The Girl Who Ate Everything

Elyse Sewell likes food. She mainly talks about modeling but a large chunk of her writings is dedicated to pictures of food from around the world. Of course, that's what I'm mainly interested in. ;) Her latest post is comprised of pictures of McDonalds from around the world, helped by submissions from her readers. Is it just me or is the McDonald's in America the least appealing one? I guess it makes sense; since McDonald's started here, the base of its menu is American food and it only has to change menu items in other countries to appeal to those countries' local tastes. I guess it would be like a foreign chain Americanizing their menu over here, except I can't think of any examples right now. And maybe I don't want american food.

Another example of interesting food in an overseas American chain is Dunkin' Donuts in Korea (also by Elyse, which I didn't notice when I first read the post a few days ago). Rye fig sounds interesting and I do love glutinous rice. I'm assuming that Dunkin' Donuts in America basically has...donuts. One recently opened in my town, which is interesting because my town doesn't have much (population is around 10,000). Then again, it doesn't really need to since it's so small and surrounding towns have lots of food stuffs (Ridgewood does, at least). The new Dunkin' Donuts (which also has a Baskin Robbins) opened up from across the middle school I used to go to. I'm figuring that the shop will do really well once school starts again and kids hobble over there at the end of the day. It wouldn't be surprising if the kids started drinking coffee as well, haha...ha..hm.

Here's one of the best picturing_food posts ever: Tokyo, Japan [7-13 July, 2005]. Look at ALL THE PHOTOS and then wish that YOU WERE IN JAPAN.

Even though NYC has lots of great food (which I try to document to the best of my ability), it's nothing like Asia. Yesterday I did a bit of fooding in NYC with TAS friends, Jesse and Carol, and since Jesse and I had never been to Macy's, we decided to check it out. The lower food level is nice, with a tempting bakery display and chocolate section, but it's not like what I've seen in Taiwan, Japan, or even England. We obviously like to eat in America so why the lack of focus on beautiful and good food? Or am I just not looking in the right place? I'm not talking about places that only have food, like Dean & Deluca, but department stores or malls.

I have many good memories of eating in the lower food court level at Far Eastern Plaza Mall (probably the only affordable thing there, haha). There were loads of different food vendors to choose from, all brought together in a subdued, wood-accented, stylish environment. Like any food court though, I'm sure it was noisy. And would you believe it, but I hardly ever got anything from the bakery (yeah, I cringe at the thought of my non-bakery-eating self during those short years I spent in Taiwan). I also remember a phenomenal food level in the basement of the newer (probably 7-8 years old by now) Mitsukoshi, like a football field of display cases harboring desserts and...well, that's all I remember. I'm sure it wasn't actually the size of a football field.

On a semi-related note, I went to Koryodang bakery in K-town yesterday (I can't believe that I NEVER noticed the two bakeries on that block before...I mean, that's sacreligious in the world of Robyn) and it had a impressive sleek, minimalistic interior. Although I'd prefer something cozy and colorful like Sugar Sweet Sunshine, it's a nice place to sit down (in cushy black chairs) for some drinks and baked goods without spending too much money.

Lastly, a "WTF" moment: chocolate flavored cheese? Huh? I repeat, huh? And this is popular in Taiwan? (You know, the land of cheese and chocolate...or not.) Now, I can kind of understand mixing cheese and chocolate, say, in chocolate cheesecake, but a chocolate flavored cheese single sounds like the product of a drunken brainstorm over at Chesedale headquarters. Actually, it's not the product itself that makes me go "muh?" but that it's actually POPULAR.