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What's BAE?
In late 2022, I started a Twitter community of the same name. It featured the food and snacks of the Bay Area that I enjoyed, but it also had posts about 'what to eat when you visit Singapore' and 'what type of rice I like to buy from Asian grocers'. It seemed like people liked it too: around 500 of you joined it.
The Twitter community feature always seemed under-baked, Then I quit in a huff anyway. So I'm going to try to do that again. This time, with subscribers I can bring with me to any platform. No more walled gardens! No more tyrants!
For the record: BAE = Bay Area Eats, but I also quite like BAE Eats as in helping you find great food for you and your bae.
Is it always going to be about the Bay Area, and food?
(Above: a photo of a recent meal at Ox + Tiger, a Filipino-Japanese popup in San Francisco. It was excellent, and they have a brand new menu, so definitely check it out!)
Nope. I have a pretty wide range of interests. I may also post about music, photography, birding, mushrooms. Just know that when I do write about other activities, it is usually also food-adjacent (for example, my favorite places to eat in Hayward whenever I go birding there). I like food. A lot!
I will try to spread out hyper-local posts with generally useful posts about Asian food and culture. "What can I do with different types of tofu?" or "How do I serve hotpot at home?" and "my favorite south Indian recipes" are probably good places to start.
Who the hell are you anyway?
My name is Adrianna! I live in San Francisco. I'm from Singapore originally. I've also lived in, worked in, (and eaten in) in Malaysia, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Finland, the UK and many other places so I have a pretty wide palate. I also wrote about food for magazines in the mid 2000s and early 10s, and I have also photographed and written two cookbooks.
I'm not a professional eater anymore, but I do still have habits that are left over from those days.
Is this where I will find the best restaurant for X?
I don't like the 'best of' framing in food media. There is no such thing as a canonical best of anything. Mainstream food media has, to my mind, poisoned a generation of food lovers to expect to eat only at the 'best' spots. There are no best spots. There are the best spots for X when I am in this part of the world, my top 3 chicken rice stalls in Singapore, and you may like this if you like that. Best? Feels kind of scammy, and it isn't my thing.
What I will do, however, is to share with you the things I like to eat, and the restaurants I'm fond of. Some of them may not be the best, but they do bring me joy. And that should be enough.
How's this going to be different from your food rants on Mastodon?
On Mastodon, you'll see an eclectic mix of food, film photography, pets and politics. Some of you have always wanted the food stuff in one place, so here it is.
Other Ideas
Bay Area Asian grocery stores and what to buy in them
Tofu types and how to cook them
My favorite Asian snacks for you to try
An intro to the classic South Indian dishes I love
Non-US food media recommendations and recipe sites
Fruitvale taco truck showdown
My favorite non-alcoholic cocktails and bars
Vegan restaurants I like as a not-vegan
Dumpling Something: which of the dozen SF restaurants named Dumpling Something are good, and what should you order?
My ride and snack routes in the city and around it, with transit options for others
A guide to the regional Indian cuisines of Fremont, Sunnyvale and beyond
I'd love to hear what you're interested in reading about, so feel free to reply and let me know.
Until then, happy snacking!