Articles are divided into the sections below—each with a brief introduction. Click on the headings to browse what’s in there.
You can also find articles using the Search feature at the top of any page on this site. However you choose to forage—by article title, quote, keyword, person, product—exploration is easy!
Like your favorite deli counter or bakery, there are free samples from Ian Makay’s Food for Thought sprinkled throughout. In addition to whetting your appetite for the book, new tidbits beyond the tasty tome itself give you some extra flavor to savor.
Read and enjoy! Remember to share posts across your favorite social media platforms! And absolutely leave a comment for the articles!
That’s to say: We have questions. You have answers. So, share with the class!
Cheers!
The “Some Basics” category is the perfect place to begin exploring.
It includes your primer and roadmap to this site: Welcome to the Neighborhood.
You’ll also find some additional tidbits about yours truly. Not a public therapy session or tell-all, these include answers to those questions people often ask me about me. Hey! Who doesn’t like sneaking a peek behind the curtain to see what the Wizard of Odd is really all about?
Please do read our Terms of Service. By continuing on this site and its links, you’re agreeing that you’ve read it, get it, and are okay with it.
Keep coming back to these posts to stay on top of our ongoing changes.
“Foodstuff” refers to anything edible that made it to your mouth and/or the tools that helped get it there.
That covers a lot of ground.
And so will we!
Foodstuffs is the place for fun facts from the culinary world along with recipes, edibles*, cooking techniques, ingredients, and products.
*In the traditional sense of the word.
My passion for quotes, history, trivia, and the like, extends far beyond the boundaries of the culinary world. So does my endless curiosity with … well … curiosities.
Here, then, are articles (food-adjacent and otherwise) that often go beyond the purely culinary.
“Musings” are semi-regular features highlighting sometimes strange things culled from various news and historical sources. Along with those you’ll also find a recipe, recommended readings, and an occasional product or two.
Other posts will delve more deeply into fun historical and contemporary facts, trends, and ephemera. Given my AOL and Saveur past, expect holiday-related articles that examine the traditions and treats associated with well-known and lesser-known celebrations.
And don’t be surprised if a wild card shows up from time to time.
Whatever the case, the goal will always be to give you some food for thought!
As mentioned elsewhere, long before Ian Makay came along, I was a regular contributor to H.W. Wilson’s reference series titles Current Biography, World Authors, and World Artists.
With an eye toward the last two compendiums, here you’ll find the irreverent reference treatment of some authors and artists featured in Food for Thought, other books, and across my social media platforms.
The things Matthew A. Kraljic (Psst! … That’s me!) wrote for traditional reference tomes were pretty much what you’d expect. Not casting shade. Encyclopedic reference isn’t designed to entertain unless you’re part of the nerd herd like me.
Expect the bios here to feature a somewhat spicier and sometimes salacious look into the lives of famous folk from the past and others very much alive today. And the food factor will make an appearance more often than you’d think.
Before technology brought information into our homes and phones, there were libraries—My happy place for many years! Where else would a reference writer want to be?
Yet, what passes for “the facts” these days definitely leaves something to be desired.
Given the whole “reference writer” thing, posts here examine the nuances of deciphering facts from not facts in an irreverent, lighthearted way.
Feel free to send your own queries or observations in the comments section of any article or on the Contact page.
Society needs you!
Giving back has been a mantra of mine for as long as I can remember.
But no one of us can do it alone.
And while financial donations are always welcome, these don’t need to come in the traditional way. Often your time and creativity can help those organizations which help us all while we have fun doing it.
Here are some ways and places where you can make a difference!