Food History

I’m in the middle of all sorts of serious stuff for my other selves. The historian is editing a significant Medievalish article, for instance, and the science fiction/fantasy writer is judging an award thingummy along with a zillion other judges all of whom are wiser and read faster and think more deeply than I do (at least at this moment – tomorrow I hope to be more on top of things and then I’ll feel less overawed). What this means is that my day has run out of time. I can hardly fit cooking dinner into it, much less contemplating how sour cherries can be put alongside scotch steak in an historically correct and palate-tempting fashion.

I’ll be back in the food history zone soon, I promise. I have a paper to write in the next few weeks, after all, and one that has already made some people in my vicinity jumpy. It will be presented on my behalf in Sydney in November, the day after Australia’s Federal elections. At that moment I will find out that nothing I do is ever quite as controversial as I think it might be and that my life is uncomplicated and simple and really very straightforward. Then I’ll sit down and write a fairy tale about castles in Spain, to reflect the depths of my delusions.

This is a very long way of saying that you need something charming and entertaining to make up for my strange state of mind. And it’s no use telling me I’m always in a strange state of mind, because people tell me that about twice a week and it makes no difference.

I have rice paddies for you, as you’ve never seen them before. Food can be art, you see. And it can be pretty ordinary to look at, as well. Click on the link for the amazing and wondrous and look at the picture for the more mundane. And if you need more food in your day, it’s about time I introduced you to another food blog (I might start doing more of this – one can never have too much food or food history in one’s life). What’s cool about this blog is that it shows you the sort of food that leaves cool wrappers and strange mementos to tantalise the food historians of the future. I can’t get more theoretical than that today, I’m afraid. Editing beckons.

Ingredients as art.