Tag: Food

Sam Sifton: Hard-Traveling NYT Restaurant Critic

The latest New York Times restaurant critic was unveiled yesterday, and after the announcement the lucky winner, Sam Sifton, took some questions from readers. Among them: Where would he like to travel on assignment for the Times? By his response, I’m guessing we have a fellow travel enthusiast on our hands:

I’m forwarding [your question] to the accountants and news administrators as complete explanation for why I just booked flights to and hotel rooms in Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Shanghai, Barcelona, Riga, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Mexico City, Stellenbosch, South Africa and Big Pine Key, Florida (home to the only credibly fantastic ham and pineapple pizza on Earth—no lie).


A Global Foodie Tour on Film

A Global Foodie Tour on Film Publicity still via IGN
Publicity still via IGN

With Julie and Julia set to open tomorrow, bringing a true food-blogging tale to the masses, the Globe and Mail’s Alexandra Gill decided to come up with a list of 10 cooking-centric movies—and winds up offering a global culinary tour-by-DVD. There are stops in Taiwan, Denmark, New Jersey, Mexico, and—no surprise here—three trips to Paris.


‘Eat, Pray, Love in the USA’

Over at Matador Trips, Beebe Bahrami offers her top picks for culinary, spiritual and romantic America, with everywhere from the French Quarter to the Black Hills represented. It’s the latest in an “Eat, Pray, Love” themed series.


Kimchi Burgers Bring Sweet Taste of Freedom to Pyongyang

Just when we were beginning to think that isolated North Koreans might never enjoy the greasy spillover of the expanding McWorld, the first-fast food restaurant in Pyongyang opened yesterday. The Daily Press reports that the Samtaeseong Restaurant—which serves burgers, fries, beer and, of course, kimchi—is already proving a runaway hit with locals and foreigners, and plans to expand are in the works.


Pink’s Hot Dogs Headed for LAX

Pink’s Hot Dogs Headed for LAX Photo by sciman111 via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by sciman111 via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The iconic Los Angeles hot dog shop, which draws famously long lines and celebs to its historic La Brea location, plans to open an outlet in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX later this year. “Various accounts have it opening anywhere from late fall to late December,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

It’s always good to see less generic, more local fare in airports. The trend continues.


Taco Trucks and the ‘Mobility Patterns’ of Young Urbanites

By now most people have heard of the L.A. Twitter taco truck phenomenon that is Kogi. Well it seems that Kogi’s success has spawned a slew of other food trucks in Southern California, from the Coolhaus ice cream sandwich truck to the Franken Stand hawking vegan sausages.

And the trend is going national, so if you’re in the U.S., look out for a gourmet food truck coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

Today’s Los Angeles Times story on the phenomenon includes an interesting bit of sociology.

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Make Guacamole, Not War

guacamole iStockPhoto

Does travel make us less happy? Jim Benning laments the news from the Mexican state of Michoacán.

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Travel Movie Watch: ‘Julie and Julia’

Here’s a promising one. “Julie and Julia” tells the story of Julia Child’s years as a Parisian expat, when she first tackled French cuisine, alongside the story of New York City blogger Julie Powell, who spent a year attempting every recipe in Child’s classic, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Meryl Streep plays Child—who was recently included in our list of ten inspirational women travelers—while Amy Adams takes on Powell. On top of the promising cast, Nora Ephron wrote and directed—cue the jokes about a recipe for success.

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Moving Sushi: The Internet’s Best Kaiten Sushi Video

Moving Sushi: The Internet’s Best Kaiten Sushi Video Photo by roybuloy, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Conveyor belt sushi videos abound online. Here's our favorite.

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Tags: Food, Video, Asia, Japan

The Art of Kaiten Sushi

Kaiten sushi conveyor belt in Osaka, Japan Photo by roybuloy, via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Conveyor-best sushi. Sushi-go-round. Sushi train. Whatever you call it, it's a beautiful thing.

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American Flag in a Shrinking Planet

American Flag in a Shrinking Planet Photo by goldberg via Flickr, (Creative Commons)

Images of the the Stars and Stripes around the world.

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The Last Bite and the Other Part of the Fish

The Last Bite and the Other Part of the Fish Photo by David Farley
Photo by David Farley

Few people are lured to the Czech Republic for its cuisine, but I’m one of them. Actually, hearty Czech food is a taste acquired over time (accompanied by lots of pints of hoppy pilsner). Until recently the pub grub—rich goulash and pork made just about every way you can imagine—functioned more as stomach filler than actual taste bud pleasers. But things are slowly changing.

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Quesadillas in the Sub-Arctic

Quesadillas in the Sub-Arctic Photo by Eva Holland
Photo by Eva Holland

I’m no Mexican food addict, but I am perpetually fascinated by incongruous culinary offerings in unlikely locales—so when I spotted Sanchez Cantina, “Yukon’s Only TRUE Mexican Restaurant,” not long after my arrival in Whitehorse, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. Once several locals had assured me that it was “really good,” I grew even more curious—after all, I was in the Canadian sub-arctic, more than 3,000 miles north of the Mexican border, in a town of 20,000 where many people keep freezers full of moose meat. How “true” or “good” could it be?

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The White House Luau: President Obama ‘Wants his Hawaii Grinds’

Luau performer in Hawaii Photo by alohateam via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Luau performer in Hawaii. Photo by alohateam via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The first-ever White House Hawaiian-style luau is scheduled to take place tonight, with President Obama hosting a meal created and prepared by Alan Wong.

Good for Obama. He loves his home state of Hawaii, and Hawaii loves him back—though, as seen in this slideshow, sometimes it loves him in funny ways.

In any case, Obama will get some Hawaiian food—the chef’s shopping list includes 84 pounds of Hawaiian macadamia nuts, 130 pounds of salmon and 650 pounds of pork butt—cooked by the proprietor of one of his favorite restaurants. And Hawaii hopes it will get what it desperately needs: a boost for tourism.


In Defense of British Food

In Defense of British Food Photo by AndyB in Brazil! via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by AndyB in Brazil! via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Over at The Titanic Awards, Britain has easily carried the win in a poll on the world’s worst national cuisines, with 25 percent of the vote. I’m not surprised—“British food is bad” is a truism that even many Brits buy into—but I do want to take a moment for some spirited dissent.

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Can We Interest You in a Whale Meat Spring Roll?

Uh oh. A group of restaurateurs in Yokohama, Japan, is looking to embrace the port city’s whaling heritage with a slew of new recipes—including whale dumplings, whale spring rolls and whale bacon. “Whale meat is a very important part of Japanese tradition,” one of the leading businessmen behind the push told the AFP. “If whaling is not done to excess, I think this is a great thing. ... Whale meat is delicious, high in protein, low in fat.”

Delicious or not, I can already hear the howls of protest from animal-rights activists worldwide.


T.G.I. Friday’s in Tokyo

In Slate, Daniel Gross goes to Tokyo and tackles the city’s “SPC ratio” (Starbucks per capita) and other oddities of the Japanese love affair with American chain food outlets.


YVR: A Traveler’s Plea for Noodles

YVR: A Traveler’s Plea for Noodles Photo by stu_spivack via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by stu_spivack via Flickr (Creative Commons)

I flew into Vancouver International Airport last week with a craving: I wanted pad Thai, or some vaguely similar, spicy, wok-fried noodle dish, and I wanted it bad. On the five-hour flight from Toronto, as images of tofu bits and crushed peanuts danced in my head, I didn’t fret—I was confident I’d be able to satisfy the urge during my one-hour layover. After all, I thought, where better to find some airport noodles than in a foodie city that’s home to one of the most vital Asian immigrant communities in North America?

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Odd Jobs: The Grill Walker

David Farley meets a guy in Berlin who sells sausages from a grill strapped to his body

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How to Lick an Ant in Australia

The Oecophylla smaragdina packs a flavorful punch. Kristin Luna explains how to get a taste.

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