Travel the World for the Very Best Foods

Apparently, this is the world's greatest pho

The British newspaper The Observer has a list billed as The 50 Best Foods in the World and Where to Eat Them. The list has very specific foods and where the best is, like oysters from Northern Ireland and olive oil from Turkey by way of a London shopkeeper, as well as broad cuisines like the best place Algerian food (shockingly, in Algiers!). The list skews slightly toward British tastes (I am apparently too narrow minded for steak and kidney pie), but there are also items that seem almost too mundane (the world’s greatest tomato juice!).

In looking at the list, one thing, as an American, that I felt was missing, was the world’s best fried chicken. In looking at the list, do you see any foods that you wish were on it?

Recipe Ownership

Commenters over at Serious Eats raise an interesting discussion: at what point does a recipe become your own? That is to say if you make a recipe from a cookbook or a magazine multiple times and your friends really like it, can you call it yours?

Years ago I took a barbecue class with my aunt. One of the recipes we learned was a brined grilled chicken that was the class favorite by far. I have made the recipe hundreds of times since, and friends, family, and neighbors request it frequently.

I didn’t create the recipe, and I don’t modify it much when I make it. Still, everybody calls it Frank’s chicken. Is this fair?

TheFoodventure.com Hits the Road Again

I just posted some thoughts on the Italian food I ate in Chicago last week. Tomorrow, Frank and I are meeting some friends in Philadelphia for the day. I don’t know where we’re going to have lunch yet, but we’re definitely open to suggestions. Dinner, however, is non-negotiable; in fact, eating at Villa di Roma is about 75 percent of the reason we’re driving 2.5 hours each way to Philly in the first place. (I hope our friends are not offended by that comment. I suspect that they would agree and thus will let it pass.)

Stay tuned for a post on Sunday about our Philly Foodventure. If you have any suggestions for a great lunch spot (remembering that we can’t hit a cheesesteak-only spot because of Lent, sigh), please post a comment below.