Hell Yes, We are the Tastiest Town

If you live in Durham this is probably not news to you, but we were just named Tastiest Town in the South by Southern Living Magazine as the rest of the world will learn in their May issue.  Well, we actually won the voting contest that was between 10 great southern food cities, like Memphis, (number 2) and New Orleans.  The Editors at Southern Living were very smart not to decide for themselves which city had the best food and thus piss off all the others.  If you did not win it is your own fault that you did not go out and garner votes as Durham proudly did.  We have so many chef/owner restaurants that asked people to vote for Durham. I have more e-mail addresses than fingers and toes I was able to vote many times everyday and I am sure I am not the only Durhamite who did.

Since I live here I agree that we are one tasty town, but I also find it ironic since at one time Durham was considered the diet capital of America.  We have the Duke Diet and Fitness Center, the Rice Diet and Structure House, just to name three of the major diet programs in Durham.  I don’t know if any other city has claimed the diet prize so for now I am proclaiming us the southern city with the best food and the most ways to get it off after you have tried it all.

Does living in a place that clearly has great food give one an excuse for carrying a few extra pounds?  No, it just means that you have to choose carefully.  I would bet that the city with the worst food in the south is collectively fatter than Durham because their options might just be McDonald’s and Burger King.

I want to give a shout out to my chef friends Like Amy Tournquist of Watt’s Grocery and Scott Howell of Nana’s who are just two of the great chefs we have in Durham who keep us at the top of any Foodies list.  It is the supportive culinary community that helps new talent be able to make a living in Durham.  Running a food business is nothing but hard work so it is nice when we can show those people who provide interesting and yummy food for us some love.

Congratulations Durham and thanks to all the people who voted for us.  I am glad we are not just known for dieting, that would make us a place no one would want to visit.  Instead we are an eating destination and that is something everyone has to do everyday.