The Foodie List

I’ve been going all over the place for work. Noosa, Surfers Paradise, Townsville (okay, not all over the place – just regional Queensland). I love that aspect of my job – previously I had never been north of Brisbane, and within the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to sunburn my pale Melbournian skin at various locations above the Tropic of Capricorn! Having said that, I’m still a long way off being one of those frequent flyers that are recognised at the gate, heh.

I had written up all these Melbourne reviews through to the start of May, so used this as an excuse to totally slack off the “writing up” part of the two intertwined threads that are the fabric of food blogging.

What “you’re going on a work trip to Queensland” sounds like to me

The reality:

Anyway, the writing may have dried up but I’ve still been very good at the “eating out” part. You can start looking forward to some catch-up posts (Fresh Bread visits the Gold Coast! etc.) but in the meantime…

This list went around a bit on Facebook, back in the day – but I got the idea of filling this out from Gastronomical Ramblings’ blog. It looks very American – so I’ve commented on all the ones I had to look up to see what they even were!

I got 55 out of 100. Not bad – I’m going to subtract the two packaged American foods that I’ll probably never eat (Hostess Fruit Pie and MoonPie), and award myself a pass at 56%. Apparently most people only score about 20.

This has inspired me to try and tick off the rest though! Although really, I’m going to have a think about a better list. What could sit on the list a bit better than the American brand names? What about some more Australian food (other than pavlova and kangaroo)? Lamingtons? Anzac biscuits?

• Abalone
• Absinthe
• Alligator
• Baba Ghanoush
• Bagel and Lox – I was about to say I’d done this, who hasn’t had a bagel with smoked salmon? but then looked up “lox” on wikipedia and learned they are different products. Damnit!
• Baklava
• Barbecue ribs
• Bellini
• Bird’s Nest Soup
• Biscuits and Gravy – Holy crap, knew this one was American. Wikipedia sums it up more succinctly than I ever could: “It consists of soft dough biscuits covered in thick “country” or “white” gravy, made from the drippings of cooked pork sausage, white flour, milk, and often (but not always) bits of sausage, bacon, ground beef, or other meat.” 
• Black Pudding
• Black Truffle
• Borscht
• Calamari
• Carp
• Caviar
• Cheese Fondue – this combines my three loves of carbs, wine and cheese!
• Chicken and Waffles – I’m crossing this off as I’ve had each individually, and plan never to combine them on a plate, soul food or no.
• Chicken Tikka Masala
• Chile Relleno – Mexico trip – cooked this in a cooking class!
• Chitlins – pigs intestines. It will be unlikely I ever eat this dish, particularly as I just read (once again on everybody’s favourite source material you can’t quote) that there’s a risk if they’re not cleaned properly of e.coli and other unpleasant things.
• Churros
• Clam Chowder
• Cognac
• Crab Cakes
• Crickets – I ate a grasshopper in a Mexican market once. It counts. All right?
• Currywurst – Pork sausage with a curry sauce. I’d eat this.
• Dandelion Wine
• Dulce de Leche – have both eaten the real deal and DIY’ed at home by boiling cans of sweetened condensed milk for hours to make bannoffee pie. Mm-mm.
• Durian – I’ve eaten durian flavoured ice cream, close enough. I’d still like to try the fruit in its natural state though.
• Eel
• Eggs Benedict
• Fish Tacos
• Foie Gras
• Fresh Spring Rolls
• Fried Catfish
• Fried Green Tomatoes
• Fried Plantain
• Frito Pie – lol, had to look this up too, at home we just call this ‘nachos’ 
• Frog’s legs
• Fugu
• Funnel Cake – basically deep fried batter that’s then dredged with icing sugar. I’ve had the Indian version of this – jalebi, which is then soused in sugar syrup!
• Gazpacho
• Goat
• Goat’s Milk – I’ve had goats cheese, close enough
• Goulash – yum, I always forget about goulash. I need to look up a good recipe and try making goulash one day soon.
• Gumbo
• Haggis
• Head Cheese – I may have had this accidentally while in Vietnam, heh. What’s in bun bo hue or a banh mi again?
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Honeycomb
• Hostess Fruit Pie – this is a packaged American snack food for god’s sake
• Huevos Rancheros – Mexican trip comes in handy again for the foodie list!
• Jerk Chicken
• Kangaroo – what Australian hasn’t had at least a kanga banger at the very least?(Vegetarians excused of course)
• Key Lime Pie
• Kobe Beef
• Lassi
• Lobster
• Mimosa
• MoonPie – Packaged American biscuit. Whatever.
• Morel Mushrooms
• Nettle Tea
• Octopus
• Oxtail Soup
• Paella
• Paneer
• Pastrami on Rye – not from New York, so I’m sure it doesn’t count!
• Pavlova
• Phaal – apparently a British Indian curry hotter than a vindaloo
• Philly Cheese Steak – beef and cheese sandwich? Yes please
• Pho – lurve pho, this is my number one Asian noodle soup of choice
• Pineapple and Cottage Cheese – sounds… odd.
• Pistachio Ice Cream
• Po’Boy – there’s been some controversy recently about Melbourne’s execution of these. I really must go and try one. Deep fried seafood or meat in a baguette sounds like a winner to me.
• Pocky
• Polenta
• Prickly Pear – Mexican trip again – going with a vegetarian meant nopales (aka vegetable made from prickly pear) were always on the menu!
• Rabbit Stew
• Raw Oysters
• Root Beer Float – I may as well cross this one off now, because I will never have root beer again. Tried it in New York and was disgusted. BLERGH. It tastes a bit like sarsaparilla to me, and that is feral as well. 
• S’mores – ooh this is one of those things the Babysitters Club characters were always eating, and one of the unintelligible parts of those books to me as a youngster reading them. Sounds delish – marshmallow & chocolate squeezed between sweet plain biscuits.
• Sauerkraut
• Sea Urchin
• Shark – I’m counting flake at the fish and chip shop.
• Snail
• Snake
• Soft Shell Crab
• Som Tam – Thai style green papaya salad, yum.
• Spaetzle – thick egg noodle/pasta accompaniment from around Germany, Austria, Switzerland
• Spam
• Squirrel
• Steak Tartare
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Sweetbreads
• Tom Yum
• Umeboshi – as far as I can make out… pickled prunes.
• Venison
• Wasabi Peas
• Zucchini Flowers

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