Questions for you
Tonight is devoted to the fine art of class preparation. I have 16 hours of teaching in two days, so I have to do every scrap in advance.
What does this mean for food history? First of all, it means that I shall be doing my first review post for a new food program tomorrow night my time, and maybe the second (if there is a second) the night after. This is of special interest to US readers who are interested in Food Network programs, because it’s my thoughts about the forthcoming (incoming? upcoming?) program from them. At this moment the only thing I can tell you is that I wouldn’t make their shortlisting. They assume formal culinary attainments or truly impressive teach-yourself stuff: PhDs in history are not the right qualifications.
I’m going to leave you with a question, in lieu of a proper blog post. You can answer in the comments or send me an email (and Laura, that travel soup recipe is already in the answers). What I want to know is what you want more of over winter/summer. Retro recipes? Ancient recipes? Information about books? Information about ingredients? Bad jokes? Interviews of luminaries? All of the above? Something else entirely? Giveaways? More bad jokes?
The more people who tell me what they want to see, the more likely it is that the blog will be exactly what you want it to be. No answers mean that Laura gets her soup recipe and I talk about what I feel like talking about each and every day. Well, maybe she doesn’t get her soup recipe each and every day. Once will be enough for that, I should think.
May 28th, 2008 at 6:41 am
But once I get my soup recipe, then I’ll want stuff about ancient recipes! And I’ll want stuff about ingredients! And…and….
– Laura
May 28th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Ask as many things as you like. I don’t mind having a list of stuff to work through over the next six months or so.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Hm. Given that opening, I’d love to know more about European-Australian (a.k.a “white”) bush cooking, and particularly about those dirty great iron pots that the camping stores tout as “authentic” cooking gear from Australia’s wild and woolly past. They seem dreadfully large and heavy for, say, a bushranger — were they more along the lines of gear for what we Americans call a chuck wagon? What can you, and can’t you, realistically cook in one? Did whites eat bush tucker, or bring their European-origin food supplies along with them, supplemented by roo or mutton or whatever?
May 28th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I like to read about ancient recipes and what else the ingredients were used for. “This herb, while making a fine addition to the soup, was also used for…” That sort of thing.
I also like reading about how we have the foods we have today. Who thought of the pizza? Was it an evolution of different things or did someone decide to try an open toasted sanger that wasn’t square?
And while I’m thinking of it, the influence of foods on cultures. What are the most influential foods in history and why are they deemed as such?