A) This is just general housekeeping:  I condensed the specialised "health and wellness" forums down to one general forum, which leaves that one plus one for food safety in that category. i think that's good for now. I was looking for other areas to "tighten the herd," but don't really see any at the moment. I'm not basing decisions so much on traffic, but on organisation and an infrastructure for future growth. I think all the geographical categories are ok, and the various world cuisines (which are the primary focus of the forum) are well-represented, but the non-geographic ones seem to be a little sprawled out. I am sure there is room for improvement, but not sure where at the moment.

 

B) This is the change Dave and I are pretty excited about: I created a separate forum for charcuterie, which is in the "Other Food-Related Topics" category. This move was made in order to differentiate the art of sausage-making, curing and/or long-term smoking of meats (examples: bresaola, pastourma, bratwurst and bacon) from American barbecue, grilling and other methods of cooking with fire (such as pulled pork, grilled chops, burgers and fish).

 

Because many countries engage in charcuterie, the plan is to have topics of this nature appear in both the charcuterie section and also in their appropriate region. This is easily accomplished by posting a topic FIRST in the charcuterie forum; then, Dave or I can "move" the topic to the appropriate region, essentially creating a copy of the discussion in each forum. Charcuterie topics of a general or universal nature will be in that forum only, without being "moved."

 

It will be a little bit of a hassle for the existing stuff, but once the initial work is done, it should be a well-oiled procedure ~

 

Any questions or comments can be posted here ~ thanks for your continued support, and we hope these changes help make this forum a better place to learn about "the foods of the world!"

I am writing in regards to the new Charcuterie Section, which I believe is a fabulous idea for long time members as well as new members. One day, I would like to prepare Italian Puglia Piquant Sausage during one of our vacation stays over in Gargano. As a matter of fact, we do plan to look for a meat grinder for starters the next time we are over in Gargano / Puglia´s flea markets, and 2nd Hand Expat Shops and to speak with our Butcher and a Restaurateur - Shepherd & Chef gent we always buy our Lamb from for Christmas holidays in Abruzzi, near the birthplace of St. Francis.

 

I also see there is little traffic on the health related sectors, except for Safety & Recalls, which Hoser does a wonderful job posting for all of us. Even though I live abroad and we have less of these issues, I truly enjoy keeping abreast of what is going on in my native birthplace too.

 

Thanks for posting the latest changes in our forum.

 

Hope that both of you have had a marvelous Thanksgiving Holiday wkend.

 

Margi.