Menu For Hope III: 100 million riel

Just like P. Diddy, Phnomenon is all about the Benjamins. One week down and Menu for Hope has raised 24 grand for the UN World Food Programme. This means we’ve hit the crucial half-Landcruiser mark (or alternately, about 60 tonnes of rice*). If you’re unimpressed with my prize, here’s a few of my picks from the global pool.

If I had been a more personable guy, I might have offered to drive you around Phnom Penh’s markets and back alleys, sampling street food. Austin at RealThai is much friendlier than me and has offered to ferry you about his local haunts and markets in Bangkok. You can’t put a price on local knowledge.

Singapore’s Chubby Hubby has lined up the 10 course degustation at Tetsuya’s for you and a special friend. Possibly one of the best meals to be had in Australia and reason enough to make a visit to Sydney.

Inscribed copy of Charcuterie (5th ed.). One day I dream of holing up in a cool cellar, curing meats in the dark. Then years later I would emerge, Gollum-like, shielding my eyes from the sunlight with fistfuls of precious ham. This book is the first step.

Coffee with Thomas Keller. I imagine that after Thomas Keller drank his latte in Yountville, to the amazement of the gathering crowd, he would eat the cup and saucer. Along with attaining a certain god-like status amongst food writers and other chefs for his work at French Laundry, Thomas Keller can eat glass.

Do you ever wonder how many people ask Peter Mayhew if he could do the Wookie noise? I believe that this 4.5lb Chewbacca bust, issued only to ILM employees, was minted so that Peter could bean everybody who asked him with it. That’s what it sounds like, biatch.

Foodiefarmgirl’s sheep: If I actually got to eat the sheep as well as name it, this would have been on top of my list. This prize also gets a mention for being purely existential.

Get your tickets at Menu for Hope. $10 buys one.

* – My rice calculation is at 1600 riel a kilo (cheapish Cambodian/Vietnamese rice). US medium grain prices are around $500 a short ton (milled, <4% broken, FOB), so you’d end up with about 43 tonnes of rice. I’m not sure how much the UN pays for their rice.