New York Part II - Food
Good day faithful readers. It's a well know and much quoted fact that Americans have the highest rate of obesity in the world. Having spent 3 days in New York and come away 10kg heavier with increased blood pressure and strange pains running down the left hand side of my body this doesn't really surprise me!
One of the things that I generally try to do when I go travelling is to eat as the locals do. You might think that as an Australian that I'd already pretty much eat like an American, and it's probably true to a certain extent, but when you sit down and think about it New York is renowned for quite a few foods.
The day that I arrived I had to wait around for a bit while they prepared my hotel room. I didn't want to go to a restaurant because having just arrived I wasn't terribly confident about my personal aroma. What do you do? Visit a corner food trolley of course. So I got to try my first two NYC delicacies, pretzel and hotdog.
My second delicacy came that afternoon after wandering around all afternoon. I was walking back to my hotel a bit sleepy and just wanting something quick when I spotted a place selling slice of American (pepperoni) pizza. I was feeling quite hungry so I ordered two, not realising quite how big they were. They looked small in the display. I can only think that then I was seeing them in relation to the huge pudgy hands of the guy behind the counter.
The following morning I made my way down to Greenwich Village to partake in french toast with maple syrup and fruit for breakfast followed by Little Italy and spaghetti bolognese for lunch. Yes, I know that they're not traditional NYC, but you can't not go to a cafe in Greenwich Village, and you can't not go to Little Italy and have something to eat.
Having eaten pretty well during the morning I decided that I was in desperate need of something light and fresh... a salad. It just happened that there was a place around the corner where I could get a salad, and what's more "the best cheesecake in New York City"... just like the place across the road! Anyways, I ordered my chicken caesar salad, thinking it would leave me with plenty of room for the important part of the meal. Yeah right! I'm sure they must have put an entire damn chicken in there! I have a good appetite, but even I couldn't eat all my cheesecake after that!
The following morning I was still suffering from the previous day's trials, so I thought that I needed to eat something healthy (this is probably the same logic as buying something on sale to save money now that I think about it), so I found a cafe and had a bowl of yoghurt, granola and fresh fruit, which was very welcome after a day of grease. Of course all that goodness was immediately undone by a visit to the Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes (I've never eaten anything so rich - it took me a day and a half to eat 4!) and then a nutella and banana crepe while I was walking around Central Park.
This left only two more meals before I had to leave. I filled the first with a gyro from another stall. The final spot, breakfast on the way to the airport, was filled with one of the most traditional NYC treats. A cream cheese bagel.
As I said, with a diet like this it is no wonder the Americans hold the record that they do. Although having said that, I doubt that even they try to eat everything over the space of 3 days!
One of the things that I generally try to do when I go travelling is to eat as the locals do. You might think that as an Australian that I'd already pretty much eat like an American, and it's probably true to a certain extent, but when you sit down and think about it New York is renowned for quite a few foods.The day that I arrived I had to wait around for a bit while they prepared my hotel room. I didn't want to go to a restaurant because having just arrived I wasn't terribly confident about my personal aroma. What do you do? Visit a corner food trolley of course. So I got to try my first two NYC delicacies, pretzel and hotdog.
My second delicacy came that afternoon after wandering around all afternoon. I was walking back to my hotel a bit sleepy and just wanting something quick when I spotted a place selling slice of American (pepperoni) pizza. I was feeling quite hungry so I ordered two, not realising quite how big they were. They looked small in the display. I can only think that then I was seeing them in relation to the huge pudgy hands of the guy behind the counter.
The following morning I made my way down to Greenwich Village to partake in french toast with maple syrup and fruit for breakfast followed by Little Italy and spaghetti bolognese for lunch. Yes, I know that they're not traditional NYC, but you can't not go to a cafe in Greenwich Village, and you can't not go to Little Italy and have something to eat.
Having eaten pretty well during the morning I decided that I was in desperate need of something light and fresh... a salad. It just happened that there was a place around the corner where I could get a salad, and what's more "the best cheesecake in New York City"... just like the place across the road! Anyways, I ordered my chicken caesar salad, thinking it would leave me with plenty of room for the important part of the meal. Yeah right! I'm sure they must have put an entire damn chicken in there! I have a good appetite, but even I couldn't eat all my cheesecake after that!The following morning I was still suffering from the previous day's trials, so I thought that I needed to eat something healthy (this is probably the same logic as buying something on sale to save money now that I think about it), so I found a cafe and had a bowl of yoghurt, granola and fresh fruit, which was very welcome after a day of grease. Of course all that goodness was immediately undone by a visit to the Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes (I've never eaten anything so rich - it took me a day and a half to eat 4!) and then a nutella and banana crepe while I was walking around Central Park.
This left only two more meals before I had to leave. I filled the first with a gyro from another stall. The final spot, breakfast on the way to the airport, was filled with one of the most traditional NYC treats. A cream cheese bagel.
As I said, with a diet like this it is no wonder the Americans hold the record that they do. Although having said that, I doubt that even they try to eat everything over the space of 3 days!
posted by sam @ 9:04 pm
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