Healthy Foodie Travels

~ On Loving Food, Traveling, and Trying to Maintain A Healthy Weight

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Tag Archives: street food

Chinese Street Food & Snacks – A (Small) Sampling

30 Wednesday Nov 2011

Posted by Kiri W. in China, Wednesdays - Travel Log

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China, Chinese, Food, Ice cream, Meat, red beans, Sichuan, Snacks, street food

When in China, most likely you’ll be on foot or on a bicycle (at your own risk!) when not in a taxi. There’ll be lots and lots of walking, and you’ll see snacks everywhere. Who could resist? Here’s a list that merely scratches the surface of the matter, but with options that are healthy and delicious and a little more exciting than simply stocking up on fresh fruit and sugar-free chewing gum (though the gum variety is worth checking out!).

One of my favorite snacks I had while walking in the streets of Chengdu, where small fry kitchens and food carts abound:

This was a sweet cake made by preparing a paste from glutinous rice meal and water and steaming it wrapped in a corn husk, similar to a tamale. The cake was moist and while it was sweet, it didn’t just coat your mouth in sugar stickiness. Wonderful! 🙂

When we were in Leshan, a city in Sichuan that hosts a 70 meter high buddha carved into a mountain covered in temples, we made the mistake of thinking of the trip as a road stop along the way and lugged our luggage up and down the mountain for 2 hours in the boiling sun. To cool down, we went for ice cream. Ice cream comes in odd varieties in China (for example corn ice cream in the shape of corn on the cob), but a traditional, locally made variety looks kind of like a white popsicle:

Unfortunately, nowhere on the wrapper does it list the flavor, and I have been racking my brain ever since what that flavor was. Mildly sweet, not at all overpowering, it was great and refreshing. The best I can come up with is a subtle resemblance to coconut, but I don’t think that was it. If anyone knows, *please* let me know! This is a wonderful snack on one of the many hot Chinese summer days for relatively few calories compared to milk- or cream-based ice cream.

Staying in Sichuan, we decided to hike up Mount Emei, one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. Let me tell you, an 11 hour hike covering 14 miles, steeply uphill on stairs, not paths, to reach the summit at 10,100 feet, left me in dire need of protein to refuel. I opted for beef jerky.

Little did I suspect that even beef jerky comes in the Sichuan variety. They must have just rubbed this stuff in Sichuan pepper paste! Well, I was very alert after, and it was actually very tasty, even though my water consumption went way up afterwards. Jerky is a staple in convenience stores and snack shacks or carts in rural areas, so be on the look out for it if you need a protein kick and are tired of eggs. Not low in fat or salt, but not too bad.

And the final snack I found at a little street kitchen in the hutongs of Beijing. I *adored* this:

What you see here a paper thin meringue-like containers shaped as a triangle. The filling is your choice:

I went with red bean paste, because I love all things red bean. Not too sweet, perfectly balanced and light, this is a fairly low calorie snack with protein and sweetness! Of course, if you opt for a cream-base filling, that doesn’t hold true. And as an added bonus, they come in the most adorable little paper bag:

What are some of your favorite snacks? Do you eat snacks on a regular basis, or try to avoid them? Anything you found while traveling that you wish you could get back home?

The Nosh Box – A Comfort Food Truck!

17 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by Kiri W. in Restaurant Reviews & Eating Out

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Cleveland, Confort Food, Food, food truck, Meat, Nosh Box, street food, United States, Vegetables

That’s right, Cleveland has still more food trucks to offer. Today: the Nosh Box, a truck serving mid-Western comfort nosh with a Tex-Mex twist to hungry Greater Clevelanders.

 

The Nosh Box is owned by Sandy and chef Kelly Waddell, who post the day’s menu and location the night before or morning off on Facebook and Twitter. Unlike some of the more exotic menus I’ve highlighted before, the Nosh Box is all about those indulgent comforting items:

 

They’re most famous for their Clevelander – fried bologna on Texas toast with all the fixin’s and the legendary Double Wide – Texas Toast topped with two kinds of cheese, bacon andmac’n cheese! Not necessarily a truck to recommend to dieters and health food lovers, but great for that indulgence we all need sometimes. Or as the Nosh Box chef put it: “Someone asked my if I had a lean body type. 🙂 I told them yes I do, I lean on anyone that gets in my way !”.

For my first nosh experience, I had a naan-bread pizza topped with fresh marinara, parmesan and mozzarella, onions, tomatoes and mixed greens:

 

It was

One of the greatest things about this truck is their special deal: bring back a reusable container and get a free drink! Now that’s a wonderful and generous offer to reduce waste.

Bottom Line:

Thanks to Kelly and Sandy for serving in freezing temperatures!

MotorMouth Food Truck – Globally Inspired Gourmet Dishes On The Road

10 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by Kiri W. in Restaurant Reviews & Eating Out

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Cleveland, Fish & Seafood, Food, food truck, Local, Meat, MotorMouth, street food, United States, Vegetables

My love affair with Cleveland’s food trucks is intensifying, and so I bring you yet another gem on wheels: the MotorMouth Food Truck, another less-than-a-year-old truck serving (Greater) Cleveland. Their menu and location gets posted the night before or early in the morning on Facebook and Twitter.

This truck, owned by Chef Rusty James Phillips, serves globally inspired gourmet dishes, and when they say gourmet, they sure mean it. Just have a look at their menu when I visited!

I mean, come on? Roasted duck tacos? Butter-poached cod? Normally way above my price range for a casual under the week lunch. I was very, very torn on what to order, but finally settled on the butter-poached cod, served with tamarind-spiked black beans and yellow rice:

The cod was buttery, flakey, melting in your mouth, but what really made this dish was the contrasting side – Spanish style yellow rice with black beans, onions, red peppers and a very healthy kick of tamarind. Incredibly flavorful and spicy, I probably could have eaten 3 to 4 servings, easy. One of the best rice dishes I’ve had in a long, long time. Absolutely excellent.

Of course I couldn’t resist dessert. Enter their famous Mexican brownie:

This pretty much blew my mind. Not at all your typically intensely sweet brownie, it reminded me of chocolatey gingerbread, probably due to the spices. These treats were made by Becky’s Pantry with Abuelita chocolate (unsweetened Mexican chocolate, quite different from what we’re used to here) and smoked chilli powder and topped of with toasted slivered almonds. Very, very intriguing, and a huge serving to boot.

MotorMouth tries to buy as many of their ingredients from local farms, and always has a vegetarian option available.

Bottom line? Generous portion sizes, very fair prices, and out-of-the-ordinary gourmet foods with unusual ingredients prepared by a very nice team. 5/5 from me, with brownie (haha) points for enduring the rain to serve hungry mouths like mine. I hope I get a chance at those duck tacos soon!

Thanks to the MotorMouth Food Truck team for serving University Circle folks!

Which menu item would tempt you? What not so common dishes would you love to see at prices like these?

Umami Moto Revisited!

03 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by Kiri W. in Restaurant Reviews & Eating Out

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

As, Burger, Food, food truck, Meat, street food, UmamiMoto

Remember my gushing review of Umami Moto, the Asian-inspired food truck roaming the streets of Greater Cleveland? Well, I couldn’t stay away. Or rather, they were outrageously nice and dropped off my order on their way back from their location for the day because I couldn’t get away from work. Now that’s dedication to service!

The order in question consisted of their Umami Burger. Now, I should explain this thing about me and burgers. They don’t really attract me too much. I mean, I appreciate a burger every half year or so, but that’s it. I don’t crave them, I don’t seek them out, I tend to be underwhelmed when I order one. Heck, I didn’t even eat my first burger until the tender age of 19. My brain just doesn’t seem wired for love of burgers.

Enter the Umami Burger, which benevolently smiled at my wiring and ignored it. It blew me away!

(Forgive the low quality picture, I was unprepared for this awesome delivery and had to use my iPod camera.)

Now, this is a burger to dream about. Perfectly cooked lean all-beef patty (nicely thin to my taste, I’d estimate 2.5 to 3 oz, just the right amount not too overwhelm the experience) with Southeast Asian flavors, topped with a truly kickin’ prik pao chili sauce, a hint of mayo and onions, on a fresh, perfectly crisp toasted brioche bun. Holy moly, I couldn’t stop! The bun was perfect, and I usually despise burger buns in my haughty German bakery-spoiled ways – the brioche wasn’t bland, soggy or cardboard-like at all. It was warm, slightly sweet and had a great texture. And that chili sauce! I wish all my lunches were this great!

So here I stand, with The Burger To Beat in my mind, courtesy of the awesome Umami Moto team. What’s your take on burgers? Love them? Hate them? Have a special one that will forever be burned into your memory?

The Foodie

  • Kiri W.

Welcome to Healthy Foodie Travels!

This is a food blog focusing on my food experiences while traveling, as well as my recent ventures into locally produced food while at home. I always try to keep health and weight maintenance in focus, but there will be treats!

Currently I'm going through my China adventures, but keep an eye out for soon-to-come entries featuring the holiday season in Germany/Europe.

This blog updates every M/W/F with local food/travel log/first time food experiences.

I hope you enjoy the blog, and I'd love to hear feedback and suggestions, or to try and answer any question you may have!

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