Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Even though I've traveled a lot and eaten lots of crazy and amazing things made in touching ways, one of the coolest experiences ever was at a street beer stand in Hanoi, Vietnam. That's right, you've heard of street food? This is street beer, and it is amazing. As we crouched on the low plastic stools, drinking our beer and perusing the menu, groups of locals would come by and take us under their wings, showing us what was good, offering us tastes of their foods, trying to talk with us in cracked English. Each time we stopped at a different stand we would make new friends, even with out a common language--well, by the end of it there was one, I can now cheer someone on to chug a full glass of beer in Vietnamese...

For those of you who are haters, think of it as the college student's sangria-- the sweetness comes from the coke instead of the fruit, and it is bubbly. Often, it is served with a lemon, which really cements this theory.

Atlantic salmon is, by definition farmed, so you'll have a lot of trouble finding any wild Atlantic salmon.

I recommend looking for Alaskan salmon, that is the wild stuff. And given that it is wild caught, there is not really an 'organic' labeling option, as it eats what it eats...

I am laughing that this is so shocking to people. I used to always salt my oatmeal, since I prefer salty to sweet, and one day, as a child I complained to my mother that we were out of salt and she being a resourceful person immediately said "add soy sauce, it is basically just salt" and it was delicious. And I've eaten it and cream of wheat and any number of other things that way since!

I was surprised to see I had eaten 5 of the ten.
Durian--I was underwhelmed. Didn't taste bad...On the other hand, not all that good either.
Live Octopus--both tasty and fun to eat. I like a food that challanges me on the way to my mouth!
Kopi whatever coffee--Again, I was underwhelmed. I'm not a big coffee drinker though, maybe someone more into it would be more excited.
Huitlacoche-I mean, it makes a mean quesadilla--how different is this than a terrific mushroom? Not that much.
Balut--Honestly, if you can get over the visual of seeing the body parts of the fetus, it tastes like a very good egg, maybe even a little creamier

This is also not a recipe. One mistake I find that people often make is to try to disguise the tofu as a meat, to make as meat like as possible. Tofu is in fact a delicious and tasty thing.

So my suggestions are like so: Try dishes that incorporate both meat AND tofu--like roasted chicken with soy sauce and tofu stuffing. Try replacing something ELSE with the tofu--a caeser salad where deep fried tofu replace the croutons. And lastly, try blending it in to dips or soups, like so: http://thegastrognome.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/end-of-summer-soup-cold-and-spicy-tomato/

I suffer constantly from trigger finger stiffness. It is an ailment caused by trying to quickly click back to whatever I'm supposed to be doing so that the boss doesn't catch me looking at food porn online...

It's interesting how a group of "Serious Eaters" becomes suddenly so squemish when it comes to crossing a cultural taboo. I have never had the opportunity to eat horse, though I would definitely jump at it if I did, especially having seen the pictures of the horse sashimi my BF at in Japan.

Another thing to take into account, especially with the "tourists are bad tippers" thing is that not everywhere is the minimum wage lower for servers. In NY, where it is so, tipping tends to average 20%, often being even higher, and 15 would be an insult. In, for example, Seattle, where servers have to be paid the same minimum wage as everyone else (around $8/hr) tipping tends to be a little less. The tourists may not realize this. I'm in no way defending a 5% tip, but I am defending a 15%....

@produce stories, it might not be that you are necissarily pegged as a bad tipper because you don't order drinks, but that your bill is automatically $30-60+ dollars less...thus your tip is going to be less, even if you are a perfectly reasonable tipper.

@ Paris, I didn't mean to be rude, I just am a fierce defender of my cities culinary superiority and would be upset that a visitor in search of great chow might end up at Palisade or House of Hong or Salty's. All fine establishments for what they do, but not the best of the best like Maneki and Quinn's. Yes I would add Salumi, Monsoon and a few others up here to the list, but I was impressed with Culinary Rabbit and Kimberlee's knowledge of the area as admitted non-locals, so I felt the need to validate. Since Crydecker, from his/her intro, appears to be a lover of the finer foods, I don't think sending him/her to a Salty's is appropriate. That's all. I'm not here to offend, I'm just trying to help guide people to the appropriate restaurant.

Oooh they are good, just picked them up at my local chinatown mart, $6.99/lb, about $15 for a bag of 12.

Just squeeze them, and the outer shell will pop open, then eat the little white sections. They are like delicious candy...or something...I don't even like candy. They're just amazing.

I think the question brings to the center the two types of food bloggers: the ones who cook to blog (design a recipe with the blog in mind, keep precise track so they can write it up, etc.) and those who blog to cook (I count myself here) who just cook and eat as normal, then write about it. Those that are in the second half might not even notice those changes coming about. It is in my nature to buy what is fresh and cheap, so that is what I cook with, so perhaps my ingredients are changing...but not to the point that it is a concern?