aGreatChef.com Blog – Food Blog of Chef Robert Conaway

With all the extra work over the last few months I found that I kept thinking about comfort foods, which shouldn’t come as any surprise figuring that I am a chef. The one thing that was hard was when I was in my office, all 110 degrees f of it, thinking of these foods was like, well…Hell. Yes I was sweating like stuck pig (there is no A/C or ventilation in my current office) so one could liken it to Hell, but it wasn’t the heat that I am referring to.

Thinking of some of these foods, and my inability to get my hands on some of them took me back in time to the places when my hands were firmly wrapped around the item(s) in question and I was with the people who helped define the moment. The moment when a food stuff, usually in my case something completely random, is an anchor point in life. The first experience, the first taste of something truly unique and mind blowing that I think back to it and the events that surrounded the moment many, or not so many moons ago.

Like the night I arrived in Bangkok on my way to Vietnam. I checked into the hotel burnt from a day and a half of travel. Dropped the luggage, hit the bed, rolled over and saw this red, hairy thing in the fruit basket. One taste and I was in love with rambutans.

…or the time after 3 flights + 2 continents and a squeaky 4 hour train ride, arriving at the train station at3 am, only to arrive at the hotel by 5 am…off for espresso at 9 am. Hungry, I sneak into a small cafe in Vietre su Mare and snack on the freshest buffalo mozzarella (caprese) salad I have ever had…

…or the runs up to the top of Texas street for Injera bread from the small Ethiopian cafe here in San Diego…

100 foods, 100 stories, 100 life defining events and 100 moments in time that will always put a smile on my face, no matter how bad the day is or how thick the cr@p is. Food, probably why I became a chef so long ago.

So here is the list. See if anything on it triggers a smile, either from a great memory or a laugh and a WTF is that! If you feel like it, leave a comment, or just a smiley face.

100 things I like to eat;

1. Pho bo
2. Bun bo hue
3. Gai yang
4. Tom yum gai
5. Miang kam
6. Beef bourguignon
7. Crème brulee
8. Rice
9. Ramen
10. Yakuniku
11. Saimin
12. Chicharones
13. Poke
14. Chicken mole
15. Oysters
16. Carpaccio
17. Kobe beef
18. BBQ pork buns
19. On choi
20. Pomfret
21. Skate wing
22. Fois gras
23. Truffles
24. Caviar
25. Smoked herring
26. Wolf berries
27. Lechon
28. Durian
29. Dragon fruit
30. Jujubee
31. Passion fruit
32. Guayaba
33. Lychee
34. Longan
35. Eel
36. Sweet sticky rice
37. Sugar cured bacon
38. Organic bananas
39. Chicken feet
40. Red beans and rice
41. Gumbo
42. Caprese salad
43. Heirloom tomatoes
44. Lau laus
45. Beef tendon
46. Chocolate mousse
47. Tiramisu
48. Diver scallops
49. Octopus
50. Quinoa
51. Amaranth
52. Fish tacos
53. Pistachio nougat
54. Black berries
55. Fuerte avocados
56. Pla ra
57. Buche
58. Paneer
59. Vindaloo
60. Doner kababs
61. Injera bread
62. Morcilla cocida
63. Paella
64. Uni
65. Duroc pork
66. Homemade ice cream
67. Hummus
68. Hot Italian beef sandwiches
69. Chicago style pizza
70. Smoked albacore tuna
71. Som tom
72. Buttermilk fried chicken
73. Hodads hamburgers
74. Beer
75. Laab pla dook
76. Jidori chicken
77. Raw beef liver
78. Fish maw
79. Ceviche
80. Geoduck clams
81. Fresh water prawns
82. Gai lan
83. Dried squid
84. Young coconut
85. Sopresata
86. Caperberries
87. Seaweed
88. Spam musubi
89. Shave ice
90. Biryani
91. Pandan anything
92. Chapulines
93. Caldo de res
94. Menudo
95. Jackfruit
96. Molasses
97. Congee
98. Bunashemeji mushrooms
99. Rice ball
100. Rambutans