There are lots of blogs about cooking exploits of individuals. There are lots of blogs which keep us informed of restaurant news for any given area.
Which blog or website would you recommend if someone wanted to learn more about the history of food in your area?
I’ll start!
I live in North Carolina. Initially I learned a tremendous amount from the NC Folk Life blog. The writer, David Cecelski, who taught me much no longer contributes to that site. He recently started a blog! His food writing is just part of it but well worth reading. If you click on “food” in the blogs menu there are links to many of his past articles on other sites.
This is a link for a recent series he wrote about the history of the spring herring catch:
Going a bit further afield for a look at the entire South I think the Southern Foodways Alliance does it best. There are articles focusing on traditions of the past. And there are articles focusing on what the newer immigrants to the region are bringing to the areas table.
http://ediblejersey.ediblecommunities.com
Edible Jersey will lead to tons of info. I learn alot every month and I’m a long time resident.
Looks like great info to dive into.
I had not realized how big Edible had become - over 90 editions in the US & Canada!
And, the quality for a free publication really sets them apart. I keep every NJ issue and have since day one. When we travel I seek out regional editions. The recipes often included are usually pretty good too.
Agreed! Every issue I’ve come across has been really nicely done.
For those looking to explore beyond mid Manhattan this vlog host celebrates food curation with passion and fun.
I used to regularly read John Curtas’ Eating Las Vegas
Unfortunately he no longer updates but his archives are available.
I would highly recommend . Food Talk Central . For anything Los Angeles or southern California. A lot of extensive knowledge.
Would love to learn of some sites that focus on traditional foodways of a region!
Well, Pittsburgh was home to the Whiskey Rebellion — does that say something about us?? 
Interesting to take a moment and google the Native American foodways in your region. Here is Western PA:
http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/archaeology/files/native-american-foodways.pdf
I did a job for a college in South Dakota and boy were my eyes opened. The tribes gave the settlers seeds for food crops, otherwise they would have perished (and the majority of them did, from hunger) because the plant seeds they brought from the mid-west were no good on the prairie. They also taught the settlers permaculture. The natives grew corn, beans and squash, berries and stone fruits, and were much healthier (as reported in food ethnographies based on heigh, weight, and muscle mass) than um, the rest of us?
There’s a food history site about Volga Russians in South Dakota and the plains
which I have to get to a computer to link. Lots of food and history both.
Hey, now you mention. . .Russians! There was a botanist at the University of South Dakota who traveled throughout China and Russia in 1916-17 collecting seeds for cold tolerant crops. Dude carried a rifle & got shot at by revolutionaries & was just generally a badass. Ended up collaborating with crop scientists in Russia who managed a seed bank. During the revolutionary conflict the region’s crops failed. Rather than plant the seeds they were protecting, the Russian botanists. . . died of starvation.
Makes you appreciate winter wheat.
Hmm, I believe you’re thinking of the Vavilov Institute - seriously, that is some heroic librarianship. But it wasn’t during the Russian Revolution, it was in World War 2. They died rather than eat their seeds during the Siege of Leningrad. Vavilov was already on Stalin’s shitlist because Stalin didn’t believe in evolution or Mendelian genetics, and favored a pseudoscientific moron named Lysenko who had some quack ideas about winter wheat. Nikolai Vavilov is one of my great personal heroes and I think he might be the most important 20th century scientist that most people don’t know anything about.
Thanks, Ratgirl, I stand corrected.
Should have realized I wasn’t quoting reading done for the project, but rather tales told by Ag professors over brews!! (Fond memories).
And thanks for the links. Is your interest academic?
Once upon a time. At this point I just have more of a strong interest in food history. And natural history I guess.
