My name is Susy Bando. You can Call Me a Food Lover but please do not call me a foodie. Your definition of foodie may be different than mine but in my mind, a foodie is pretentious about their food experiences and spends more time picking apart the pieces of a meal/dish rather than enjoying the moment. I think of myself as a person who loves to eat (and drink) delicious things. I find as much enjoyment in the kitchen preparing a comforting meal or eating a late-night street cart taco as I do sitting in a Michelin-starred/World’s 50 Best establishment. And while my favorite daily activity is going to my local grocery store to decide what I want for dinner, I have also been known to drive a hundred miles out of the way while on vacation to try whole hog barbecue.
All my life, I’ve planned my travels solely around the tastes of whatever destination I’m going to. Up until I started Call Me A Food Lover, I’ve never been motivated to put my thoughts to words. But then I heard the 3 words that inspired me to start blogging, “The French Laundry”. As soon as I was able to secure a precious reservation to my “#1 places I wanted to eat at before I die”, I knew I had to start learning how to document my food adventures. So I did, not knowing what would become of it or if I’d even enjoy it. The results? A meal that exceeded high expectations and Call Me a Food Lover has become my on-going excuse to eat REALLY well.
Some quick food facts about me:
1st food memory – fresh sea urchin on a cucumber slice when I was 5 years old.
I learned to love food when – I became a fake vegetarian for a boy in my 20’s. Before then, I was pretty anti-“Ethnic”. I was brought up on Japanese, Chinese and small town (red sauce) Italian. When I became “vegetarian” I became exposed to the flavors of India and Thailand and became open to try so much more. Those 6 weeks changed my life forever.
If I could -I’d eat potatoes every day. French fried, chips, mashed, hashbrowned. Potatoes are my kryptonite, and thus I try to stay away.
Favourite chef quote #1 – “When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy, that is what cooking is all about.” – Thomas Keller
Favourite chef quote #2 – “one must eat good food to know how to make good food” – Jiro Ono, Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Feel free to contact me at foodlover@shaw.ca. Thanks for visiting, I hope you enjoy!
Call Me a Food Lover... 
Can’t wait to hear about TFL! Keep it coming. Love the Quick Bites!
You can read about TFL now!
Hey Sus.
Cool site. Browsing through just made me want to go down to Granville Island and get some good eats. Sounds like NYC was fun. Good to see you at ball this week.
CD
Hey Susie,
I had no idea you were so into food! I love your site (funny that Chris commented on it, too!). Beautiful photos and great writing – I look forward to trying out some of the recepes! I’m gluten-free… any recommendations?
xox J.
Thanks Jenny, your comments mean a lot! Nothing on the top of my head about gluten-free, although I hear there are better and better products out there lately. We all really need to get together to feast sometime soon!
Hi Susy, I’m one fo the organizers of the Hester Street Fair and I’m trying to collect some high rez images for a project we’re working on. Would you be able to send me any? Of course we would credit you.
Thank you,
Suhyun Pak
suhyun@hesterstreetfair.com
Thanks for your request! I’ve sent you an email reply.
Hi! Great blog with awesome pictures. I heard about this through your father-in-law when my husband and I were on our European honeymoon 😀 We got to talking at the Jameson whiskey distillery in Dublin when he mentioned this blog. Pls tell him we say hi and we’ll visit often! Take care.
Thanks for reading! I will definitely say hi to Henry for you, and will thank him for being one of my biggest fans.
Hi Susy! Your blog was highly recommended to me by Jo and Henry, who I met by chance at Woodland Smokehouse & Commissary. We shared some counter seating and some soup and had a great time chatting about food, so naturally your blog came up. I was advised also to let you know what wonderful in-laws you have. 😉 Happy eats!
Lol, “highly recommended”, that’s what in-laws are for! What you’re doing Between Snacks is great and your travel maps made me smile because as Jo&Henry probably told you, that’s what I do too!
They told me that we have a lot of similarities about the way we talk (obsess?) about food… so what made me smile is coming to your page and finding that we both used mochi ice cream desserts as a heading photo (it’s my avatar for betweensnacks). Where is your picture from?
That’s totally funny. Yes they mentioned similarities too. As much as I like mochi ice cream, my photo’s actually of Mochi Cream taken in Osaka, which is mochi filled with flavoured whip cream.
Hi Susy. Happy New Year. Thankyou for sharing your food and travel experiences. It’s been a pleasure reading your words and enjoying your images. Look forward to new and exciting stories this year. If you ever make it all the way to Sydney Australia happy to provide some recommendations! Here’s to a great 2013. Sharise
Happy New Year to you too Sharise. Thanks for your comment and for reading. Can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for me! Australia’s definitely on the list, although it always seems so far away!!! I’m addicted to Masterchef Australia though, which does increase my interest in Australia immensely. 🙂
Hi Susy, I really enjoyed your blog and wondered if you were interested in submitting an existing post to a new event called Our Growing Edge. The event aims to compile a monthly snapshot as to what bloggers are doing in terms of new challenges with food. This monthly event aims to connect and inspire us to try new things.
A growing edge is the part of us that is still learning and experimenting. It’s the part that you regularly grow and improve, be it from real passion or a conscious effort.
I hope you can make it. More info can be found here: http://bunnyeatsdesign.com/our-growing-edge/
Thanks for your kinds words. Your event sounds very intriguing! Please let me know how I can become involved.
Hi Susy, more info can be found here: http://bunnyeatsdesign.com/our-growing-edge/
It will be every month and the first round ends at the end of February.
Hello. Sorry for my bad English but you should try to visiting Baja one day. The food here is different from the rest of Mexico and the seafood is top class. best tacos in Mexico as well jaja I’m sure you can find a thing or two on the internet about the culinary movement in Tijuana and Ensenada, its a food lovers Paradise.
Hope to see more of your adventures across the world
take care
Thanks for your comment. The Baja is definitely on the list of places I’d like to explore!
love your blog! I am obsessed with the mind of a chef and Anthony Bourdain! I am planning a trip to Japan in the summer with my boyfriend to check out the same spots! I wanted to check out the ramen place outside of Tokyo with the original chef that tries the broth every morning. Did you get to go there too?
Thanks Maria! Unfortunately I only got to Rokurinsha on my last trip to Tokyo. Funny enough, I rewatched that episode of MOAC 2 days ago and regretted not going to the other place. Have you seen this list that Lucky Peach just put out? http://luckypeach.com/the-five-ramen-shops-you-can-and-should-visit-in-tokyo/
Hi Susan,
Your father in law Henry stopped by for a late lunch today because you love our food so much. Thank you for the recommendation and your awesome food blog. Stop by the next time you’re in town and we’d love to take care of you. Hope to see you soon. 🙂
Sincerely,
Tawhid Islam
General Manager
Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop
600 11th Avenue
New York NY 10036
Thanks for your comment! Will definitely stop by again the next time I’m in NYC. I’m craving ramen now!
Totally with you – really dislike the term foodie!