Foods named after places. That’s all.

by Annie Scott on

It’s food day here on Gadling, meaning there’s never been a better day for talking about foods with place names. Grab a Danish and enjoy.

There are many wines named for their locales (all Champagne is), and many cheeses — even Cheddar. Sometimes, though, the food name has little to do with the corresponding place. French fries, for example, are not French food; they are named for the way the potatoes are cut. Hamburgers are not from Hamburg. They have them there, though.

Rather than attempt to rate all place-named foods on their geographical inaccuracies or flavor, I have elected simply to list them. Can you think of more? Add them in the comments below and I’ll pop ’em into the list with your name.

Why? Because the world needs comprehensive lists of things. Obviously.

Foods With Place Names. The List.

Alaskan salad roll (sushi) – Ken Cook
Baked Alaska
Balogna
Bayonne ham – James Romanow
Bearnaise sauce – Gerhard Postpischil
Beijing duck – Rita Moreno
Belgian waffles
Berliner
Bismarck
Bombay duck – Nick
Boston baked beans
Boston cream pie
Braunschweiger sausage – Gerhard Postpischil
Brazil nuts
Brie – Nick
Brussels sprouts – Nick
Buffalo wingsCalifornia roll
Canadian bacon
Caprese salad – James
Carrizo sausage – Danny
Catalina dressing – Danny
Cheddar cheese
Chicago deep dish
Chicken Kiev
Chinese dumplings – Gerhard Postpischil
Coney Island dogs
Darjeeling (tea … I guess you could eat it)
Denver omelet
Derbyshire cheese – James
Dijon mustard
Dodger dogs
Dome dogs
Dutch baby
Eggs Florentine
Fenway Frank
Frankfurter
French dressing
French fries
French onion soup
French roast – Ken Cook
French toast
French Vanilla – Ken Cook
Fresno chilies
Genovese salami – James Romanow
Georgia peaches – Adrienne Mitra
German chocolate – Ken Cook
Hamburger
Hollandaise sauce
Irish stew – Gerhard Postpischil
Italian ice – Ken Cook
Jalapeño
Java – Nick
Jerusalem artichoke
Jordan almonds – Ken Cook
Key lime pie
Lima beans
Limburger cheese – Ken Cook
Lincolnshire cheese – James
Linzer torte – Gerhard Postpischil
London broil
Manhattan clam chowder
Mars bar
Maryland blue crabs – Adrienne Mitra
Mayonnaise
Milky Way
Mississippi mud pie – Christy
Moon pie – Ken Cook
Monte Cristo
Nanaimo bars – Danny
New England clam chowder
New York cheesecake
New York pizza – Gerhard Postpischil
Nicoise salad – James
Nile perch – Rita Moreno
Parma ham – James Romanow
Parmesan
Pasta Florentine
Philadelphia cream cheese
Philly cheese steak
Prince Albert apple – Danny
Polish sausage
Quiche Lorraine – Danny
Roma tomato
Roquefort
Russian dressing – Ken Cook
Sacher torte – Gerhard Postpischil
Salisbury steak
Sandwich – Danny
Serrano ham – James Romanow
Szegedi goulash – Gerhard Postpischil
Spanish peanuts – Ken Cook
Spanish rice
Stilton
Swedish meatballs – Ken Cook
Swedish pancakes
Sweet Vidalia onions – Ken Cook
Swiss cheese – Danny
Texas toast
Thousand island dressing
Turkey
Turkish delight – Ken Cook
Valencia oranges – Danny
Vienna sausage – Gerhard Postpischil
Virginia ham – James Romanow
Waldorf salad
Welsh Rarebit – Nick
Wiener schnitzel – Danny
Worcestershire sauce
Yorkshire pudding

SkyMall Monday: A Cornucopia of Foods

by Mike Barish on

Writing about SkyMall products can generate a real man-sized hunger. Living in New York, I’m surrounded by culinary options from around the globe. I can easily walk from the the SkyMall Monday Headquarters to any number of restaurants specializing in the cuisines of Thailand, Nepal, Italy, Afghanistan, Turkey and Canada (yes, Canada), just to name a few. But sometimes I want to experience the flavors of the world without leaving home. Sure, I could have those restaurants deliver, but I want credit for cooking these meals. And by cooking, I mean constructing and heating up meals that one can only hope freeze, travel and defrost well. Thankfully, SkyMall understands that you don’t need to travel to experience the food of other cultures. Quite frankly, it makes more sense to let the food do the traveling while I stay put. Food doesn’t have to get patted down at the airport or deal with the chatty guy in seat 13F who smells like farts and disappointment. When food comes to you, it makes you more special than the meal. Because you were the one worth visiting. So, what myriad treats can SkyMall deliver to your door? I hope you’re hungry, because I’m going to be putting a heaping helping into your mouth today.Famous Fast Food Bundle (Pictured above) – Containing a Vienna Beef Hot Dog Kit, Original Philly Cheesesteak Co. Kit and Anchor Bar Buffalo wings, this all-in-one party-in-a-box comes with the fixings for 16 Chicago-style hot dogs, six Philly cheesesteaks and two pounds of Buffalo wings. Invite your best girl over for an intimate evening and be sure to contact your lawyer to get your affairs in order before ingesting all that brain food.

Sausage Lovers Bundle – Here’s what you do: Invite over each and every one of your best bros. All the fellas from the gym. The lads from the office. The guys from your cuddle parties. Gather ’em all up and then unfurl your Sausage Lovers Bundle on their asses! They won’t know what hit the backs of their throats as they take in those two pounds of Vienna Beef Polish sausage, 2.25 pounds of Usinger’s Cooked Brats and eight ounces of Vienna Beef Frankwurts. It will no doubt be the hottest, juicest and zestiest sausage party that those men have ever attended. Your party, like the frankwurts, will be “enormous!” And remember, pack plenty of condiments, because while the “natural hog casing gives it a distinctive snap,” it’s up to you to give it a protective wrap.

Johnnie’s Pastrami Dip – Typically, I like my pastrami to be made by someone named Morty or Schlomo, but only Johnnie can turn this delightful meat into something so classy. Because all it takes is “one bite of the pastrami and you know this is real fine dining.” Tablecloth, butler and silver platter not included.

Angelina’s Crab Cakes – “One bite identifies the meat as 100% domestic blue crab, the exclusive, expensive variety that’s worth every succulent nibble.” Because when you have to be told about an items exclusivity and price, you know it’s classy. Just ask the Real Housewives of [insert name of any city that has been featured on that show].

Fruitasia – Easier to navigate than its cousin Southeast Asia and significantly more delicious than it’s sibling, euthanasia, Fruitasia is a treat for all of your senses. “A feast of flavors and sweet nectars – 16 pieces of fruit in all – this selection offers harvest-fresh morsels from every corner of the grove. Equally opulent is its dramatic presentation, making it irresistible to lavish on someone special.” That’s a grandiose way of saying that it’s a basket with three kinds of pears, two kinds of apples and some navel oranges.

Rocky Mountain Chocolates – Perhaps no region is more world-renowned for its confections than the American West.

I could go on, but, well, I’m starving. Check out all 50 food items offered in the SkyMall catalog when you have some time. Assuming you don’t eat any of them, it will be a great use of your time.

As for me, I have to get the invites out for my upcoming Presidents Day Sausage Party. They’ll be delivered in shipping tubes. I hope to see you there.

Check out all of the previous SkyMall Monday posts HERE.

Dig deeper in your travel research with the food blog

by Grant Martin on

One of my favorite strategies when doing my travel research is food blog crawling. Food blogs put a unique spin on a destination, have authors who are almost always social and are furthermore great places to find new places to eat. Our own blogger Jeremy Kressmann dominated the gastronomic scene in Seoul this way, and more and more food bloggers are seeping into mainstream shows like No Reservations and Bizarre Foods.

Great case in point? Cafe Fernando. The author, as one commenter puts him a “gourmet of life,” is an Istanbul resident, cooking genius, amateur photographer, and talented blogger, the product of which is a mouth watering journey into pages of crumbcakes, donuts, cheescakes and tarts.

Heading somewhere soon? Give it a try on google: plug “[your city] + food + blog” into a search and see what comes up. You’ll be surprised, delighted and hungry when you’re finished.

Food so good, you’ll travel around the world to get it

by Scott Carmichael on

One of the best parts of traveling, is discovering new and exciting food. Of course, adventurous travelers will be on the lookout for the most exotic dishes they can find. Personally, I’m not that adventurous, and I stay away from any food that could be part of Fear Factor.

For our “foodie travel” theme day, I asked our team for the dish they would travel the world for. The kind of dish you are already craving when you get on the plane to return back home, or the dish that reminds you of your fantastic trip just by smelling it, or hearing its name.

Once we have whetted your appetite, why don’t you share your own “will travel for food” in the comment section – you know we love hearing from you!
Scott: My favorite is the Indonesian Rijsttafel. A table filled with up to 30 different Indonesian dishes. You don’t even need to fly to Indonesia to get one – the dish was invented by the Indonesian population in The Netherlands (Indonesia was once a Dutch colony). I’ll also admit that I once flew from Amsterdam to New York just to buy chocolate chip cookies, but I’ll save that one for “most insane trip day”.

Tom: Hot dogs!

Catherine: Curry: green, red, massamam, thai, indian

Grant: One of my big traditions is drinking espresso like crazy when I’m in France — if not for the espresso, proper, for the atmosphere.

Melanie: I’ll swim across the Atlantic and trek my way through Europe for pizza from a cafe in the Piazza Navona in Rome

Annie: Black pepper crab in Singapore is the best thing ever.

Katie: Icelandic hot dogs. Really good jamon from Spain. Pesto from Cinque Terre, Italy. Beer from Denver.

The fig and proscuitto flatbread from Olives in NYC. Macarons (NOT coconut macaroons) from France. BBQ from Slow’s in Detroit. Tapas in San Sebastian, Spain (particularly the seared foie gras at La Cuchara de San Telmo). A meal at Azafran in Mendoza (filet topped with brie, wrapped in puff pastry and served with a malbec reduction sauce). Empanadas from Cumana in Buenos Aires. Pizza topped with faina (a kind of chickpea dough) from Guerrin in Buenos Aires.

Gadling’s tribute to foodie travel

by Grant Martin on

Ask any of my friends and they’ll tell you that I’m probably the worst foodie traveler on the planet. I stood by while my companions ate horse sashimi in Tokyo, politely declined the boiling hot oyster balls in Osaka, ordered the steak instead of the borscht in Russia, and definitely skipped the chicken feet in Hong Kong. Andrew Zimmern makes me uncomfortable, my first tuna roll was in Bangkok last year and even with a Vietnamese mother, I’ll admit that I don’t like phở.

It’s true that gastronomic exploration is an excellent way to experience a culture, eat like a local and try something exotic, but there are more significant components to foodie travel then competing to see who can eat the most outlandish viscera. Food brings people and cultures to a communal table, a place where stories are exchanged, traditions are observed and friends are made. And this can happen at the dive bar in the red light district or at the 4 star Michelin rated restaurant at the top of the finest hotel in the city.

Enjoying food on the road can thus come in many forms, some in plain sight in a guide book and others, more subtle, in a host’s kitchen or at a marketplace vendor. Today at Gadling we’ll be covering all points on the spectrum, from some of our favorite hotspots to strategies for making your meal worth it’s buck. We hope you enjoy it.