Eat, Link, and Be Merry

A new Bison Books edition of Moveable Feasts: The History, Science, and Lore of Food by Gregory McNamee is available this month from UNP. In its pages, McNamee details the myriad of ways in which food has functioned both as a source of continuity and as a subject of adaptation over the course of human history. Moveable Feasts gathers revelations from history, anthropology, chemistry, biology, and many other fields and spins them into entertaining tales of discovery while adding more than ninety delicious recipes from various culinary traditions around the world, all of which have been adapted for re-creation in the modern kitchen.

Today’s LIL celebrates the publication of the Bison edition of Moveable Feasts by featuring links to fun food-related Web sites. Kitchen connoisseurs, expert epicureans, and culinary crackerjacks—this one is for you!

Visit Epicurious.com, the site “for people who love to eat,” to access a vast database of scrumptious recipes and cooking tutorials. Of particular interest is their “International Cooking” page, where you can find recipes constituting a global gastronomic tour.

Fans of foodie blogs will not want to miss the mouthwatering recipes and gorgeous magazine-style pictures at VeganYumYum.com. Even hamburger-loving, rib-eating, steak-devouring carnivores will appreciate the delicate deliciousness of these vegan treats. From ice cream cone cupcakes to kale stir-fry, lemon maple scones to lemon cashew cream and gnocchi, each of these dishes is enticing enough to tempt vegans, meat-eaters, and everyone in between.

Love food, but abhor the consequential weight gain that comes with over indulgence? If you are looking to inject some healthy eats into your diet without depriving yourself of creative, tasty meals, visit KathEats.com, a well-maintained blog by a woman who managed to lose weight and keep it off while continuing to enjoy her favorite foods. Kath, the blogger behind the site, is studying to be a nutritionist and has a loyal fan-base whose questions she promptly and patiently addresses in the “comments” section of each of her posts. Her husband keeps up a small corner of the site devoted to bread and baking, so amateur pastry chefs will find a bounty of recipes and tips for them as well. 

Bringing things full circle and back to food history, the subject of Moveable Feasts, you won’t want to miss the myriad of information on FoodTimeline.org. Here, you can learn about the origins of all of your favorite foods, whether you’re a fan of olives or pistachios, watermelon or marshmallows. My fondness for French toast took me to its page on the FoodTimeline.org site, where I discovered that this weekend brunch staple was created by medieval European cooks who, in an effort to make use of every scrap of food in their kitchens, revived stale bread with a mixture of milk and eggs, then fried the concoction on a hot griddle greased with butter or oil. I’ll have to investigate further as to the identity of the genius behind the addition of maple syrup and powdered sugar to the recipe!

Now that I’ve worked up a healthy appetite writing of these food-related Web sites, I shall sign off and leave you, dear bloggers, to link away and enjoy the virtual feast. Bon appétit!