Have you met Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz? Her delicious blog is dedicated to food lovers, restaurant-goers and home cooks wishing to to explore more exotic flavours than they are used to.
The Cheap Ethnic Eatz blog aims to help readers discover different cuisines, ingredients and flavors found in dishes around the world. Here you will find exotic recipes, descriptions of unknown ingredients, dinner stories, restaurant reviews and so much more. Evelyne encourages her readers to try new cuisines at local ethnic restaurants and even give it a go in their own kitchen.
Dulce de leche mousse and praline hazelnut verrine
Evelyne has actually been blogging since June 14th, 2007 - she's a food blog pioneer! She calls Montreal home and speaks and writes both French and English. Her roots are part Quebecois, Canadian, Austrian and Russian (hence, I guess, the interest in ethnic foods). If she's am not at home trying to keep the peace between her two cats or cooking a weird recipe in her kitchen, you will find her gallivanting about the city trying a new restaurant, food or drink with friends, family or her better half. Good thing Montreal is known worldwide for its food diversity!
So how did she get started all those years ago? Well, a defining event in 2007 certainly planted the seed but Evelyne's story goes back to 1977. Her“exotic taste curiosity” started at the age of 3 when her mum would order the classic appetizer Escargots à l’Ail (garlic snails) as her meal. Every time the waiter would make sure he heard that right and her mom would reassure him little Evelyne would gobble them up - wow now THAT'S adventurous eating! Evelyne's “in-the-kitchen curiosity” started around the age of 8, when she would make muffins much to her parents' delight (and perhaps fear!). By the age of 14 she was inviting friends over for 4 course meals. As she grew more independent she started eating out with friends in various ethnic restaurants.
In February 2007 Evelyne came across Meetup, a web site allowing people to create a local group and organize activities based on shared interests. She started a dinner group called Cheap Ethnic Eatz with the purpose of organizing 2 dinner outings a month at affordable ethnic restaurants. In June 2007 Cheap Ethnic Eatz, the blog was born so Evelyne could review the restaurants her group explored. The group operated for three and a half years and 75 events were hosted. Evelyne became such an expert at eating out that she even wrote a guest post for FBC entitles "Reviewing restaurants - you be the critic."
Evelyne closed the group for personal reasons at the height of its popularity in 2010 but her blog has remained a passion and she began hitting the the kitchen more frequently than restaurants. Since then she has posted well over 200 recipes and she participates in many online friendly challenges and contests, hosts giveaways, includes the occasional restaurant or gadget review and tries her best to get her readers to explore cuisines from around the world.
What's refreshing about Evelyne's blog is her willingness to try so many new and different types of food and her honesty in posting even when some things don't quite go as planned. Evelyne certainly keeps it real in the kitchen! Do yourself a favour and follow her:
Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Facebook
Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Twitter
Cheap Ethnic Eatz on Pinterest
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Thank you so much for highlighting me, its an honor!
[…] of the week. This week I am that Featured Blogger. Please take a moment to head of to the FBC and check out the post featuring Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Thank you […]
Evelyne has been a friend of mine for a few years now and when we get together it’s always a wonderful culinary adventure! 🙂
Wonderful spotlight on Evelyne and her amazing site!
Evelyne please start up your blog once more