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The internet doesn’t need another food blog. Most food sites fall into two camps. They either recycle the same surface-level myths you’ve heard a thousand times, or provide you in academic jargon that lacks any practical connection to your kitchen. CulinaryLore is the one-stop shop that bridges that gap. By refusing to stay in a single “academic silo,” I’m able to provide a 360-degree view of food that no one else can match:
- Food History: I go beyond the “fun facts” to do real historical sleuthing—tracking idioms back to 1st-century Roman medicine and debunking the viral hoaxes that clutter your feed.
- Food Science: I deconstruct the why behind the how, translating complex chemistry into the practical math of your stovetop.
I don’t just research and write about food; I investigate the “Lore”—the intersection of science, history, human behavior, and the socio-economics that makes every bite interesting.
My approach to CulinaryLore is forged from a career that spans military service in the Middle East, medical experience, and years in the professional restaurant and fitness industries. I don’t just look for fun facts. I apply a background in Social Psychology and Linguistics to deconstruct why we eat what we eat, and why we believe the myths we do.
I am fiercely evidence-oriented, but in a forever practical way. My background in Science means I value precision, but my years in Professional Kitchens mean I value efficiency. You won’t find me recommending a ‘two-hour steak’ for a marginal difference no one will notice. I provide the high-level sleuthing, but I keep the results grounded in the reality of your kitchen.
I combine this with experience in restaurants, food retail, military discipline, extensive travel throughout the Middle East. I mix it up with an unmatched knowledge of fitness honed through years of research, writing, and work as a strength coach.
The No-Nonsense Health Filter: I apply years of research in the fitness and health industry to separate evidence-based nutrition from the ‘charlatans’ who prey on food fears to empty your wallet. I’ve taken on these charlatans to their face. I’ve brought that in the trenches attituded, honed by the gentling of age, to you in these pages.
The “Near-Past” Blind Spot: Why Recent Food History Needs Investigating
CulinaryLore covers the entire arc of human food culture. You will find investigations here that trace culinary history back to 1st-century Roman medicine, deconstruct medieval cooking myths, or explore the ancient trade routes that dispersed staple crops around the globe. Every era is fair game, and every era receives the same rigorous research.
However, you will also notice a pronounced emphasis on the mid-to-late 20th century, particularly the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. This is not a limitation of scope but a purposeful response to an acute blind spot on the web.
The late 20th century saw the most radical transformation of the human diet in recorded history, including the birth of modern food processing, federal standards of identity, sweeping commercial reformulations, and the rise of convenience foods that fundamentally reshaped our grocery aisles. Yet, caught between the analog past and the digital present, this recent era remains astonishingly undocumented:
- Pre-Digital Paper Void: The 1980s and 1990s exist in a digital dead zone. The trade publications, corporate filings, food-science patents, and regulatory battles from this era were printed on physical paper. Because they were never comprehensively digitized or indexed by search engines, the verifiable record is largely missing from the modern web.
- “Nostalgia” Fallacy: Because millions of people alive today remember eating these foods, the internet treats the late 20th century as casual “nostalgia trivia” rather than real history. Writers assume that because they lived through an era, they don’t need to do any research. The result is a landscape of recycled listicles, half-remembered folklore, and lazy assumptions masquerading as fact.
- Academic No-Man’s-Land: People often assume that ancient history is harder to verify than the 1980s. In reality, centuries of dedicated scholarship, university archives, and huge preservation projects mean that Roman trade routes or medieval culinary texts are meticulously indexed, analyzed, and digitized. The near-past enjoys no such scholarly privilege. Professional historians rarely focus their research on the decades immediately behind them, dismissing them as the territory of contemporary journalism rather than “real history.”
Treating recent decades as mere pop-culture kitsch is a mistake. Investigating why a mass-market bacon formula changed in 1985, how fat-replacement chemistry reshaped 1990s snack aisles, or how legal definitions of “mustard” or “cheese” evolved requires the exact same primary-source sleuthing as analyzing an ancient culinary text.
At CulinaryLore, the near past isn’t treated as a trip down memory lane. It is investigated with the same historical rigor as antiquity, because understanding how we eat today requires getting the recent facts right.
Doing Something About Food History Versus CulinaryLore
I’m often reminded of what Bruce Lee said about rote, regimented systems (of Martial Arts). He described these systems as failing to “go immediately to the heart of things” and instead using flowery forms and artificial techniques , so that they are “doing something about combat” rather than experiencing it. Using food history as a subject, I often quip that most food bloggers who mention food history are “doing something about food history.” So, I won’t write an article about an heirloom tomato I bought at the farmer’s market and tell a colorful story about the colorful fruits and vegetables, then label it food history because I used the word “heirloom.”
At the same time, I won’t go deep into the weeds about an esoteric food science subject that has no relevance to you, your everyday food experiences, or your kitchen. While food scientists love to wax on about the deep nuts and bolts of food chemistry, this, again, is “doing something about food science.” In other words, it is about what you can observe in a rote and detached way versus what you actually experience. I strive to bridge the gaps between those esoteric nuts and bolts and our shared food culture. My deep dives are written with you in mind, not with how impressive I want to sound.
Guest Articles
I get many messages from individuals wishing to publish articles on the site. Please understand that I do not respond to “article pitches.” At this time, I am not interested in publishing guest articles on the site. I’ve found that accepting articles takes up too much of my time, especially since authors ask me what they should write.
If you do wish to publish an article on CulinaryLore, then take the time to familiarize yourself with the site and what I write. Then write an article that you think would fit well and send it to me (or send a representative excerpt). I will then let you know if I wish to publish it, and we can work out any details. If you do not do this, then it is clear you didn’t bother to read the about page, so why should I wish to work with you?