Before you die

There's a meme going around: you recommend things to eat before you die. A bit morbid, no? If it were things to eat before being banished to Devil's Island for thirty years, that would really be something to consider. Then you would have thirty years during which to contemplate the moment you ate that cherished morsel of whatever. But what difference does it make what you ate in your lifetime once you're no longer of the living? It's like Bush 43 said when asked how he thinks history will view his presidency: "Who cares? We'll all be dead."*

The point is actually to recommend great foods that other people have to make a point of eating before they die. So I don't actually have to think about my own demise to join in, only yours. These are things to eat before you die. If you wait too long and die you'll miss your big chance so don't blow it, ok?

I was invited to play along by Eat. The meme originated with Traveler's Lunchbox, which spun it off this BBC poll. Here are my picks:

1. Fresh bagels from Fairmount Bagel, Montreal. Poppy and sesame. Great with lox and cream cheese but also all by themselves.

2. Frozen custard from Kopp's Frozen Custard, Milwaukee.

3. Bratwurst, simmered in beer and grilled over charcoal. Served on a hard sausage roll with grilled onions and brown mustard and accompanied by anything brewed in Wisconsin.

4. Fresh cheese curds eaten while walking around the Dane County Farmers' Market in Madison. If they're good they squeak as you chew them.

5. Chinese buns and sweets from the Yung Sing Pastry Shop on Baldwin Street, Toronto. Tofu buns, meat buns, fried sesame balls stuffed with sweet yellow bean paste, all cheap, greasy, and good to eat while sitting on a park bench or picnic table nearby.

*Bob Woodward quotes "We'll all be dead" in Plan of Attack. I took the liberty of inserting the "Who cares?" part just cuz.