avoid It), The

— podcasts, et cetera —

10 Levels of PB&J (Amateur to Advanced)

Alton Brown: Pyramid Scheme

Are Cooking Shows Gone for Good?

Cook with a Nana

Lunchbox Envy

Much Ado About Cooking

— 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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #305 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.

Food & Writing Sites for February 2026

2026-01-17T14:28:00.002-05:00

Winter is root vegetable season...

February is the shortest month because it’s the worst. Historically, the powers-that-be have tried to make it more palatable by jamming in a bunch of holidays—official and otherwise. Think Valentine’s Day, Groundhog Day, President’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, and (every fourth year) Leap Day/Sadie Hawkins Day. It’s a pathetic lipstick-on-a-pig ploy that fools absolutely no one.

With that in mind, I’m including as many diversions as possible in this issue. Stay warm and dry, and remember that—after these horrid four weeks have passed—March, and blessed Spring, is bound to follow.

Since the last issue of these updates, we’ve posted yet more pages via Substack:

“Do you know why Americans drink more coffee than tea?” an over-caffeinated story;

“Two Pies Are...” on mincemeat and minced quotations;

“25 Years Ago Tomorrow…” thinking about the future;

“Heritage American…” an exercise in genealogy;

“What is Seen in the Rearview Mirror…” some ridiculous self-aggrandizing;

“Groves of Academe…” a literary fable;

“Gulosity…” a talk about table service; and

“A Couple of Small Things…” a two-part amuse-gueule.

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 also an Amazon author’s page, that includes food writing and anything else we manage to get into print.

A few well-rooted selections from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

Large, naked, raw carrots are acceptable as food only to those who live in hutches eagerly awaiting Easter. Fran Lebowitz

The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent, not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious. Tom Robbins

The turnip is a capricious vegetable, which seems reluctant to show itself at its best. Waverley Root

Some guy invented Vitamin A out of a carrot. I'll bet he can't invent a good meal out of one. Will Rogers

Gary
February 2026

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 Alison Pearlman)—thanks, and keep them coming!

— the new sites —

15 Unconventional Wine Terms, Explained

(by Stephen Bradley, at VinePair)

Brief History of Mincemeat Pie, the Sweet English Dessert, A

(provided by Jenny Cohen at Mentalfloss)

Corkscrew Began as a Tool for Muskets—Not Merlot, The

(Andrew Coletti extracts the history of wine storage techniques for Popular Science)

Dark Matter of Food, The

(Elena Kazamia, on the effects of trace compounds, at Nautilus)

Difference Between Cognac and Brandy, Explained, The

(…by Kara Newman, at Wine Enthusiast)

High-Fat Cheese, Cream Linked to Lower Risk of Dementia

(Dr. Veronica Danquah with good news on ABC News)

Red Dye in Salmon: Spilled Milk #395

(according to Andrew Zimmern—it’s true, but there’s no need to worry about it)

This Meal Might Bring You to Tears

(Kristen French, in Nautilus, on the interaction of all the senses on the perception of food)

Two Pennies’s Post, The

(an account of the invention of chocolate bars, in 1847)

Watts on A History of Bread (by Scholliers)

(book review, by Sydney Watts, in Tijdschrift Economische en Sociale Geschiedenis)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

5 Easy Pieces

12 Classic Novels that Made Me a Better Writer

15 Vegetables People Don’t Really Eat Anymore

Anthony Bourdain’s Go-To Strategy for Ordering the Best Food at a Restaurant

Before the Fork, Finger Food

Biggest Difference Between a Tavern and a Bar, The: Know Before You Go

“Consuming Artistry and Authorship Like a Candy Bar”

Fourteen Points, The: Words Smart People Misuse

Historisch Eten en Koken (Historical Food and Cooking)

(in Dutch, translation available)

How Kraft Heinz Lost Its Lock on Mac and Cheese—and American Shoppers

“I Once Ate a Fly, Thinking It Was Crispy Carbonized Meat:” On Ratting

New Food Pyramid Scheme, The

Old-School Kitchen Appliance That Everyone Had In The 1970s

Oldest Restaurant in the World Just Turned 300 Years Old, The

On “Turtle Island,” Indigenous Food Is Not the Past: It’s the Future

Peculiar Reason Dinner Is Served So Late in Spain, The

Restaurant Critics in the Age of Imperative Visibility

San Francisco Factory That’s Been Crafting Custom Fortune Cookies Since 1962, The

Seducing Truckers with ‘Nanner Pudding

To Eat Healthier, Our Critic Went to the Source: His Kitchen

Today’s Poem: Recipe for a Salad Dressing

What Happened to Salisbury Steak?

What Makes Maryland Crab Cakes Different from the Rest?

Whatever Happened to Frozen Orange Juice?

Which Author Are You? (and What That Means for Backlist)

Why Is the American Diet So Deadly?

Yes, There Really Is a Difference Between Dicing and Chopping

— podcasts, et cetera —

12 Days of Wonder: Return to Recipe Graves

Alton Brown: On Kosher Salt

America Has Entered a Golden Age of Indian Cuisine

Behind-the-Scenes Peek at Writing Red, White and Drunk All Over

Don’t be Frightened by the Sh***Y First Draft

First Guy to Ever Eat Dessert, The

Indian Pudding: America’s Forgotten Dessert

Is a Vegetarian Diet Ethical?

Maine’s Burning Blueberry Fields

Move Over Crack. There’s a New Epidemic in Town: Protein!

Origin of the Word “Turkey”

Poet Philip Levine on The Writer

Wes Pearson: What Happens When the World’s Most Expensive Wines Are Tasted Blind

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #304 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.

Food & Writing Sites for January 2026

2025-12-18T13:50:00.000-05:00

Leave some apples on the trees, for the birds...

Whenever a new year begins, a few classically-educated people try to show off by telling us that the first month is named for the Roman god, Janus (the two-faced God of doorways). We’re more interested in Edusa (one of whose duties was ensuring the nutrition of children, by making them eat their pulmentum, fried dormice, stewed sow’s uterus—or whatever other dish they eschew).

Aside 1: Does “eschew” actually mean “refuse to chew?”—or is that just fake etymology?

Aside 2: Isn’t “aside” a euphemism for “digression”?

Aside 3: Isn’t “digression” itself a euphemism for “pointless waste of time, and overthinking”?

Since the last issue of these updates, we’ve posted yet more pages via Substack:

“'Tis the Season...” some thoughts about holiday food;

“Just Before Thanksgiving, Sixty-odd Years Ago…” On the coincidental loss of some famous people;

“Wildely Unsubstantiated Rumors…” thoughts about fake news;

“Fomulaic…” rewatching Rom-coms;

“No Beans About It…” chili-cook-off history;
“As Threatened…” a follow-up to the above;

“On Getting Directions…” what to expect when lost;

A couple of classical—or not-so-classical—selections from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

The army from Asia introduced a foreign luxury to Rome; it was then the meals began to require more dishes and more expenditure... the cook, who had up to that time been employed as a slave of low price, become dear: what had been nothing but a métier was elevated to an art. Livy

Las Vegas is Everyman's cut-rate Babylon. Not far away there is, or was, a roadside lunch counter and over it a sign proclaiming in three words that a Roman emperor’s orgy is now a democratic institution... “Topless Pizza Lunch.” Alistair Cooke

Gary
January 2026

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 Elissa Altman)—thanks, and keep them coming!

— the new sites —

Best Spanish Meat Product Types

(no surprise, here: the top choices are variations on jamón ibérico)

Can You Really Be Addicted to Food?

(The Conversation has compelling evidence)

Do We Need Another Debate About “Natural?”

(philosopher Dwight Furrow confronts the definition problem in writing about wine)

“Eggs with Legs” vs “Eggs on Legs”

(Gareth Jones’ rant about the production of industrial poultry)

Healthiest Fish to Eat, The; According to a Registered Dietitian

(Morgan Chamberlain’s recommendations at mindbodygreen)

History of Pizza, The: From Ancient Flatbreads to a Global Icon

(one slice from the Eats History Newsletter)

How to Order the Best-Tasting Drinks on an Airplane

(Mandy Naglich explains how “cabin atmosphere affects our sense of taste and smell;” for INSIDEHOOK)

Let’s Talk about Sichuan Peppers

(Xueci Cheng’s comprehensive Substack page on the berries of Chinese prickly ash)

Microbiologists Explain What Happens in Your Mouth When You Eat Sugar

(José Lemos and Jacqueline Abranches, on why cavities form, in sciencealert)

Scientist Discovers Breast Milk Is Customized Food and Signal

(Katie Hinde learned that our first food is much more than previously thought)

So Much Madeira

(“What the Founding Fathers ate—and drank—on July 4, 1777; Victoria Flexner’s Atlantic article)

Story of Bolognese, The

(Andrew Zimmern’s Spilled Milk substack page on white Bolognese)

Sweet Pastries & Producers

(iconic baked goods, from around the world, from tasteatlas)

Synthetic Tongue Rates Chillies’ Heat—and Spares Human Tasters

(Jenna Ahart’s report in Nature)

Tofu, Japan’s White Gold

(Phoebe Amoroso on tofu tradition at Culinary Backstreets)

Tortillas, A Culture’s DNA

(María Ítaka recites her “wrap” rhapsody at Culinary Backstreets)

We’re Fascinated By These Really Weird Forks

(Allie West’s Saveur article on Victorian silverware)

When Did Humans First Start Eating Meat?

(Benjamin Taub writes, in IFLScience, that the question still doesn’t have an answer… but it was much earlier than we thought)

Woman Who Invented the Kitchen, The

(an account of an influential industrial designer and engineer: Lillian Moller Gilbreth)

Yuengling Brewery

(Virginia Brown’s account of the “oldest brewery in the U.S.,” at Atlas Obscura)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

3 Common Alcohol Myths, Debunked

Arroz Imperial and the Taste of Regret

Back When Your Thanksgiving Dinner Walked Hundreds of Miles to Market

Critics in the World of the Rising Soufflé (Or Is It the Rising Meringue?

Did I Write the Most Viral Drinks Story of All Time?

Emiko Davies on Following Your Culinary Curiosity

HIERARCHY OF ALCOHOLS, THE: How to Drink Like a Poet and Not a Drunk

How Food Fuels Faith in Sacred Spaces Around the World

How to Tell a Good Story

I Tried the Oldest Whisky Ever Bottled. It Was Nothing Like I Expected.

In Shakespeare, Food References Are a Window to the Soul

Introduction: Culinary Cultures and Convergent Histories

Katie Parla Is an Open Book

Meet the Italian “Fruit Detective” Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce that has Disappeared from the Kitchen Table

Permission Workbook, The: On Finding Magic in the Mundane

Ten Speed Cookbook Editor Gives Tips from Proposal to Publication

Ultimate Guide to Writing Clear, Impactful Personal Essays, The

Who Was the Foodie?

Why It Pays to Handwrite the Recipes You Love

Wine Traditions and Innovation

Younger Diners Are Embracing Eating with Strangers

— podcasts, et cetera —

1982: Roald Dahl’s Writing Shed

Addictive Sludge

Alton Brown: Classic Cookbooks

Dorie Greenspan: “I Still Think Baking Is Magic”

Evolution of Chickens, The

First Guy to Ever Drink Coffee, The

Food for Thought: Children and Food

How to Tell What’s Real Online

Jim Gaffigan: Live from Old Forester—The Bourbon Set

Last Seltzer Factory in Brooklyn, The

Leslie Soble: Eating Behind Bars

Slippery History of Eels in Shakespeare’s England, The

Writing Advice You Desperately Need, The

Writing Memoir vs Fiction (with Elizabeth Gilbert)

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #303 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.

Food & Writing Sites for December 2025

2025-11-16T13:58:00.000-05:00

A lovely antique wood stove—not mine, alas...

Short days and long cold nights discourage most folks from “goon on pilgrimages.” Once December descends upon us, it makes more sense to stay at home, sitting by a fragrant fire of well-seasoned apple wood, reading, or—better yet—writing a book.

Even without the companionship of our old wood stove, we continue to scribble. Since the last issue of these updates, we've added chapters to a book-in-progress, edited and designed a book of poetry for someone else, and posted these pages via Substack:

“Memento Mori, Part 1…” poems for the dying season;

“Memento Mori, Part 2…” medical musings on mortality;

“Rendering…” thinking about memory;

“Does This Taste Funny?...” some cannibal humor;

“Memento Mori, Part 3…” pharmaceutical satire; and

“A child said, What is the grass?...” on visiting the graves of writers (okay... we confess to having “goon on one pilgrimage”).

A few writerly selections from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

Don’t assume you’re always going to be understood. I wrote in a column that one should put a cup of liquid in the cavity of a turkey when roasting it. Someone wrote me that “the turkey tasted great, but the plastic cup melted.” Heloise

I’d like to have money. And I’d like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that’s too adorable, I’d rather have money. Dorothy Parker

They laughed when I sat down at the typewriter. Julia Child

Gary
December 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 Sally Ekus )—thanks, and keep them coming!

— the new sites —

Coffee’s Delicious Journey from Tiny Bean to Tasty Brew

(Sara Kiley Watson tracks it for Popular Science)

Cooking from Two Historic Cookbooks

(Julia Skinner prepares a modern recipe by comparing multiple historic recipes on her Substack page)

Eat and Drink

(how do you say “lunchroom” in Dutch?)

Economic Impact of Plant-Based Diets, The: Fewer Jobs, Lower Costs, and Big Climate Benefits

(Emma Bryce’s report about some effects of a sustainable diet, in Anthropocene Magazine)

Let’s Talk About Rice Noodles & Glass Noodles

(Xueci Cheng’s comprehensive Substack page on Chinese “pasta”)

Maybe People Who Want to “Save Beer” Should Learn Something About It First

(Dave Infante critiques beer journalism for VinePair)

Pizza and Beer Are a Match Made in Heaven, According to Science

(according to The Takeout’s Laura Christine Allan, it’s all about the yeast)

Stakes of Meat, The

(Alicia Kennedy’s Substack post)

Tacos, Los Angeles and Me: Spilled Milk #381

(Andrew Zimmern looks at the evolution of tacos—in Mexico and beyond)

To Truly Understand Tequila, You Have to Know These 5 Mexican States

(Nickolaus Hines on tequila terroir, for the Matador Network)

Ultraprocessed Nation

(Alice Callahan’s New York Times article on American food history)

Vinography: A Wine Blog

(Alder Yarrow’s “source for non-mainstream wine writing”)

Why Midcentury Lawyers Spent 12 Years Arguing about Peanut Butter

(Matt Blitz, at Atlas Obscura, on the history of the question: “what exactly is peanut butter?”)

Why Pastrami Sandwiches Are So Popular on the East Coast

(Erica Martinez in The Takeout)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, The: An Audacious Literary Experiment

All Praise to the Lunch Ladies

Coffee in Cairo

Coffee (table) Conundrum

Cookbooks: A Resource to Study Food History

Dark Truth Behind the Making of Pumpkin-Spice Lattes, The

Design Terroir: An Eco-social, Relational, Bioregional Approach to Design

Eats History

Five Lies You’ve Been Told About Meat

Foods That Make You Smell More Attractive, The

Historical Food and Cooking

Interview: Fisher the Bookseller Explains How Bookstores Decide Which Books to Sell

Kid Is All Right, The: In Defense of Picky Eating

Off the Rails

Restaurant, The = The City + The Home

Scratch Cooking Is Not Going to Improve the American Diet. Just Ask the French.

Sweet Halloween Archives of a Candy Historian, The

Three Journalism Techniques to Try

Why Food and Music Mobilize Communities

— podcasts, et cetera —

American Chestnut Foundation

Bohemians, Bootleggers, and Bogus Bottles: A History of Absinthe

Cookbookery Collective with Jenna Helwig

Cooking the South with Michael Twitty

Food Meet Science

Leah Paulos: Finding Your Book PR Superpower

Witness the Mesmerizing Process of Making Hard Candy

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #302 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.

Food & Writing Sites for November 2025

2025-10-17T17:08:00.001-04:00

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.

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!

— 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)

Baking by the Zodiac

(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)

Page & Plate

(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)

Why of Cooking, The

(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

Are Burritos Sandwiches?

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

“Food Is Political” 2.0

Harvesting the Heirloom Corn That Nourishes the Oneida Nation

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

Mooncake Story, The

No. 105: The Inverse of Chinatown

Older than Automobiles: Tailgating’s Ancient Roman Roots

Oldest Restaurant In Every State, The

Olive Oil

On Blurbs

Style Is More than Sentences

Thank You for Being Annoying

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

Tree of 40 Fruit

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

Heating Things Up in Hatch

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

Why is Geology Essential for Vineyard Management but Overrated When It Comes to Wine Taste? Dr. Alex Maltman Shares Soil Secrets

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:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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.

Food & Writing Sites for October 2025

2025-09-17T11:59:00.002-04:00

Zea mays

The lazy days of summer are gone, and harvest season is in full swing. It’s time for writers to roll out of their hammocks and get back to work. With that in mind, this issue of food and writing updates—the three hundredth!—contains a veritable cornucopia, or market basket, overflowing with ripe ideas for new projects.

Get cookin’...

Since the last issue of these updates, we’ve posted seven more pages via Substack:

“Food for Thought...,” on the eating preferences of literary types;

“In Vero non Veritas…”a newly-added story, “Placebo,“ to Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition);

“In the Eye of the Beholder…” on authenticity, memory, and their differences (maybe);

“No Ketchup!” an essay about mustard, and Chicago;

“Thinning the Herd…” a short story about downsizing;

“n-Stage Biblomania…” on the perils and pleasures of book addiction; and

“Yet Another Addition…” another chapter in a work-in-progress.

A couple of selections—not too corny, we hope—from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

Gardens, scholars say, are the first sign of commitment to a community. When people plant corn, they are saying, “let’s stay here.” And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another. Anne Raver

I have no hostility to nature, but a child’s love to it. I expand and live in the warm day like corn and melons. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nothing rekindles my spirits, gives comfort to my heart and mind, more than a visit to Mississippi... and to be regaled as I often have been, with a platter of fried chicken, field peas, collard greens, fresh corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes with French dressing... and to top it all off with a wedge of freshly baked pecan pie. Craig Claiborne

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gary
October 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!

— the new sites —

Ask a Wine Pro: What Is Solera Aging?

(Hannah Staab, on the making of sherry—a VinePair article)

Brief History of Pancakes, A

(Grace Linden’s Smithsonian article)

Club Devoted to Celebrating Great Britain’s Great Puddings, The

(Lottie Gross’s GastroObscura piece is mighty fine—but not My-T-Fine)

Differences between Coconut Water, Milk, and Cream, Explained, The

(Pete O’Connell takes the lids off for VinePair)

Eggs Again, Old and New: Whipping Whites

(Harold McGee demonstrates that food science is an ongoing process)

Don’t Be Fooled—There Really Is a Difference Between Shrimp and Prawns

(some clarification from The Takeout’s David Stringer)

Essential Guide to Aperitivo Liqueurs, The

(Brad Thomas Parsons’ Punch article on Italian bitter beverages)

FOODSTAK

(Lynn Hill’s index of food writers and their publications)

From Peasant Fodder to Fine Dining, Feast on the Tasty History of How Snails and Oysters Became Luxury Foods

(Garritt C. Van Dyk’s article about those tasty mollusks—in Smithsonian)

Get to Know Uruguay Wine, South America’s Best-Kept Secret

(Laura Linder’s VinePair account of Uruguay’s 160 wineries and Bordeaux-like climate)

Great Parmesan Cheese Enigma, The

(Willa Paskin, for Slate, follows a curious trail leading from Parma, Italy to Plymouth, Wisconsin)

Head to Head: Food & Wine Pairing

(Alder Yarrow and Fiona Beckett debate the subject, in Decanter)

Home-Packed to Hot Meals: How School Lunch Got Its Start

(Jenny Ashcraft’s article at newspaper blog Fishwrap)

Honeypot, The

(evidence from Africa on how diet influenced the development of our species)

no. 104: a bigger pot

(a let them eat cake substack page comparing some traditional sauces of New Mexico and Singapore)

How Not to Choose a Restaurant

(Alicia Kennedy warns against putting your trust on fakelore)

Restaurant Psychology

(their secrets revealed, at Jan Whitaker’s blog, Restauranting Through History)

Sweet Science of Corn, The: From Fields to Flavor

(Nik Sharma’s substack post on Zea mays)

Taste-Testing the History of the Hamburger

(Jackson Landers’ culinary research for Smithsonian)

Where Our Food Crops Come From

(interactive maps and circular plots from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture)

White People Spicy

(Kerry McInerney, in Vittles, on foods some consider too hot-hot-hot)

You Don’t Need Much to Cure Meat at Home

(Maria Scinto’s how-to article in The Take-Out)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

12 Funeral Foods and the Stories Behind Them

99 Problems: The Ice Cream Truck’s Surprising History

A Word, Please: Debunking Em Dash Myths

Butter Museum, The

Commotion: The New Industry Standard—or Vice Versa

Computer Architecture Lessons from the Kitchen

Cookbook that Became Every Bartender’s Trusted Companion, The

Cooking as Interpretation

Cooking as Metaphysics

Do Researchers Use the List of Ingredients to Analyze the Health and Nutritional Properties of Packaged Foods? A Scoping Review

Eggs, Tomatoes, Sandwiches: The History of Food as Protest Projectiles

food and culture

Food for the Ages: 7 Historical NYC Dishes You Can Still Order Today

Food’s Fragility Is an Aesthetic Gift

From Peasant Fodder to Fine Dining, Feast on the Tasty History of How Snails and Oysters Became Luxury Foods

Here’s Why Maple Syrup Bottles Have Those Tiny Handles

How Libraries are Creating Community Through Food

I Tracked a Wild Salmon from Sea to Plate—What I Learned Surprised Me

Intro to Historical Recipe Development

Is the Bread in Europe Better for you?

L’addition: French on the Menu, Drat It

NOTICED: The French Dips Arrive

On Recipes: Changing Formats, Changing Use

ON RECIPES: CHANGING FORMATS, CHANGING USE

Philosophy of Gastronomy—Volume 2: Modernism and the Philosophy of Modern Foods

Poetry-Loving Cook Who Fed Detroit’s Soul, The

Recipes & Rationing: How WWII Changed the Way Americans Cooked

Return of the Raines Sandwich, The

summer midnight pasta

Tequila Isn’t the Only Spirit to Use Additives. Why Aren’t We Talking About the Others?

Wait, Pasta with Yogurt? On Food, Storytelling, and Migration

What is American Food?: Spilled Milk #359

What the Hell Is Data-Driven Cooking?

When Cookbooks Get Personal

When Two Economists Scientifically Ranked New York’s Best Deli Sandwiches

Why Are There So Many Exclamation Points in Cookbook Titles?!

Winemaking and Artmaking

Worldbuilding and the Future of Cookbooks

Writing Recipes that Teach: A Conversation with Author Kenji López-Alt

— podcasts, et cetera —

5 Foods that Help You Stay Fuller Longer

5 Steak Sauces You Need to Know, The—and How to Make Them

At Julia Child’s French Home, Makenna Held Is Leading a Recipe-Free Revolution

Chat with Dorie Greenspan, A

Cookies & History: David Parr House

Everything Cookbooks

How the Oldest Chocolate House in New York City Survived a Century; Still Standing

How The World Became Spicy (In Only 20 Years)

VinePair Podcast, The: Can AI Write a Wine List? Should It?

Why Is Everything Spicy Now?

Writing Is Not Thinking

You Need to Be Bored. Here’s Why.

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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.

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #300, 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.

Food & Writing Sites for September 2025

2025-08-16T10:51:00.000-04:00

China in the Collection of the Clark Art Institute

The hottest part of summer is, traditionally, an unproductive period for creative people. As a rule, we find it too easy to just kick back and doze in the season’s fragrant breezes.

There are, as with most rules, some exceptions: performers at outdoor music venues and painters of the plein air variety (‘though high-brow galleries aren’t showing much contemporary plein air paintings these days, so their efforts might be in vain). We live almost exclusively in a modern technological world, and Nature—as a subject, alas—is not-so-much in fashion.

Soon, as Summer cools down, the harvest season will be upon us. With longer and cooler nights, even the most sluggard artists and writers will gulp a second (or third) cup of coffee, and get back to work.

Nonetheless, even in the heat of August, we’ve managed to continue publishing via Substack (speaking of “modern technology”). Since the last issue of these updates, we posted:
“What Baseball Could Have Taught Me...” on sport and pedagogy;

“Java Jump-start…” coffee and writing;

“Life Imitates Art & Vice Versa…” for the love of reading;

“Fifty-one Years Ago This Week...” another excerpt from a work-in-progress;

“Oysters and Saltpeter,” indulging an indelicate subject;

“Bulls**t,” a kind of book review;

We also added a story, “Dating/Data,“ to Unbelievable: A Modern Novella (the Extended Edition), and wrote a smaller story, “Life is Undependable,” with no specific plans for its distribution.

Paul Erdos once wrote, “A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.” He should have proposed a more general law; one which would posit the same for all kinds of writing. It’s no accident that “coffee” appears so often, here (including in these Anglophone selections from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

Coffee: Induces wit. Good only if it comes through Havre. After a big dinner party it is taken standing up. Take it without sugar—very swank: gives the impression you have lived in the East. King Edward VII of England

A PROCLAMATION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF COFFEE HOUSES: Whereas it is most apparent that the multitude of Coffee Houses of late years set up and kept within this Kingdom... and the great resort of idle and disaffected persons to them, have produced very evil and dangerous effects; as well for that many tradesmen and others, do herein misspend much of their time, which might and probably would be employed in and about their Lawful Calling and Affairs; but also for that in such houses... divers[sic], false, malitious [sic], and scandalous reports are devised and spread abroad to the Defamation of His Majesty’s Government, and to the disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm; his Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary, that the said Coffee Houses be (for the Future) put down and suppressed... King Charles II of England

Moderately drunk, coffee removes vapours from the brain, occasioned by fumes of wine, or other strong liquors; eases pains in the head, prevents sour belchings, and provokes appetite. England’s Happiness Improved (1699)

There is no cure ‘gainst age but it. Alexander Pope (on coffee)

Gary
September 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 Deb Perelman—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 —

Citrus Varieties

(Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection at University of California at Riverside)

Espadín: The Surprisingly Short History of Mezcal’s Most Prominent Agave

(Brian Alberts’ VinePair article traces the history of one species’ success)

Everything but the Bar Mat: The Gnarly History of the Jersey Turnpike Shot

(Pete O’Connell’s account, at VinePair, of a libation that could make anyone a teetotaler)

Food and War: Recipes of Survival, Resistance, and Power

(Vanesa Miseres, at The Recipes Project)

From Bucket of Blood to Bloody Mary: 8 Iconic Cocktails That Once Had Different Names

(Pete O’Connell, at VinePair, on evolving names—and ingredient lists—for familiar libations)

Great Plant Breeders

Part 1: Ed O’Rourke, the Fig Wizard

Part 2: Allan Norden, Mr. Peanut

Part 3: Floyd Zaiger and Stone Fruits

Part 4. Harold Fogle & the Rainier Cherry

Part 5: George Waldo, the Berry Breeder

Part 6: James Moore & Better Blackberries

Part 7: W. Carroll Barnes & the Cucumber

Part 8: Maxine Thompson

Part 9: Calvin Lamborn & the Sugar Snap Pea

Part 10: George J. Raleigh, Lettuce Savant

(David Sanford Shields’ continuing exploration of the scientists who developed our crops)

Growing Buzz Around Ancestral Wines, The

(Bojan Pancevski’s article, in The Wall Street Journal, on the trend to utilize ancient wine varietals)

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Judge a Rosé by Its Color

(Olivia White at VinePair)

How Chartreuse Finally Made It Big (Again)

(Aaron Goldfarb’s VinePair account)

How Millions of Pounds of Maine Lobster Make It From New York to China

(Sarah Laskow follows the money for Atlas Obscura)

How the Tomato Created the Potato

(Laura Baisas, in Popular Science, on cross-pollination that happened nine million years ago)

How Women Shaped Human Evolution Through Food Processing

(Karen L. Kramer’s article in Sapiens)

Indigenous Origins of the Maine Lobster Bake, The

(Ann Pollard Ranco’s steamy account in Atlas Obscura)

Roman Fish-Processing Facility at Tel Dor, Israel, A: Reinterpreting the Roman “Purple Dye Factory”

(new evidence that the site was not manufacturing Tyrian Purple, but garum; article in International Journal of Nautical Archaeology)

Science Says This Is the Best Way to Grill Steak

(as reported in Inverse)

What Was a Restorator?

(according to Jan Whitaker’s blog, Restaurant-ing Through History, it was much ado about “soup”)

When Mezcal Was Moonshine: Oaxaca’s Unofficial 1980s Prohibition

(Brian Alberts, on Mexico’s suppression of agave beverages, at VinePair)

Why this Alcohol Was So Popular During Prohibition

(the odd success of bathtub gin)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

10 Clever Dessert Recipes from WWII Rationing

14 Old-Fashioned No-Bake Desserts People Still Love Today

14 Telltale Signs a Recipe’s a Winner

30 Vintage Photos of Fast Food Restaurants Over the Years

1000 Words of Summer
Editing Week, Part 1

Editing Week, Part 2

“A Yorkshire Pudding Like a Dishcloth”: How Did British Pub Food Get So Grim?

Actual Best Beer Cities in the United States, The

America the Tasty 2025: Comfort Food from Every State

Are Restaurant Cookbooks Back?

Being Creatively Resourced Is Like Building Up Your Food Reserves for the Future

Case for Lunch, The

Cheap Sandwiches from Around the World That Everyone Should Try

Cookbooks—A Resource to Study Food History

Dianne Jacob’s Take on Cookbooks and the Stories We Tell Through Food

Dicing an Onion the Mathematically Optimal Way

Dining with Michael Pollan

Extra Ice Please: A Cool History of the 19th Century Ice Trade

Fear of Restaurants?

Food Documentary that Would Kill on Delta, A

Glass Against the Machine, A

How an M&M Sparked the Search for the Next Perfect Peanut

If Wine Is Poetry in a Glass, Then Writing About It Must Be Poetry on the Page

Ironies of an AI Chef, The

Lobster Ice Cream

Lost Art of Taking a Long, Boozy Lunch, The

Maillard Over-Reaction, The

Morality of Restaurant Criticism, The

Nation Flags Made from that Country’s Most Iconic Cuisine

Permission Workbook, The: Why Do You Want To Write The Story?

Review: Chefs, Restaurants, and Culinary Sustainability

Re-visiting Old Cookery Manuscripts as Books for the Present. Two Approaches

Right Way to Pronounce “Gyro,” The

Seventeenth Century English Recipe Books: Cooking, Physic and Chirurgery. In Essential Works for the Study of Early Modern Englishwomen.

Should You Post about Politics or Keep Quiet?

There’s a Big Difference Between Barbecuing and Grilling Meat

Tragedy of Umami, The: When Depth Becomes Default

Trust the Reader

U.S. Drinking Rate at New Low as Alcohol Concerns Surge

Vintage Desserts People Loved In The 1970s

What’s Behind a Michelin Star?

Why Boredom Is Good (for Writers)

Why Should I Keep Doing Creative Work When It Isn't Paying the Bills?

Why You’re Probably Pronouncing Bologna Wrong

— podcasts, et cetera —

America’s Oldest Tofu Shop

An Ode to Coffee Lovers

Ark of Citrus (Classic), The

Cheese that Changed Everything, The: The Food that Built America

Cookshelf

(an app for searching in, and keeping track of, your own cookbook collection)

Jim Gaffigan: Decaf is Unamerican

Julia Child’s Key to Cooking (but Also Life)

Kolache Triangle, The

Mezcal’s Untold Past, Soaring Present, and Fragile Future: Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Modern Marvels: Cheese's Glorious, Gooey History!

Mold Behind Brie Cheese Could Face Extinction, The. Can We Save It?

Most Dangerous Fruit in America, The

Paula Whyman: In the Weeds: Writing, Identity, & Belonging

Reasons Why American Breakfasts Are the Way They Are

Why the Tudors Loved Capons (and Avoided Roosters)

— changed URL—

On Pleasure, Food, and the Moral Meaning of Flavor

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #299 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.

Food & Writing Sites for August 2025

2025-07-19T11:45:00.002-04:00

Squash blossoms; in the Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

We knew, when The Resource Guide for Food Writers was published, that parts of it would soon become obsolete, so we started issuing these free updates. This issue marks 25—TWENTY-FIVE!—years of sending them. In celebration of our Silver Anniversary, this issue’s table (of contents) is groaning under the weight of even more tasty choices than usual.

Over the past quarter century, we’ve seen the demise of bulletin boards (does anyone even remember them?), Google’s virtual replacement of all the other search engines, the addition of personal food blogs (the first one I included, here, was Julie and Julia), and—more recently—podcasts.

The web is a vast universe of food information, and like another universe, it’s constantly expanding. We hope you’ve found some of the sites we’ve discovered to be useful. To that end, we’ve enlarged the focus of the updates. It used to be called “Food Sites for [insert month and year here],” but is now called “Food & Writing Sites for [insert month and year here]”.

Yet another addition to the web is a resource both for readers and writers: Substack. We’ve taken to that new medium, as well, and—since the last issue of these updates—posted:

“Close Encounters of the -nth Kind,” a new entry in a book-in-progress (Meetings with Remarkable Men… and a Few Others);

“Solitude,” writing about writing in isolation;

“Entitlement,” a sort of character sketch;

“Playing the Part,” another new entry in that book-in-progress;

“Quidquid Cognoscitur,” an essay on seeing;

“Awkward First Date with a Robot,” a virtual brush with fame;

“On Editing (and a little self-editing),” someone else’s work-in-progress;

“Taking Liberties…” an ahistorical exercise;

“Intelligent Design,” another new entry in that book-in-progress;

“…But I Digress,” on one’s stream of consciousness (or lack thereof;

Summer is hot dog season (and Joey Chestnut is once again its champion), so let’s honor America’s favorite mystery meat with selections from On the Table’s culinary quote collection:

A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz. Humphrey Bogart

Although the frankfurter originated in Frankfurt, Germany, we have long since made it our own, a twin pillar of democracy along with Mom's apple pie. In fact, now that Mom's apple pie comes frozen and baked by somebody who isn't Mom, the hot dog stands alone. What it symbolizes remains pure, even if what it contains does not. William Zinsser

I devoured hot-dogs in Baltimore 'way back in 1886, and they were then very far from newfangled...They contained precisely the same rubber, indigestible pseudo-sausages that millions of Americans now eat, and they leaked the same flabby, puerile mustard. Their single point of difference lay in the fact that their covers were honest German Wecke made of wheat-flour baked to crispiness, and not the soggy rolls prevailing today, of ground acorns, plaster-of-Paris, flecks of bath-sponge, and atmospheric air all compact. H.L. Mencken

When General Lee took possession of Chambersburg on his way to Gettysburg, we happened to be a member of the Committee representing the town. Among the first things he demanded for his army was twenty-five barrels of Sauer-Kraut.
The Guardian, 1869 (who knew that Confederates were so fond of hot dogs?)

Gary
August 2025

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 Alison Pearlman—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 —

America’s Most Political Food

(a New Yorker article, from 2017, on South Carolina BBQ)

Ask a Wine Pro: What Is Black Chardonnay?

(Hannah Staab’s answer at VinePair)

Ask a Wine Pro: What Is a “PiWi” Grape?

(another answer from Hannah Staab)

Birthplaces of Every Popular Style of Beer, The

(a world map, from VinePair)

Caffeine Supports Focus, Memory, Antioxidant Activity, Athletic Performance & More

(Morgan Chamberlain’s report in mindbodygreen)

From Battlefields to Jukeboxes, the Surprising History Behind the Rum & Coke Isn’t What You Think

(who knew that Morey Amsterdam had something to do with it? Wayne Curtis, at Men’s Journal, that’s who)

Guide to the Cardamoms of the World, A

(Andrew Coletti, on several genera of the Zingiberaceae—Ginger—family, for GastroObscura)

History of… Pizza, A

(an entry from Paul Lenz’s substack page, The History of Things)

How Italians Eat: Explore the History of a Meal

(Carlotta Panza explains the historical background of the order of courses for Italy Segreta)

Inside the Surprisingly Long History of Beer and the Ancient People Who Invented It

(Austin Harvey doesn’t mess with Mesopotamia at All That’s Interesting)

Let’s Talk About Chinese Preserved Vegetables

(from Xueci Cheng’s substack site, “Chili Crisp”)

Newly Encountered Amazonian Artisan Food Products

(a report from Nicholas Gill’s Substack page)

On Alfeñique and Caring for the Dead

(Nawal Nasrallah’s article in Arablit; ameliorating mourning with sugar)

“One Day—and One Night—in the Kitchen at Les Halles”

(Anthony Bourdain’s 2000 article in The New Yorker)

Pop, Soda or Coke? The Fizzy History Behind America’s Favorite Linguistic Debate

(courtesy of The Conversation)

“Red Hot”

(more hot dog history from The New Yorker, August 3, 1928)

Spicy Southern Mustard That’s Perfect For Grilled Hot Dogs, The

(Mathieson Nishimura slathers his dogs with creole mustard at The Takeout)

Transcending Seasonality: Preserving in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Recipes

(Rachel A. Snell’s article in The Recipes Project)

Vineyards and Gardens of Ancient Pompeii

(an account—published in WANTED in ROME—of an exhibit, "De Gustibus from the Vegetable Garden to the Table,” held at several locations in Vesuvius’s ash-preserved moment-in-time)

What Does “Racy” Mean in Wine?

(an answer, from Marshall Tilden III, at Wine Enthusiast)

What Exactly Is Italian Ice—and Is It Even Italian?

(spoiler alert: according to Mental Floss, it’s no more Italian than spaghetti and meatballs)

Why All of Upstate New York Grew Up Eating the Same Barbecue Chicken

(spoiler alert: it’s because of the man who invented chicken nuggets)

Why Is It Called “Cream Soda” If There’s No Cream In It?

(Tim Brinkhof’s answer at Mental Floss; but what about egg creams?)

Why Is It Called “New York-Style” Cheesecake?

(Jake Rossen answers, at Mental Floss—with comparisons to other, less geographically-ennobled, cheesecakes)

Wonderwerk Cave

(possible site of our ancestors’ first attempts at cooking; alas, no recipes)

— inspirational (or useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

8 of the World’s Most Curious Drinking Customs and Superstitions

10 Additional Stray Copyeditorial Thoughts

Aesthetic Politics of the Tasting Menu, The

All Hail the Slop Bowl, Lunch of Our Ancestors

Background to Food Studies, A

Brief History of Bog Butter, A

Chicken Vindaloo

Consumer Culture Matters: Insights from Contemporary Representations of Cooking

Cook Who Never Used a Cookbook Now Has Her Own, A

Cookbooks—A Resource to Study Food History

Could the Semicolon Die Out?

Culinary Heritage—Tracing, Shaping and Reshaping Food Culture from the Middle Ages to the Present

Do Colder or Warmer Places Eat More Spicy or Bland Food?

Eating this Food Before Bed Might Be Giving You Nightmares

Edible Discourse: Thinking Through Food and Its Archives

Embracing the Isolation of Social Media

Fantastic, Fading Retro Diners of Hong Kong, The

Flavors that Offend: The Aesthetic Function of Disgust

Food Manners

Food Writing and Messy Materiality

Gastronomy Foundation (The Influence of Culture on Food) Volume 11 SEP

Geography Lesson You Can Eat, The: Around The UK in 19 Local Dishes

Hidden Voices from the Culinary Past: Oral History as a Tool for Culinary Historians

Interview: Editor Sean deLone on How Modern Publishing Actually Works

Land Don’t Lie, The

Lessons from Archaeology and Anthropology Applied to New England Cookbooks

Little Rant about Using Images, A

Most Commonly Requested Meals Inmates Ask for Before Leaving this Mortal Coil, The

Old-School Desserts People Loved to Eat in the 1980s

On BBQ and the Writing of List Articles

On Pleasure, Food, and the Moral Meaning of Flavor

“Remembrance of Scents Past”

RENDERED 36: Root Beer

Romance and Cost of Great US Cheese, The

Soda Museum, The

Taste Gap, The (and Why Your Art Is Trash at First... But That’s Okay)

That’s Balsamic Vinegar? You’ve Been Conned

The Thinker vs The Machine

Traditional Food as an Archive of History and Culture

“Wait to Eat” Rule Is Awkward for Everyone, The. Here’s Why.

What Do You Want From Food Writing?

What Is a Bao Bun and How Is It So Fluffy?

What’s the Scratch in “Made from Scratch”?

Why Are Black and White Truffles the Most Expensive and Sought-After Foods?

Why Is Spam Made in That Distinct Rectangular Shape?

Wine Drinker as Flâneur, The

Wine Without Context Is Wine Half-Tasted

— podcasts, et cetera —

18 Snacks from the 1970s—We’ll NEVER Taste Again!

An Old Friend, Madonna’s Lippy, a Freshly Creosoted Fence, and a Beautifully Refreshing Lassi

Coffee Palace, The

Face It: You’re a Crazy Person

(if you think you want to be a cook—or a writer—you should listen to this)

How to Dine Like an Ancient Philosopher

How to Make Classic Tibetan Vegan Momo

Infamous Chicken Buffet in Aspic, The

Ketchup’s Sweet and Sour History

Last Limburger Plant in America

VinePair Podcast, The: Vermouth’s Great Vanishing Act

What Actually Is Yoo-hoo?

— changed URLs —

Sodamuseum.com

(the history of, and myths about, some of your favorite brands of soft drinks)

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Inedible: Cruel & Unusual Foods That Moms Used to Make and Inflicted on Young & Innocent Palates

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #298 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.

Food & Writing Sites for July 2025

2025-06-16T13:08:00.001-04:00

A temptation of treats, seen (but not, alas, sampled)

in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England

“Sumer is icumen in,” or so the ancient song suggests. We’ve had a series of fiendishly hot days interspersed with cold, dark, and rainy ones—which means we’ve had plenty of time to post several new Substack pages when we should have been weeding the garden. The posts are destined to be part of the fourth volume of Substack Lightnin’—or, possibly, other books (but you can read them now, for free):

“One more time...,” another (historically inaccurate) story;

“Why It’s So Hard to Part with Books,” addiction and rationalization;

“An Evolutionary Tale,” speculation on the origins of poetry;

“The Poets’ Corner,” a tale of verse and amateur aeronautics;

“Illegitimi Non Carborundum,” on a less-satisfying part of the creative life;

“Eighty-one…,” a tale of two mentors who might, or might not, have met;

“Stalk Reality,” a vegetable love story; and

“What’s in a Name?” adventures in etymology.

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.

Summer is the season of concupiscent curds, and On the Table’s culinary quote collection is getting first licks:

I doubt whether the world holds for anyone a more soul-stirring surprise than the first adventure with ice cream. Heywood Broun

Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone. Jim Fiebig

Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal. Voltaire

My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate—that’s my philosophy. Thornton Wilder

I don’t cry over spilt milk, but a fallen scoop of ice cream is enough to ruin my whole day. Terri Guillemets

Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos. Don Kardong

The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream. Wallace Stevens

Gary
July 2025

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 —

Bittersweet Beginnings of Vanilla Cultivation Can Be Traced Back to the Far-Flung Isle of Réunion, The

(Jay Cheshes’s article in The Smithsonian)

Cooking with Julia Child

(Calvin Tomkins’s 1974 New Yorker tribute)

Culture Shock

(a 2005 Gourmet article by Fucshia Dunlop)

Do You Even Paloma? The Many Origins and Identities of the Do-It-All Drink

(Greg Benson’s highballs of tequila and grapefruit, served at VinePair)

Ethnobotany of Foraged Food & Peculiar Produce, The

(Kevin Healey’s blog on unusual edible plants)

Fast Food Market Size, Industry Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis

(as reported by Fortune Magazine)

Food History Resources

(part of historic recipe blog: History in the Making)

How Did Root Beer Get Its Name?

(CaLea Johnson floats an answer at Mental Floss)

Library for Bartenders, A

(searchable archive of historic books on the subject)

Lost in the Sauce

(Slate Magazine navigates the aisles of grocery stores, in search of the proprietary sauces of fast food chains)

Mastermind for Food Writers

(Rebecca Blackwell’s Substack page of resources)

Ornate Ice Cream Saloons That Served Unchaperoned Women, The

(Jessica Gingrich gets the scoop at Gastro Obscura)

Pizza Brain’s Museum of Pizza Culture

(sounds like fun, but the museum closed in June 2024)

Seventeenth Century English Recipe Books: Cooking, Physic and Chirurgery. In Essential Works for the Study of Early Modern Englishwomen

(proof of the 2008 book edited by Betty S. Travitsky and Anne Lake Prescott; PDF)

Smithsonian, The: Open Access

(searchable database of their collections, with copyright-free images for any use)

Szathmary Recipe Pamphlets

(collection in the library of The University of Iowa)

— inspirational (or otherwise useful) sites for writers/bloggers —

7 Miserable Old Ads From Back When Meat Was a Special Luxury

7 Wild Stories From the Prohibition Era

Art of Cooking, The: The First Modern Cookery Book

Arts of Cooking, The: Modern Times and the Dynamics of Tradition

Bottle’s the Thing, The: The Branding Evolution of Soda Pop

Curating Culinary Culture: The Rhetorical Function of Cookbooks and Their Paratexts

Dilemma of Deliciousness, The: When Taste Outruns Meaning

Five Greatest Sandwiches of All Time, The, According to David Lynch: “The Chips Are Optional”

Flint, Yeast and Butter: Chardonnayspeak, Translated

How a Hazelnut Spread Became a Sticking Point in Franco-Algerian Relations

How Did Our Taste Buds Get So Spoiled?

How to Avoid Crying While Cutting Onions, According to Physics

How to feed an Army in the 1950s

Introduction: Foreign Cookbooks

Mushrooms and Our Search for Meaning

Mystery of Munchies, The: Why Does Weed Make You Hungry?

Natural History of the Kitchen, A

Re-Thinking the Aesthetics of Food

Re-visiting Old Cookery Manuscripts as Books for the Present. Two Approaches

There’s No Right Way to Say “Taco”

Towards a Structured Approach to Reading Historic Cookbooks

What Will Happen to Our Endangered Deli Meats?

Which Country Produces the Most Lemons in the World?

Why Is Flour Sold In Paper Bags?

— podcasts, et cetera —•

At Modena’s Casa Maria Luigia, Chef and Collector Massimo Bottura Blurs Food, Art, and Philosophy

Charles Bock: Writing Success in the Age of Overload

Forgotten History (and Slippery Science) of Canola Oil, The

— that’s all for now —

Except, of course, for the usual legalistic mumbo-jumbo and commercial flim-flam:

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

(Hardcover)
(Kindle)

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

(Paper)
(Kindle)

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)

Cenotaphs
(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 (the Extended Edition)
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Noirvella: The Extended Edition
(Paper)
(Kindle)

Inedible
(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)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume One, The First Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Two, Second Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Substack Lightnin’: Volume Three, Third Year

(Paper)
(Kindle)

Here endeth the sales pitch(es)...

...for the moment, anyway.

______________

The Resource Guide for Food Writers, Update #297 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.