What is EAT99?

The Bowl of Edmonds, where I live, is just a ten-minute drive from Vietnamese steamed tapioca dumplings in one direction, and Guadalajara-style birria tacos ten minutes in the other. I live near bibimbap, pupusas, yassa, and shish tawook.

To me, Highway 99 is six lanes of deliciousness divided by a median strip that won't let you make a left turn when you most need to. This road offers endless creations made by people who hold generational knowledge of how to make things taste the way they are supposed to taste. It is a place filled with the richness of other cultures and stories, the experiences of lives lived there and now here.

EAT99 = Reasons to go to the highway.

About me:

When I was ten years old, I read a book about a girl who lived with her dad and their dingo in a trailer in the Australian outback. They existed on meat pies. I was obsessed with every detail of that book, to the point that I made a list called "Where I Want to Go and What I Want to Eat When I Get There" and started saving money. When I turned 19, I flew to Australia, lived in the outback, and ate meat pies (and kissed a Māori artist).

Since then, my list has materialized into living in the middle of the best market in Ho Chi Minh City for two years, eating from a noodle artist near Shanghai for a summer, spending three days in Penang trying to find things to do between hawker cart meals, taco tasting from coast to coast in Mexico, and eating eggplant every day for three weeks in Turkey.

When I'm in Edmonds teaching high school English, I head to the highway to remember what the world tastes like. The people I love have always been happy to come along, appreciative of me, their official Food Finder.

(Shoulder shrug emoji.)

Well, now you're invited, too.

Okay. Get in, get ready. We're going on a tour of the highway.

Marjie