Jaunted

New Zealand / Food Travel / Food / Christchurch Travel / Earthquakes / → All Tags

It's 'Marmageddon!' New Zealand Has Totally Run Out of Marmite.

That's right, there's no more of that sweet, yeasty spread cherished by Kiwis worldwide. The supply of marmite has been exhausted and is creating "Marmageddon." After the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011 caused damage to the factory, the building was closed in November for further safety concerns.

The history of the iconic spread has its roots in England, who began exporting it in 1919. The original English taste wasn't well received and so the recipe was altered to suit local tastebuds, resulting in the acquired taste we know today. Alas, with this ordeal, even an emergency export from the UK won't exactly satisfy salivating fans.

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How To Get Tickets To / Food Travel / Food / Florida Travel / TV Travel / → All Tags

How to Score Tickets to This Year's South Beach Food and Wine Fest

Fans of food and warm weather—that’s pretty much everyone—only have a few more weeks to wait until the kitchens start cooking down in South Beach. Love it or hate it, the Food Network knows cooking, and all their celebrity chefs and personalities—yes, even Guy Fieri—will be on hand to welcome one and all for a little food and wine in Miami.

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival is celebrating its tenth year of chowing down, and this year’s festival runs from February 24 through 27. If you’re looking to head down to overindulge on sun and snacks you better hurry up, as there are at least 50,000 other fans looking to do the same.

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Festival Travel / Food Travel / Food / Tennessee Travel / Summer Festivals / → All Tags

The Memphis in May Festival Will Haul Tunisia to Tennessee

Somehow we’re already halfway through April, and since we like to always look forward, it’s time to start thinking about May. It’s always a good idea to be in Memphis during the month of May, and this year is no exception. Of course there’s plenty of barbecue to enjoy, but way there’s more than just smoke and ‘cue.

The whole Memphis in May Festival actually starts on April 30—their secret is safe with us—with the Beale Street Music Festival. The music runs through May 2, and this year’s concert features four different stages and over fifty acts ranging from rock to gospel. Hall & Oates, Alice in Chains, and Bret Michaels are just some examples of the eclectic blend of music styles. A three day pass to all the music and entertainment will run about $75, and that includes all the mandatory fees and surcharges. Just please remember that the concert is not an open casting call for the next season of Rock of Love.

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Continental Airlines / BBQ / Food / Food Travel / Airline News / → All Tags

Where To Find Continental Airlines' Custom 777 BBQ Pit

Continental Airlines is true to their Texas roots, and they do so by bringing their own custom barbecue pit to events and festivals around the country. Thanks to the folks at BBQ Pits by Klose the airline has their very own custom Boeing 777. It’s a 1:10 scale of one of the airline’s wide body jets, and it weighs almost 40,000 pounds including its trailer. The wings are fiberglass though, so no using them as a flat top grill—but they can probably hold a beer or two.

This Continental creation has been around since 1999 and has made appearances at numerous cook-offs and has even made it to the Boeing facility in Washington. Supposedly this thing cost about $200,000 to construct, so they’re probably pretty eager to show it off.

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Food Festivals / Festivals / Events / Food / Food Travel / Florida Travel / → All Tags

Feel Free To Eat Them, Skin And All At The Kumquat Festival

We’ve seen food festivals dedicated to some of the more popular tasty treats, but there are some lesser-known foods that want a chance in the spotlight. That’s why we’re recommending the annual Kumquat Festival in Dade City, Florida for your weekend itinerary. We know what the fruit looks like—kind of like an orange—but don’t think we’ve ever had one. Apparently they are tasty enough for their own party, so we’re intrigued.

Kumquat festivities have been going on all week, but the main event is Saturday, January 30 from 9am to 5pm. There will be a farmer’s market to bring home some citrus souvenirs, antiques, live music, and even a car show. Of course there will be plenty of specialty dishes including the featured ingredient. Aspiring kumquat chefs battled it out earlier in the week in a recipe contest, so be on the look out for samples of the blue ribbon winning recipe.

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Airline Food / Food / Airline News / In-Flight Comfort / In-Flight Meals / → All Tags

How Healthy Is The Food On Your Favorite Airline?

Just in time for your New Year’s resolutions, there’s a report out regarding the health of those airline meals that everyone loves so much. Obviously a tray of delicious chicken in some sort of sauce is a rarity on domestic travels these days, but if you do get something, you probably want to know its nutritional value. After all, it has to be a little better than the options within the terminal—we’re looking at you Cinnabon.

Charles Stuart Platkin—he's been looking at nutrition in the sky for the last 10 years—checked out what the airlines are currently offering and tallied up the results. Continental Airlines came ahead in this year’s report. They were praised for their low-cal offerings and variety of meals. It probably also helped that Continental still passes out the meal trays for free on many of their flights. Southwest came in last, but we don’t really understand how they can compete with other airlines. They just serve nuts and a soda—not really that fair. The worst major carrier was US Airways which is not too shocking.

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Royale with Cheese / Fast Food Travel / The Little Differences / Food / Restaurants / Dining / → All Tags

Chicken Maharaja-Mac Anyone? International Versions of American Fast Food

Vincent Vega said it best. They've got the same things overseas that we have here in America, but as a traveler you notice the little differences, like beer served in movie theaters, French fries served with mayonnaise, and funny names for fast food sandwiches like Royale with Cheese. LA Weekly must have been thinking along the same lines when they published their funny list of American fast food items that you can't get in America.

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Top Chef / Top Chef Travel / New York City / California / Food / Food Travel / Restaurant Travel / → All Tags

Ash Fulk Cooks Up Friendly Swiss Fare at Trestle on Tenth, But Maybe Not For Padma

Northern California native Ash Fulk didn't have it easy during his run on Top Chef. He didn't win one challenge on the show, and was eventually asked to pack his knives and head back to New York City, where he serves as a Sous Chef at Trestle on Tenth. The Swiss-French-American restaurant is a neighborhood-y locale open for breakfast, brunch (on weekends), lunch and dinner, making it a go-to spot for Chelsea diners looking for elevated comfort food. And schnitzel.

Trestle's menus aren't intimidating in the way that many contemporary, haute cuisine restaurants tend to be. Here you'll find familiar dishes with a Swiss-French influence that makes them just different enough to be memorable, without being too perplexing or stomach-turning. We're still wondering why fellow TC contestant Hector would dare include Tofu Ceviche on his menu. No, Trestle is where you'll find a Signature House Burger, Cobb Salad, Roasted Chicken with Seasonal Vegetables in Consommè, and Coriander Hanger Steak.

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Sausages / Food / Food Vendors / Fast Food / Food Trends / → All Tags

It's War of the Wursts in Berlin as Grillwalkers Battle Imitators

Back in 1997, an unemployed former hotel manager named Bertram Rohloff had a brilliant idea. Unable to obtain the necessary permits to open an outdoor sandwich stand, he found a way to circumvent the entire bureaucracy and wound up making portable food vending history. He invented a wearable propane sausage grill that requires no special permit, as neither the grill nor the food ever touches the ground. Thus, Grillwalker was born, a sausage oven with legs that can bring hot sausages to the hungry masses at some of Berlin's most heavily-trafficked urban spaces. As The New York Times points out, Rohloff's 15 sausage walkers are now fixtures at such sites as the Alexanderplatz, bustling Friedrichstrasse train station, and even outside popular nightclubs.

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Coffee Travel / Food / Food Travel / Starbucks / Travel Gear / → All Tags

Seattle, Chicago and London Get A Preview Of Starbucks' New 'Via'

How many times have you sat there thinking "you know, I could really go for a cup of Starbucks coffee right now, but none of the corporation's 16,120 locations are close enough for me to get to." If that sounds like a problem you encounter regularly, Starbucks has launched a new line of instant coffee that you can carry everywhere. Problem solved.

The new product is dubbed Starbucks VIA Ready Brew—"via" like "road," apparently—and comes in either Colombia Medium or Italian Roast Extra Bold. Just add hot or cold water. The only brick and mortar stores stocking the mix are in Seattle, Chicago, and London. If you do want desperately to try a cup though, you can order online from their website.

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Pismo Beach / Cafes / Food / Chowder / Beach Travel / → All Tags

Go For the 'Chowdah' at Splash Cafe

You know you’re in for a treat when the restaurant you’re going to has a line out the door and around the corner, while the neighboring joints are hosting no one but crickets.

We stumbled across Splash Café while walking in Pismo Beach on day four of a five-day jaunt from L.A. to San Francisco and back. We thought we were chowdered-out, after Pier 39 in San Francisco and the Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey—which is apparently involved in some kind of Chowder Wars, cause every single place along the pier has a guy ladling chowder from a giant metal soup tureen in an effort to lure them inside.

We’d had our fill. Literally. And then came Splash Café. This is the type of place where you scavenge for a seat, much like a seagull hovering overhead waiting for discarded scraps on the nearby pier, and wait with the other hungry folks to order at the counter. But get that steaming bread bowl full of chowder (or chili, if you must, along with burgers, tacos, and a bunch of fried stuff) in front of you, and it’s all worth it. It’s more than worth it. It’s chowder porn.

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Celeb Travel / Santa Monica Restaurants / Cafes / Food / → All Tags

Marcia Cross Pops Into Santa Monica's Huckleberry Cafe

A while back our favorite quick Chinese place, Pick-Up Styx, closed down in Santa Monica on bustling Wilshire Boulevard. But what eventually replaced the joint was a cute little cafe that serves cute little pastries and desserts and cute little cafe specialty items like soups and gourmet sandwiches. The place even has a cute backstory as the two chefs behind the cafe actually met and fell in love while working at the Rustic Canyon restaurant just a few blocks away. All of this of course means the place has a cute name too--Huckleberry Cafe.

The space is appropriately cafe-sized--not too big, not too small--with plenty of indoor seating and a few tables outside as well. Cutesy names and pastries aside, the restaurant's interior space is done up in modern simplicity--blond wood counters and tables and white ceramic dishware and blackboards high on the wall are filled up with the menu options.

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