In "The Foodie Thread" I posted links to websites about food (but not necessarily recipes) and recommended books by writers who like to incorporate food into their stories. But now that we have a culinary forum, I decided to start a thread devoted to reading about food

If you've come across any excellent, interesting or unusual websites or books about or featuring food, please share them here!

Here's a good foodie book (click on link). Interesting opening paragraph.

Oysters, Oysters, Oysters!

Yes, that was an interesting opening paragraph, rab Have you read the rest of the book? Is it something you'd recommend to someone to read over a solitary, unpalatable meal?

I'm not sure about "solitary", but with a companion of the opposite gender, maybe...especially if I wanted to be suggestive. (except for the recepies, of course)

The rest of the book is pretty matter-of-fact which should be of interest to seafood enthusiasts.

Here are links to some past posts on food in books, magazines and online:

Culinary murder mysteries, Saveur magazine
Cecile Lamalle
Airlinemeals.Net
Scary food
Freaky Food links

I can't remember whether I ever posted about Phyllis Richman's books. I've only read one - Murder on the Gravy Train - but her sleuth, Chas Wheatley, is a restaurant reviewer, so she gets to eat in a lot of good restaurants I have to say I enjoyed the food descriptions in this book more than the actual plot.

Palayok, by Doreen Fernandez.

This isn't about good food, but I thought others would like the link: the Burnt Food Museum. Check out the freestanding burnt apple cider!

Phyllis Richman's culinary mysteries continue to satisfy; I scored a copy of Who's Afraid of Virginia Ham? this week. What I really like about her food writing is that her sleuth is a restaurant reviewer, so it's all about the eating. Peter Mayle's books also continue to be enjoyable. My Valentine's Day presents to myself were copies of Hotel Pastis and Anything Considered and both were great.

I've also given Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines a whirl. I don't know if this is just the creature of habit in me talking, but I continue to prefer Saveur. For one thing, the layout is nicer to look at. Gourmet's article pages are unentertainingly gray, and both it and Bon Appetit are heavier on the recipes than Saveur, which means that a lot of pages look like they came out of Good Housekeeping. The food styling, however, is quite good so while I prefer Saveur for its entertaining articles and visual appeal, I guess Gourmet and Bon Appetit will do in its absence.