Favorite Bloggers

It's the season for lists. So here's my list of some of my favorite food blogs.

Individual Blogs

• Months of Edible Celebrations: Louise, the blogger here, finds amazing little corners of American history to describe at a perfect level of detail with lots of pictures and links. Her current post, for example, describes household gifts from a 70- or 80-year-old Westinghouse Christmas advertising brochure. A wizened Santa holds up photos of early-20th-century toasters, percolators, chafing dishes, and other old-fashioned appliances -- very amusing. Her blog posts also describe early cookbook authors, inventors of still-staple foods such as cotton candy, and many other historic oddities.
• The Perfect Pantry: Rhode Islander Lydia Walshin manages to feature a new pantry staple several times a week. Spices, condiments, grocery-store basics, and home-made items all appear, with historic and general background as well as specific recipes for their use. One of my favorites among the home-made pantry/freezer items is her recipe for slow-cooked tomatoes -- I have one baggie of them hoarded in my freezer from last tomato season. A recent discovery she recommended: Sriracha sauce, of which I am now consuming my second bottle.
• Gherkins and Tomatoes: Cynthia Bertelsen offers serious historic essays and accounts of her experiences in far-off places. She includes lots of interesting text, intriguing recipes, and wonderfully chosen illustrations. I thank her for the inspiration to make a list of favorite bloggers to celebrate the coming New Year -- and I'm starting to read some new bloggers thanks to her list (this list includes only my ongoing faves).
• Cooked Books: Blogger Rebecca Federman explores "the delicious culinary collections of the New York Public Library." She posts images of historic menus, old cookbooks, or culinary-themed prints, and writes about old books and other food themes. I wish I could get to the NY Public Library to see a lot of the items she posts about.
• Obama Foodorama watches food events at the White House and describes food-related political and social actions by the President and First Lady and their chefs, gardeners, and associates.

Blogs Sponsored by Online Newspapers and Journals

• The Atlantic Food Channel: This is a cross between blogs and magazine writing. Many writers post new food stories, recipes, human-interest sketches, chefs' portraits, farming news, and food politics all the time in this offshoot of the Atlantic magazine. Marion Nestle writes about food and politics. When Gourmet folded, they picked up more food politics from Barry Eastabrook. And Ann Arbor's local food celebrity, Ari Weinzweig writes a column -- often promoting the products of his business here, Zingerman's Deli.
• L.A. Times Daily Dish -- combines Los Angeles restaurant news & trends with more generally interesting material on the world of food.
• Guardian Food and Drink -- a totally English approach to food and dining.
• Houston Press Eating Our Words -- lots of Texas-specific stories, but also some general ones. Recent example: "What the oughts brought" -- an interesting list of trends from this decade.
• New York Times Diners' Journal -- I liked it better when it included many posts by the previous restaurant reviewer -- he brought up interesting topics of restaurant etiquette, tipping, and the like. But there are still good things, such as a current Q & A on Latkes by Joan Nathan.
  

I hope to read more lists of blogger favorites -- I'd love to become a faithful reader of still more blogs.