Top 50 Things Every Foodie Should Do

The UK's Observer has a section called Food Monthly. I just stumbled upon an interesting list that they published a year an a half ago in May of 2005. While celebrating their 50th edition they enlisted several high-profile British foodies such as Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Nigel Slater to help devise the list of The Top 50 Things Every Foodie Should Do.

It's a quite comprehensive list. There are some good traditional standards that every cook should partake in such as dismembering a chicken and boiling a freshly laid egg. But the fun comes in with some of the more adventuresome suggestions such as diving for sea urchins or making love in a vineyard.

I feel a bit empowered since I have already done a handful of items on the list. My absolute favorite is #15 stomping grapes. That is always something I have wanted to do even though I know I will look just like Lucille Ball. It has to be an amazingly good time. And I bet it's much harder than it looks.

I can think of a few things that aren't on the list. If I were asked to contribute, I would have added "Eat from a street vendor in a major American city." It doesn't matter if it's a hot dog on the streets of NYC or a tamale from the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago, our culture lies in our communities.

2007 foodie resolutions

An interesting question was posted over at Save Your Fork... There's Pie! What are your food resolutions for 2007?

I had not even thought of making something like a "food resolution". But like my fellow food blogger, I too have some goals regarding food for the coming year. So I have listed my food resolutions below . . .

1. Actually READ my cookbooks. Many of my cookbooks have some valuable information in them aside from just recipes. Until now, I have just passed over that "fluff" and went straight to the recipes.

2. Make at least one recipe in each of the cookbooks I have. I'd like to do this before I purchase any additional cookbooks. I have many cookbooks that I bought for the novelty of it or because they were on sale at Costco and I thought I had to have it. Many I have not even actually made one single recipe from. This goal will pose especially challenging for The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden which I have cracked open several times but have always been discouraged and confused about deciding what I want to cook. I may also have some issues with a sushi cookbook my friend gave me.

3. Cook food that I can take for lunch. I have a plethora of recipes for all sorts of good salads, breads, tacos, etc. I should be able to find several things to throw together that won't cost an arm and a leg.

4. Become conscious of the food I put in my mouth. I am not necessarily going to go on a diet, but I want to be aware of foods that are very fattening. I plan to add all the recipes I make to the Weight Watchers online recipe tool because I like using their points system to determine how fattening or healthy something is. I get confused with calories, fat grams, etc.

5. Blog the results of each recipe I cook. That's what I started this blog for afterall. I'm using it as a food journal of sorts.

6. Food & Wine's 100 Tastes to Try in '07. Do my best to try as many foods on this list as possible. I think it will be a fun way to try some new things.

So what do you think? They all seem like reasonable enough goals to me.