Five Things To Eat Before We Die

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Five things to try before you die.

Now isn’t that such a fantastically indulgent daydream? To actually try all the items compiled by a multitude of foodies at the request of Melissa of The Traveler’s Lunchbox?

Where to begin? Let's see…first let’s all eat a juicy ripe peach off of a tree in Georgia, or a fig in Italy, have some coffee in Hawaii, then go to Maine for some blueberries, and Seattle for some salmon but don't forget to jaunt off to England for clotted cream. Next stop Cambodia for some beer and Turkey for some kebobs.

Not only will our mouths and stomachs be satisfied but our minds endlessly thinking of the next food that simply must be tried. It is a long list after all.

What a lovely fantasy! I could spend all day just reveling in it.

Now shall I add my little thoughts? Shall I tell you what I deem worthy of this monumental list?

First, I must point out that I think all of the previous entries sound totally awesome. Full tilt good times. So these are my additions, and that is not to say I think a vine ripened tomato is less important (because frankly, they are supreme) or that I don't think everyone should try caviar or Wagu beef, I am just making sure these little delights are included in the roundup too.

So on with the show!

Truffled French Fries. Heady, salty deep-fried soul-touching splendor. I recommend the Hotel Bel Air bar’s version…but obviously you should get them where ever they are available in your area. A combination divined from above.

A Cheese Blintz. What is a blintz? It is a golden crepe filled with light as air whipped cheese, and topped (more often than not) with fruit syrup. The best are made at home, because anything made with care by someone who has done it more times than they can count, is worth trying. For many people it is a standard, for many, many more, it will be a whole new treat.

A Slice of Pizza from Fieros Pizza in East Hampton, NY. I only make it out to visit East Hampton once a year, but in between I dream of this thin sliced slice of perfection from my childhood. On rainy winter nights I wonder, can it really be as good as I remember? And every time I bite into a slice, I am reminded that yes, it really is. Thin crust, slightly crackled and just this side of charred, the red sauce is thin and the cheese gooey. What more could a person ask for?

An Authentic Fish Taco. Eaten out of hand from a thatched hut on a sun drenched beach (why is all food better by the sea?) someplace in Baja or on the way home from a baseball game, it doesn't matter which. It is my favorite food, and I cannot imagine a life where I couldn’t eat them.

Wedding Cake. I don’t know what it is about weddings that I love so much, but the simple act of two people making such a profound commitment in front of the people they care most about, to me, is amazing and beautiful (even the tacky ones in Vegas) …and that it ends with cake, well, all the better. White cake from a box, or a nine-tiered fantasy, it is all the same to me…symbolic of a sweet life and therefore the best thing indeed.

So why these things out of all the things people can eat? Why not dinner at Nobu or fish stew in the South of France? Well, those things are all great too, but like I said, I wanted to add a few that hadn't been mentioned and the things that mean the most to me.

Had my list been longer, it would have included: A Chicago style hot dog, steak in Argentina, my Spanish sister-in-law’s gazpacho and a real Danish Smorrebrod . Not to mention, an Italian-American Feast of the Seven Fishes on Christmas eve with people you love, soda sipped through a straw made out of a red vines licorice, (preferably, at the end of a dock with your feet dangling over into the water) popcorn at The Sunset Five movie theater, lunch at The French Laundry, Tahitian vanilla scented beurre blanc poured over a freshly caught and grilled fish in Bora-Bora, Tatertots in a school cafeteria, Falafels: anywhere, a picnic at The Hollywood Bowl and of course, cocktails on the roof of a building at sunset.


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The San Francisco-based beer He-Brew, a company that started out as a joke is celebrating ten years in business. Founder Jeremy Cowan says that starting out, he and his friends just thought it would be fun for Jews to have their own beer. Ten years later, with 2 million bottles sold, it's not a joke anymore.

In Germany, there is a monument to the potato with the inscription "To God and Francis Drake, who brought to Europe for the everlasting benefit of the poor – the Potato."

Danish cuisine still contains elements harking back to the time before industrialization, i.e. the time before c. 1860, the age of storage housekeeping with a cuisine based on beer and rye bread, and salted and smoked pork and herring. - The Danish Embassy Website