The Resource Guide for Food Writers [Paperback]

Gary Allen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1999

A feast for all food writers, "The Resource Guide for Food Writers" is a comprehensive guide to finding everything there is to know about food, how to write about it and how to get published. An educator at the Culinary Institute of America, Gary Allen has compiled an amazing handbook for anyone who wants to learn more about food and share that knowledge with others.
Including a foreword by Mr. Tim Ryan, Senior Vice President of the Culinary Institute of America, this multifaceted guide teaches readers how to:
* find appropriate libraries
* use catalogs, directories, bibliographies and periodicals
*and locate specialty booksellers.
Chapters on the writing process provide real guidance on:
*how to write
*what resources are helpful
*and how to combat writer's block In the final section, the intimidating task of getting published is tackled with specific help in drafting proposals and finding the appropriate publisher.
An impressive menu of resources, this authoritative reference is essential for every epicurean, from the food service professional to the ambitious home gourmet.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Whether you're writing about medieval food or salt, radishes or Balinese cooking, you'll find an organization, publication, Web site, or other aid for your research sandwiched between the covers of Gary Allen's Resource Guide for Food Writers. Allen's book is divided into three sections. The first lists sources, including food-related library collections, organizations, Internet newsgroups, 33 pages worth of periodicals (among them, Food Insects Newsletter, Garlic Times, and Hive Lights), and even more of food-related Web sites. From there Allen moves onto interview techniques (hint: "writers should be quiet during interviews"), culinary reference works, writing guides, recipe formatting, and food-writing courses and conferences. The book's final section lights on book proposals, markets, self- and Web publishing, agents, copyrights--even stock photography. One longs sometimes for some critical evaluation of the resources listed, but what the book lacks in assessment it makes up for in sheer volume of information. --Jane Steinberg

Review

Whether you're writing about medieval food or salt, radishes or Balinese cooking, you'll find an organization, publication, Web site, or other aid for your research sandwiched between the covers of Gary Allen's Resource Guide for Food Writers.
–Amazon.com, October 20, 1999

Allen, an educational technologist at the Culinary Institute of America, has gathered together his favorite print and electronic resources in a clever book that is certain to be useful to food writers, culinary professionals, and students in search of culinary information. ...[B]ecause it brings together in one source information that has been dispersed in a range of other reference books, this title will be a valuable addition to any large academic or public library's collection.
–Library Journal, 6/99

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041592250X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415922500
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #636,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gary Allen (who was once an illustrator) now cooks, eats, dreams, talks, and writes about food.

After writing The Resource Guide for Food Writers (1999), he edited Remarkable Service for The Culinary Institute of America (2001). He's contributed articles to Culinary Biographies (2006), and Scribner's Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (2003). He was Associate Editor of, and contributor to, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2004) and The Concise Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America (2007).

The Herbalist in the Kitchen, a reference work on herbs and spices, was published by the University of Illinois Press (July, 2007). He also co-edited, with historian Ken Albala, The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries for Greenwood Press (October 2007). He has also written articles for other encyclopedias from Greenwood: Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Super Bowl: An Encyclopedia (2008), and They Eat That?: A Cultural Encyclopedia of Weird and Exotic Food from around the World, (scheduled for publication October 2011).

His anthology of writings about cannibalism -- humorous, scary, thoughtful, disgusting, and touching -- was published in 2008. Its called Human Cuisine, and it was also co-edited with Ken Albala.

He's even written occasional stories -- of a nostalgic/humorous nature -- that have appeared in others' anthologies such as The Anxious Groom (2004), Prima Materia Volume 4 (2005), Fear and Loathing of Boca Raton (2007), and Let Them Eat Crepes (2010).

He's recently finished another book, Herbs: A Global History, for Reaktion Press (scheduled for publication Spring 2012). He recently completed editing his a non-fiction book on cannibalism, that's out for peer review right now.

Occasionally, 'midst chewing and swallowing, he writes for magazines, e-zines, and symposia, including that of the Association for the Study of Food and Society, for which he's been their web master and newsletter editor. He is food history editor at LeitesCulinaria.com. He has also published, for ten years, a monthly electronic newsletter about online resources for food writers, which is now part of his blog (http://justserved.onthetable.us).

In his spare time, he teaches food writing, plus various courses on food history and culture, at Empire State College (part of the State University of New York).
You'll find a directory of his online writings at "A Quiet Little Table in the Corner" (http://tinyurl.com/2duwe93) or visit his own website: "On the Table" (http://onthetable.us).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good and plenty, March 7, 2000

By 

Keetha (Miss.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Resource Guide for Food Writers (Paperback)

This book is extremely thorough - a wealth of information. Gary Allen certainly did his homework. I write a food column and do freelance food writing - I'm always looking for any books for food writers. The Resource Guide for Food Writers is very helpful.