The Wide Eyed Food Guide: An Introduction

Food, it's a disease and it's infectious; it's been slowly taking over my life for years now and like an alcoholic I think that I need an outlet to share my addiction... Well that felt particularly cliched and overdramatic, but the fact is that for the past week I have been debating about how to start my latest blog and it has been the reason for a delay that I'd rather avoid... So here we go, ribbon - check, scissors - check, local politician - check: the Wide Eyed Food Guide is officially open.

For those of you who know me, and of whom I hope will be helping to buoy my initial read-rate (thanks), I love to write, and I love food, so what a more perfect marriage than a juxtaposition of the two, and in a year when I am fully intending to explore both London, and stuff that I can be passionate about. Since finishing my last blog, Liam in the Latin, I have been desperate to find a new project to apply myself to. Considering the fact that I spend my whole day planning my dinner, my week planning something adventurous to cook/eat on the weekend, and any time in-between looking for any meagre excuse to go out to see what the real experts can create, then I may as well be putting it down somewhere. So with this in mind, it's probably more of a surprise that I have managed to avoid doing this for so long.

The Wide Eyed Food Guide is already not exactly what it was supposed to be; originally the brainchild of myself and my friend Oli, the plan was to write about great food in great places, but without pretension. Unfortunately, the other half of the 'Wide Eyed Food Guys' is now about to bugger off across the Atlantic to find his fortune in the New World for the next six months, which leaves me at home with the baby.

What this does mean, is that I now have the creative reigns to expand this as I please, and with so much to do in the area that I live in (Hoxton), I doubt I will be without all kind of experiences to write about. But firstly, and much more importantly, I never start out a blog with some kind of mission statement or objective, and although this time there's not really a destination, there will be an overriding theme to my writings. This theme, or flavour if you like, is as follows:

I believe that good food is a privilege and not a right, and should us be treated with both awe and respect; almost with the attitude of a child, embracing, and deconstructing, new tastes, smells and textures for the first time. I think that we're so incredibly lucky to be in an age where global is the new local, and the previously unattainable is conveniently available. During our frequent trips to some of the countries top restaurants, Oli and I were both struck by how dismissive and unimpressed many of the other diners looked, almost like it was a chore. The supreme skill, passion, attention and love that had gone into each and every one of those dishes were almost humbling, and to me anything other than captivation is almost disrespectful. The Wide Eyed Food Guide, to us, is to approach eating and cooking with the appreciation that it deserves.

So with regards to context, this blog is about food and London; seeing as that's where I live. And what a wonderful place to live as a foodie! What may have once been the failing, I believe, is now its saving grace. With the absence of a strong culinary identity, London's lack of definition by a particular cuisine has turned it into a mixing pot of food (excuse the pun). My objective is to seek out great food, to learn about it, to talk about it, to understand it, and, of course, to write about it.

Regardless of whether anyone actually reads this or not, I can't wait to get writing about, and sharing, these food experiences, and, as I've found in the past, if my ramblings do find their way onto someone's reading list, then thank you for reading.

Liam