How to be good at food and not break the bank...

My sister and I were conversing about some of the restaurants we had sampled recently, and she kept going on and on about how she did not like to indulge herself on expensive and out-of-reach gastronomical adventures. I felt pity for her, rather than despair, and realized that for some people, eating out at some of the finest restaurants the city has to offer, is not that important.

Further, our discussion led to the subject of food education and how one can keep ahead of the latest food trends, culinary offerings, and most of all, new restaurants/cafes/bars and other exotic food locales to frequent. I started thinking about how one could keep abreast of culinary topics without having to break the bank and came up with the following suggestions:

Subscribe to some food blogs
It's amazing how informed one can be about the world of haute cuisine (or any food related topic) when wafting through the musings of another foodie.
Sample blog types include:
- Recipe collections by an individual
- Restaurant reviews and eating out
- Wine and food pairing blogs which highlight new combinations of food and wine to experiment with

Watching shows like Iron Chef America
The Food network is every foodie's best friend. A heavenly mix of flavors, techniques and demonstrations - one can almost smell and taste the vivid culinary concoctions right from their very own living room! My favorite types of food shows are the food travelogues such as Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and all the episodes of Jamie Oliver's Great Italian Escape series. Those guys are brilliant!

Check out the menus of famous restaurants around the world
A really good way of staying up to date on what's hot and in vogue is to visit the websites of really famous restaurants and check out the items on their online .pdf menus. Most good places will be seen to change their menus 2 or 3 times a year, with slight twists on what they used to offer in the first place, without diluting their signature dishes. This is a good chance to pick up on new gastronomy terms so that you are able to impress your boss, your significant other or even your parents!

Food Exhibitions and Cooking demonstrations
Last but not least, definitely take advantage of the free or relatively inexpensive entrance fees to food exhibitions, cooking demonstrations or trade shows that take place in your city, where the aim is to generate publicity for new food vendors, products and operators entering the 'glocal' market. You'd be surprised at how many delicious freebies you can score at one of those events. Not only can you squeeze in "dinner and a show" (aka sampling offerings from various stalls and getting to see a live cooking demonstration),the best part is, you usually almost get to leave with a goodie bag!

those are my two cents on the subject...more free food tips and foodie news to come soon!

blogging off @ 11:13pm IST
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