A Sport for Athletic Gluttons: Pie Racing

by Martha Edwards on

As far as contests go, would you be more likely to enter a bike race or a pie-eating contest? These two contests seem to be about as far apart on the health spectrum as possible. But there’s good news for all the gluttonous pie-loving bikers and bike-loving pie eaters out there — you don’t have to choose one or the other … you can do them both!

Pie racing is a fairly new event at the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition’s annual Biking Festival. The 6.5-mile bike race has three ‘pie stops’, at which competitors race against time to try and eat a slice of pie before heading off on their merry way. Some competitors choose to furiously ram the pie down their gullet while others choose a more patient eating approach but regardless of how you eat it, you must swallow it completely before re-mounting your bike. It kind of brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘carbo-loading’, doesn’t it?

The race happens on August 25th if you’re interested. Make sure to leave your best jersey at home — the race is bound to be a bit messy.

(Via Intelligent Traveler)

Locate Fast Food Restaurants with FastFoodMaps.com

by Justin Glow on

It may be the most superfluous website on the entire Internet, but it’s done well. FastFoodMaps.com provides a Google Maps interface for locating fast food restaurants around the United States. If you’re having problems locating a fast food restaurant in America, something is wrong. In fact, I’d urge you to not locate a fast food restaurant on your next road trip. Impossible.

Even so, FastFoodMaps.com serves its purpose and does it well. Houston seems to have the highest concentration of fast food restaurants, with just over 500 in the greater metro area. You can filter results by location, of course, but also by restaurant. Houston has almost 130 McDonald’s.

Also interesting is the their static maps which shows the distribution of various chains from around the country. The image above is every McDonald’s in the U.S.

FastFoodMaps.com [via]

What People Eat Around the Globe

by Neil Woodburn on

Discovering the different foods consumed internationally is one of the true joys of traveling.

I love walking through local markets and grocery stores when visiting some far-off land. Restaurants are pretty cool as well. The most rewarding experience by far, however, is being invited into someone’s home and eating a meal with them in the same manner which they’ve been doing so their entire lives.

And so it was with pleasure that I ran across a recent Time Magazine article, How the World Eats, by Bryan Walsh, that details the eating habits of typical families from around the globe and how much they spend on a weekly basis buying food.

What really makes the article, however, is the accompanying photo gallery plucked from the pages of photographer Peter Menzel’s book, Hungry Planet. The gallery features 15 families from Ecuador to Kuwait sitting in their dining rooms surrounded by the food they consume over the course of a typical week.

Each photo from a developed nation is a kaleidoscope of various packaged goods; while photos from Chad, Ecuador and Bhutan, reflect a far more rural palate of natural colors. Naturally, the contrast is meant to be jarring, and perhaps even a little bit sickening when comparing the bounty of some nations to the meager portions of others. On the other hand, the more impoverished countries sure seem to eat a lot healthier! Except for Chad; a couple of small bags of grain is a depressing sight to see.

So, if you’ve just stuffed your face with some local specialty, take a moment to check out what others are eating across the globe and you’ll quickly feel either better or worse about yourself.

Driving Drunk: Legal Limits vary by Country in Europe

by Neil Woodburn on

So much a part of touring Europe is enjoying the fine wines and beers one can find there.

One shouldn’t, however, enjoy these libations if they happen to be touring in a rental car.

Back home you probably know exactly how much you can drink while remaining under the legal limit for driving. In California where I live, for example, the legal limit is .08 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC). Every time I renew my car registration I get a little chart that tells me I can have three drinks and still be under the limit. Personally, if I’m driving, I never take the chance; I either drink Coke, or cut myself off after one beer.

But in Europe, the laws are different. And, they vary by country. Those same three drinks that are okay to consume in England, for example, will put you behind bars in most other European countries. And, in places like the Czech Republic and Hungary, a single drink will do the trick.

Certainly the best advice is DON’T DRIVE if you are drinking–especially on the unfamiliar roads of a foreign country. If you are dumb enough to do so, here is a short list of legal limits by country. But please, let me know when you’re visiting so I can stay off the roads.

0.08 = UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta (same as the United States)
0.05 = Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain
0.04 = Lithuania
0.02 = Norway, Poland, Sweden
Zero tolerance = Estonia, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary

Want more information on Europe? Check out our Europe destination guide.

One for the Road – China: Restaurant Ordering Guides

by Kelly Amabile on

As a sidebar to this month’s Chinese Buffet series, throughout August, One for the Road will highlight travel guides, reference books and other recommended reads related to life or travel in China.

The final two books from the True Run Media team that I’d like to mention this week are their brand new restaurant ordering guides: Healthy Chinese Cuisine and Spicy Chinese Cuisine are compact glossy flip books that are handy for making sure you order what you really want to eat. Each book includes color photos of popular dishes, and is accompanied by the name of entrees in Chinese and Pinyin, as well as an English, Russian and French translation of all the meals.

A variety of culinary regions are represented — Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Xinjiang. Ingredients for each featured dish are also included, so you know exactly what is supposed to be in what you are ordering. No guarantees, of course — but a book like this might be especially useful for folks with food allergies. The spicy book has dishes like sour lotus root, Kung Pao chicken, spicy cucumber and all kinds of hot stir fry. These guys love their spicy food so much that they also host a Chili Pepper Eating Contest each summer. Is your mouth watering yet?