Food History

Should I tackle that stack of books by my desk? Should I diminish it a little, pretend to tidy things just a jot?

I don’t want to. I don’t want to because each time I open a cookbook I end up going shopping and buying things and cooking and then eating and then wondering why I don’t plan meals the way other people do.

Right now I yearn for a Romaniot Greek spinach dish. It takes forever to make, but it’s one of the most fabulous foods I’ve ever eaten. If I didn’t have this habit of looking in cookbooks and tasting things in my mind and then happening on ingredients while shopping, well, I would never have discovered that dish.

So what has this post to do with food history? Not a thing, unless you call me talking myself out of work a form of food history. Or unless you call me having decided how to celebrate that thousandth post.

The celebration will have three parts. The first is the thousandth post itself. I can’t give you the oldest recipe I know, because dating the recipes becomes a bit arguable, but I’ll find something at least two thousand years old for the day. I might make it back to Ancient Mesopotamia, but I’m thinking Roman or Greek. The thing about Roman recipes is that I can read the Latin and make my own interpretation. For Sumerian, I’m dependent on the knowledge of other people, which doesn’t seem right for a celebratory post. So it will probably be a post about my interoperation of something Apician.

Then, yes, Kazari, those of us in Canberra who want to get together should get together. Tasting each other’s cooking sounds lovely.

Could all Canberra people interested in a picnic get in touch with me (send me a note through the comments and I can email you, perhaps) and we’ll find a date and time that suits us all.

Finally, something special to last most of next year.

I’ve asked a few of my writer friends if they would like to be guest bloggers. They’ll be exploring the relationship between their fiction and food in various ways. I’ve told them no holds barred and I’m getting the most delightful articles as a result. Kaaron Warren will lead off on July 1. I’ve got some wonderful writers from three continents. A few you’ve met before, but most are new on this blog. All of them are super-talented, so I’m encouraging them to give us links so we can find their books. For those of you in the northern hemisphere, think of this as my gift to your summer reading.