For the past five years or so, I have spent almost all of my free time obsessing over food. I obsess over the foods I’ve eaten and the foods I’ve yet to eat. When I wake up I like to think about breakfast, and while I am eating breakfast I like to think about lunch. As I’m deciding what to eat for lunch, I’m already thinking about dinner. And while I eat dinner I like to think about what I’m eating for dinner tomorrow.
I think a lot of people are like me. For me, food has always helped drown out the noise. When I get home after a long day and my mind is racing, the simple act of chopping an onion helps me focus on what’s in front of me, instead of the voices in my head.
When I take a bite of something I love, my eyes close, my shoulders drop, and I look ridiculous, as I drift away from my troubles and into flavor, my cavern of bliss.
As a kid, I always liked food, and I always had a problematic relationship with food. I always ate too fast and too much.
This subsided a bit when I fell in love (or lust, I suppose) with alcohol. For those of you that know me, you know that this love affair lasted for a while. It was something of an open relationship, and I still had time to be a gluttonous food-consuming trash-disposalesque monster, but the whole thing was physically, financially, and emotionally untenable.
And then, exactly four and a half years ago, I broke up with alcohol permanently.
I stopped drinking, but I never stopped being an addict. And all of that energy, all of that want, all of that unbridled, unquenchable, unsatiable (I know that’s not the word but I like the alliteration), had nowhere to go…
Until food.
Food brings me joy even in moments when nothing else can. And food, because it is such a fundamental part of being a human, has connected me to so many people and so many corners of the world, that I think it’s fair to say it’s the most important thing in my life (family, friends, etc. excluded, but to be honest, just barely).
I find myself talking about food all the time. Restaurants and recipes. How to brine pork. Where to eat on Christmas in Kyoto. The best food city in the world. How and why to make fresh pasta at home. Why it’s so important to wash your produce at home. How truffle oil is fucking garbage. Why potato starch has changed my life. I learn so much from friends and strangers alike. So I decided to start up this blog in earnest, with the hopes that I will learn more, connect with more people, and have a home where I can share the things I love with people whom I hope love them as well.
Here, I will be doing all sorts of things.
I will occasionally post recipes that Molly (my girlfriend) and I come up with at home
I will write short travel guides to cities I love (Tokyo, Copenhagen, Los Angeles) and more, since so many people ask me about my favorite places to go
I will share opinions about restaurants and stores and even occasionally products (donabes and sous vide I’m looking at you)
I will NOT be shitting all over restaurants I don’t like
Some quick things to know about me, in case this is your first time reading something I write:
I am just a regular person in the food world. I am not a chef. I am not a critic. I am not an expert in travel, food, hospitality, or really much of anything else. I understand how very hard it is to work in the field of food, so I approach everything from a place of awe rather than from one of thinking I know better. The other thing about food is that there is no “right way to do things” (almost always). Me not liking something does not necessarily mean it is not good. And me loving something doesn’t necessarily mean it is. I don’t want to be right. I just want to talk about it.
I am a food enthusiast.
I’m also brand new at this, so your feedback is wanted and welcomed. If you have ideas or requests, let me know, and I’ll do my best to satisfy your desires. If you think I’m wrong about something, there’s a good chance that I am, so that’s not really an amazing discovery you’ve made. I am here to have a good time with you. Let’s do it.
Hungrily yours,
Elan