Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Let's eat!

We read to enter new worlds. Moving to another country, which I did last week, is like moving to another world. Even though Australia is probably the country most like America, the differences stand out (not so much for me, as I lived here most of my adult life, but my husband is having to adjust). The food alone is enough to make you think you're on another planet. There is no A1 steak sauce. There are, blessedly, no Twinkies or Ding Dongs. But there are Tim Tams and lamingtons and iced vo-vo's. Restaurants here don't serve iced tea and the waiter probably won't bring you water unless you ask for it, but you can get dry ginger instead of that sickly sweet "ginger ale", and fruit yogurt actually tastes sharp. Vanilla icecream tastes... different. Not better or worse, just different.

Last night my husband ate what he declared to be his worst ever restaurant meal (chicken parmigiana at a local bistro). My worst ever meal was some sort of flat noodle and white "gravy" and soggy green bean concoction at a Cracker Barrel in Pennsylvania. It was, in fact, supernaturally bad. Still, on the whole I got used to American food and I'm sure he'll get used to Aussie fare. Our daughter will be a Happy Little Vegemite, growing up on Milo and Nutrigrain instead of Minute Maid and Cheerios.

I like to imagine what we'll eat in the future. I don't believe for a minute we'll all be chowing down on protein shakes and vitamin pills. Humans live by their taste buds and we'll never stand for anything less than real food.'

For a bit of fun, tell me about the worst meal you ever ate. Or the most unusual. Or the most out-of-this-world. For me, nothing beats Cadbury Creme Eggs - available on both sides of the globe, but unfortunately only at Easter.

12 comments:

Helen Lowe said...

Sara, I think I may just have had one of my best meals ever--a quiet dinner 'just' with my partner (after the blog party) to celebrate "The Heir of Night's" release day--where the food was perfect, simple but great flavors, the atmosphere relaxed but convivial. And before we were done, two friends whom I have been meaning to catch up with for some time, but not quite managed to, came in ... so it all felt "just perfect!

Bexx said...

Cadbury Cream eggs are my favorite candy. I buy tons of them at Easter and keep them in the freezer all year! My worst meal ever was lentil burgers at a vegan restaurant. Turns out I hate lentils, the texture is so gross I couldn't swallow them. My favorite meals are comfort food though - things I grew up eating like meatloaf or spaghetti.

CdnMrs said...

Best meal ever was/is breakfast at a "greasy spoon", eggs over easy, brown (whole wheat)toast, greasy fried ham, fried potatoes, pancakes with butter and syrup and lots and lots of coffee. I can never reproduce the flavours at home. Worst meal ever - my father in law doesn't cook meat, he incinerates it. So every time he invites our family for BBQ I think I die a little inside.
Ps. Cadbury eggs are awesome!

Sharon S. said...

I find those Cadbury eggs nasty . I do love Cadbury dark chocolate eggs (the candy coated ones). Gummy Bears are just wrong. I don't like the feel of gummy anything.

Favorites: Southern breakfast anything! I could eat breakfast for every meal . The best pizza is from Salvio's in Cary, NC. It is a small place in a strip mall .

Becky LeJeune said...

I'm a huge foodie. I couldn't even begin to pick a best meal. Worst, I'm sure there's plenty out there for me but I can't think of one off hand.

Cadbury! Oh, Cadbury candy from the UK is amazing! I can only get it at specialty shops, but it simply blows the American version out of the water. It's so much more rich and creamy than our waxy stuff. I would buy it by the boatload if I could.

Katie Dalton said...

worst meal ever was this nasty burrito I got at a ma and pa place in Redwood City CA. Worst food ever.
:P

Patricia Lynne said...

My best meal was at a local Chinese restaurant. It was only the lo-mein but it wasn't 'Americanised' like most Chinese restaurants in America are. Worst was also at the same restaurant. I tried something new and it was just veggies in a nasty white gravy that kind... well a lot, looked like a certain male fluid. =| Oddest thing I've ever eaten, alligator. It was good, chewy and according to my bf 'tastes just like chicken' lol

Aaaaand now I'm hungry. thanks a lot.

Nicole Murphy said...

Welcome to Aus, Sara! Hope we get to meet up at some point!

Worst meal - first dinner at the local Returned Services League club in a small country town we'd moved to. Ordered the lasagne because - well, really, how can you muck up lasagne?

But putting LIVER in it, that's how! Hubby and I took a bite each, looked at each other, went - why does this taste weird ... Two bites later, we were laughing as we realised. Finished it (cause you don't waste food) and NEVER ordered it again.

Cylver said...

I can't remember the worst meal I ever ate, but some of the best have come from tiny little "hole in the wall" type places that nobody's ever heard of. I once had an awesome chicken mole at a tiny Mexican restaurant in Berkeley, CA, and I used to get the best hot dogs at a tiny place in San Rafael (also CA)
Cadbury eggs? The first bite is sheer heaven, but after that the filling is just too sweet. But there's no such thing as too much chocolate!

GB said...

Welcome back to Oz, Sara!

The worst meal I ever ate was in a bar in New York. Pasta and veges in olive oil didn't sound too bad on the menu, but the pasta, onions and olives (no other veges) swimming in olive oil I was given wasn't too great. I managed to leave most of the oil behind and they didn't get a tip. (It was 10pm and I was famished, otherwise I would have sent it back!)

Best meals I've ever had has to come down to the places I had them - a degustation restuarant in Arrowtown, NZ and an up-market restaurant a friend of a friend owned in the Southern Highlands of NSW here in Oz. Best Food. Ever.

Mind you, a good hearty meal with good wine and even better company cannot be beaten.

Claire Dawn said...

Hungry Jack instead of Burger King :) I like Aussie food. :)

Crystal @ RBtWBC said...

No A1 sauce? I would die. I am the condiment queen. Have to have it.
Oh and Cadbury Eggs, YuM! I buy a shelf full every year. Unfortunetly my husband usually ends up eating them all in a day.

I can't think of what the worst food I've had was right now. Drawing a blank. But every year I look forward to the Food & Wine festival, which just started this weekend YAY, so I can have some escargot in wine sauce on toast. So good, I can't get enough. And even if it didn't taste so good I would be happy eating it just to see the looks on my family's face when I do. LoL
And they have a Australian booth there of course and the prawns are fab! I have to stop by there every year as well. =)