Blog Newsletter August by Farid Zadi

About once a month I will post a newsletter of sorts regarding the direction of this blog and to address general comments and questions I receive.

First of all I'd like to say that this is not my blog. I function more of as an editor and archiver with a lot of help from my wife.

The content and readership of this blog is growing very rapidly. In a month or so the content will be organized differently, more like a website connected to this blog. Navigation will be much easier.

The readers are largely comprised of culinary students around the world, as well as professionals and novices  interested in food and culture.

You may have noticed the number of authors is growing as well, there are over 20 registered with more invitations pending. Some of the names you will recognize as established writers, others you may not. The quality of information on this blog is exceptional. The recipes are traditional, the cultural details come from people who have really lived in a country, the historical and scholarly information is verified for accuracy.

The authors themselves come from diverse backgrounds, but there are less than six degrees of separation between all of us.  There are several themes or threads developing already. The North African content is superb and there is nothing like this in English on the web with so many knowledgeable voices. Paula, Anis, Hajar and myself. Anissa Helou and Clifford Wright have promised to post very soon when their schedules let up.

Cristina Potters is a writer living in Guadalajara, Mexico. Rachel Lauden is of course a food scholar who also lives in Mexico, she will be posting about the Mexico-Islamic connection and "New World" ingredients in the Mediterranean, she already has delved into it in this article.

Clifford Wright's new book Some Like it Hot , traces the chili pepper. And what is Tunisian or Korean cooking without the chili pepper?

There is also the spice connection from India through the Middle East, North African and into Europe. Monica Bhide posted about Indian weddings, later others will post about different aspects of Indian cuisines like vegetarianism amongst Jains.

We also have the Lebanese connection. Nadia posted her story of Lebannon which inspired me to write about "Les Meres" of Lyon. Omar was raised in France and is a career changer attending culinary school now.

The French content will obviously grow. Paula Wolfert's updated version of The Cooking of South West France will be released in October. Alot of French ingredients weren't readily available when the book first came out, so look for new recipes.

Lastly, I'd like to address Ed's post about a cookbook of our grandmother's cooking and way of life.  I propose to do it online, that way it can continue to grow to cover every possible nook and cranny of the globe. I'd like feedback on this concept. It seems much more inclusive to me.  I also think we can do it with humour, wit and without knee jerk  sentimentality. Although I tend to be very romantic and sentimental myself.

Of course all this talk of food is connected to the soil and the small farmers who work the land to feed us. Look foward to a piece by Tana Butler on small farms.