Food Week: Reader submissions

by Grant Martin on


Urban legend often attributes Marie Antoinette with saying, “let them eat cake” a phrase with associates the French with expensive taste in dining. Yet one of the best and most flavorful French dining experiences is a budget luxury- a Ladurée petit macaron priced at an affordable €1.65. — Jen Pollack Bianco, mylifesatrip.com

It’s been a wild and wonderful food week here at Gadling, complete with food stories from all corners of the world and a lifetime of pictures and inspiration. If you missed the highlights, make sure you check out David Farley’s piece on a chance encounter in Calcatta, Italy, Laurel Miller’s discussion on the overuse of the term “foodie” or Kyle Ellison’s introspective on why we take pictures of food.

Things come to a close and return to normal publishing at the end of today, and to celebrate our wonderful week we’re featuring a gallery of user submissions over its course. So with further ado, please find some of the best pictures (and captions if available) below. Thanks for playing a part. — Grant Martin, Editor in Chief

The finished bowl of ramen stares up at me, a mountain of noodles in a swirling sea of golden yellow miso; a forest of bamboo shoots next to minced pork beneath crispy fresh bean sprouts. A ceramic spoon floats at the edge but I dive in with wooden chopsticks while Sakae slurps up his ramen using both utensils at once. — Andrew Evans, National Geographic’s Digital Nomad

Fresh warm spring rolls filled with mushrooms and spiced pork, folded and topped with fried garlic. From the street stalls of Luang Prabang, Laos. — [From our favorite Legal Nomad –ed] Jodi Ettenberg, legalnomads.com

Fernando’s in Macau has some really amazing pork — Gary Leff, View from the Wing.


Taipei, Taiwan – Me eating my pork filet out of my toilet. — Calvin Lee


Here’s room service at the Fairmont Vancouver. Fresh & delish. — Kim Lowe, Bing Travel

The village of Njegusi, Montenegro has two important claims to fame. This was the hometown of the House of Petrovic-Njegos, the dynasty that ruled Montenegro for much of its history (1696-1918).
Njegusi is also famous for producing its own special type of air-dried ham, called Njeguski prsut. Locals explain that, because this meadow overlooks the sea on one side, and the mountains on the other, the wind changes direction 10 times each day, alternating between dry mountain breeze and salty sea air, perfect for seasoning and drying ham hocks. For good measure, the prsut is also smoked with beech wood.
Our guide took us into this local restaurant and we sampled prsut, homemade cheese and bread. — Sandra Mathewson

This is a shot of my brother enjoying a scorpion on a stick on Beijing’s famed Wangfujing Street (snack street). It is a great place to sample the oddities of Chinese cuisine (starfish, sheep penis, etc) … or watch others do it. The scorpions are well-salted and taste like popcorn. — Trent, myinvertedworld.com

Food from a Viennese coffee house – up front is a cup of delicious hot chocolate made the right way, hence with milk. As well as a slice of Bananenschnitte, which is a banana cream dessert topped with a fine layer of chocolate. In the background is a traditional Viennese coffee with more than likely a poppy seed roll. Yum! — Kat Shoebox

Here’s a photo of an exotic food I would like to share. Here’s a piece of man shaped sponge cake bathing in chocolate syrup that I’ve ate in Tokyo. I hope you like it! — Patience Lee

Meet the “mitraillette” or its English translation of “submachine gun.” I discovered it in Brussels and yes, it’s a baguette covered in a meat of your choosing, the famous twice-fried Belgium fries and cheese sauce. — Ethan Adeland, tastesbetterwithfriends.com


Mom’s dinner on the coast of the English Channel, Brittany, France — Mike Martin (My dad)

Suya: the next kebab?

by Sean McLachlan on


One of the great things about the world getting smaller and everyone getting all mixed up is that we can try fast food from all different cultures. Take suya, for example. I’d never heard of this Nigerian fast food until I lived in London.

My house was on the northern end of Old Kent Road. This area has a large population of African immigrants. I met people from Nigeria, Ghana, and Ethiopia, and I’m sure many other countries are represented. The Nigerians were very visible with lots of restaurants selling suya. It’s like shish kebab with beef, chicken, goat, or fish. The meat is rubbed with tankora powder. There are various recipes for tankora and generally include red pepper, powdered nuts, salt, ginger, paprika, and onion powder. Check out this tankora recipe if you want to try it at home.

As you can imagine, it’s pretty thirst inducing. Luckily many suya restaurants serve palm wine, a smooth, tasty alcoholic drink that’s not too strong. Many restaurants also have live music. West African music is very participatory, with the singer pointing to various members of the audience and staff and making up verses about them. I always got included but not knowing any West African languages I had no idea what the singers said. :-)

I’m thinking suya could replace kebab, which is currently the snack food of choice in London, especially at two o’clock in the morning after ten pints of lager. I’ve never liked kebab, which in most places is unhealthy and more than a little nasty, so suya would make the perfect replacement. It’s filling, salty, and quick, all the things you need after a good pub crawl, and with live music and palm wine thrown in, it makes the perfect end (or start!) to a fun evening out.

This photo, courtesy secretlondon123, shows some of Presidential Suya’s takeaway, with beef suya on the left and chicken suya on the right. Presidential Suya is one of my favorite West African restaurants in London.