Gadling Take FIVE: Week of Sept. 11-Sept. 18

by Jamie Rhein on

Perhaps you noticed that Monday was Weird America at Gadling. Granted, it may seem that many days are weird at Gadling, but Monday’s post centered on the odd and unusual. Caves, squirrels, monsters, ghosts, mysterious structures, Superman, leaping postmen and a gigantic tire were part of the mix.

But that’s not all that showed up in our offerings. These are some you may have missed in the line-up.

  • In the middle of August, when my son, daughter and I became part of the masses that were visiting Venice, I wondered if anyone actually lived there. It was hard to tell. Katie’s post tells about one possible solution to the crush. Ban day-trippers.
  • If you’ve ever wondered what happens to planes once they’ve outlived their use, Scott has proof on one answer. Planes with the Mojave Desert make an interesting visual mix.
  • Reading Tom’s post on the reopening of the Sanctuary Swala in Tanzania is one way to develop travel envy. Although a stay there is not cheap, there are deals that can make a stay there within reach. Besides, wouldn’t this be a stay of a lifetime?
  • Although it may be too late to attend the Monterey Jazz Festival this year since it’s happening this weekend, this festival is one to put on next year’s calendar. Brenda details what makes the longest running jazz festival in the world so outstanding.
  • Here’s an event I’d love to attend. Jeremy gave a heads up to one of the most creative festival ideas. At the Sydney International Food Festival in October, each participating country’s flag will be represented by food in a way that also represents that country. How cool is that?

Here’s to hoping you’re having an outstanding weekend no matter where you are and what’s on your agenda.

Flags of the world, made out of food

by Jeremy Kressmann on

The topic of national identity comes up frequently when we travel, particularly when it comes to displaying our home country’s flag. As it turns out, the debate surrounding flags is even more “consuming” than we first thought, especially when the flags happen to be made out of food.

In honor of this October’s upcoming Sydney International Food Festival, the event’s organizers have arranged to have the flag of each participating country re-created using that nation’s unique local food products and recipes. See the flag to the right (from Australia)? It’s been remade as a meat pie, a food favorite from Down Under. Greece on the other hand, was composed entirely of olives and feta cheese. And how about Japan? It’s been constructed as a circular piece of pinkish-red sushi on a bed of rice.

Even as the boundaries of our home countries are blurred by travel, foods remain one of the few reliable reminders of what it is that makes the places we visit so undeniably unique. Flags, in similar fashion, offer the visual equivalent of a unique food, declaring the unique characteristics of each country. Yet increasingly we find the foods of just about any cuisine available anywhere we happen to be in the world. As it turns out, “deliciousness” knows no political or geographical boundaries – food is one topic we all seem agree upon.

[Via Metafilter]