Big List of “Things You Must Eat” Lists

It’s Thursday night, and I’m recovering from dining on an absolutely soul-less McD’s double cheeseburger combo. Why, oh why did I have a cheeseburger?!?

So, I’m taking the night off from serious blogging and giving you a Big List of “Things You Must Eat” Lists!

Making a List

By now you’ve heard about “The Omnivore’s Hundred”, that list of things that Andrew of Very Good Taste thinks every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. It has gone absolutely viral since he posted it up on August 13.

But you know, Andrew wasn’t the first one to come up with such a list. Back in May of 2005, the Observer Food Monthly published an article titled “The Top 50 Things Every Foodie Should Do“. Nigel Slater interviewed several food celebreties such as Nigella Lawson and Gordon Ramsay to get their thoughts on what we things we should do, culinary-wise, before we die. Kind of a “Foodie Bucket List”.

Andrew wasn’t the first to come up with the idea of making the list an Intenet meme, either. Melissa from The Traveler’s Lunchbox, inspired by a BBC poll and television show called “50 Things To Eat Before You Die” started a meme in August 2006 called “The FoodBlogger’s Guide to the Globe” where she invited floggers around the world to submit 5 things they thought everyone should eat. The list grew to 1665 entries.

Checking it Twice

In any case, the floggerverse is once again abuzz. Soon after the Omnivore’s Hundred came out, the non-omnivores began creating their own lists. Hannah at BitterSweet Blog came out with her Vegan’s Hundred list. A Vegetarian 100 list was created by Maybelle’s Mom of Feeding Maybelle and then another blogger, Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries, came up with her own Vegetarian Hundred.

Yep, two separate vegetarian lists. It goes to show the creativity and range of vegetarian food!

Gonna Find Out Who’s Naughty

In response to that, Julie of Wine Me Dine Me (in Cincinnati) created her own Carnivore’s 100. White Trash BBQ in New York City came up with his own Americanized, WhiteTrash BBQ Omnivore’s Hundred. A few days later, another American Omnivore’s Hundred was posted to Slashfood by Emily Matchar. Not to be outdone, Folo has come out with a Southern 100 foods to eat.

Of course, this world is much bigger than America. Acknowledging this, Sarah DiGregorio with the Village Voice developed her Traveling Omnivore’s 20. (Only 20!?! Come on!)

Or Nice

The Mediterranean Kiwi living on Crete took The List and offered up Cretan versions of some of the original dishes in her Cretan Omnivore’s Hundred. Diana Kuan, who has an Appetite for China, created the list of 100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die. Makiko Itoh of the site Just Hungry released her “100 Japanese Foods to Try” list at about the same time. Wandering Chopsticks has compiled an excellent “100 Vietnamese Foods to Try“, which I shall endeavour to do.

Inspired by all the other lists, Danielle of Maple Syrup and Poutine came up with the 100 Canadian Foods to Eat list. Getting more granular, Andres over at “All You Need is Cheese” is building a list of 100 Canadian CHEESES to eat, over on Facebook. Mirability over on the Amerikanska Forums started a thread called “Swedish 100 must-eat…or at least try”.

Coming almost full-circle, “The British One Hundred” by Helen Graves focused primarily on the food of the United Kingdom.

Omnivores are Coming to Town

Even traditional media can’t resist. The Nashville Scene had a bunch of food-related entries in their 125 things to do in Nashville. The De Moines Register has a list of “100 things to eat in Iowa before you die” (who knew?). The Alabama Tourism Department came out with a list of 100 223 Things to Eat in Alabama. And the Houston Press came out with a list of 10 Texas Sausages you must eat. (They are asking commenters to come up with their own top 10 lists, and are offering a cookbook as a prize.)

Vancouver Magazine has a great list of “101 Things to Taste Before You Die”, complete with pictures, descriptions, and locations of where to get these foods.

Your Turn

How’d you do on these lists? Do you know of any more “hundred” lists focusing on specific cuisines, countries or dietary restrictions? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Aloha, Nate

Big List of “Must Eat” Lists.

The Omnivore’s Hundred

The Top 50 Things Every Foodie Should Do

The FoodBlogger’s Guide to the Globe

Vegan’s Hundred

Vegetarian 100 by Maybelle’s Mom

Vegetarian Hundred by Barbara

Carnivore’s 100

WhiteTrash BBQ Omnivore’s Hundred

American Omnivore’s Hundred

Traveling Omnivore’s 20

Cretan Omnivore’s Hundred

100 Chinese Foods to Try Before You Die

100 Japanese Foods to Try

The British One Hundred

100 things to eat in Iowa before you die

100 223 Things to Eat in Alabama

10 Texas Sausages you must eat

100 Vietnamese Foods to Try

Southern 100 foods-to-eat

101 Things to Eat (in Vancouver) Before You Die

100 Canadian Foods to Eat

Swedish 100 must-eat…or at least try

100 Canadian CHEESES to eat

20 thoughts on “Big List of “Things You Must Eat” Lists”

  1. >If you’re like me, you had the McD double cheeseburger because it was on the dollar menu and it appealed to your pake senses! I love the photo of the dog photo — That’s exactly how I feel after eating anything that double cheeseburger, which isn’t often, thank goodness.

  2. >OMG, I referred to the cat in your photo as a dog! Apparently I didn’t have enough caffeine this morning. 🙂

  3. >Just did the 100 Chinese foods list. I only got 63.

    By the way, you have an award on my page. Just my way of saying “love your blog” 🙂

  4. >@Maybelle’s Mom – hey, thanks!

    @Jenster – howzit, pake!

    @Robert – don’t worry, you won’t die if you eat all 100…unless you get a bad slice of fugu…I’m curious – what 10 have you NOT eaten?

    @Judyfoodie – well then, better get cracking! Thanks for the love!

  5. >Great list! (its less than a hundred days before Christmas) I feel that way too when I have way too much burgers 🙂

    if you have time, check out what we have at foodista

  6. >@Alisa – I only ate a double-cheeseburger! It’s not the quantity that hurts, it’s the quality (or lack thereof). Absolutely soulless.

  7. >@Danielle – thanks! I’m glad to have inspired you to come up with your country’s list. I have added it to the master list.

    Anyone else?

  8. >@Andres – thanks for stopping by! I’ve put your link up on our list. To be honest, I’m not much of a cheese conoisseur. Your website is an excellent resource.

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