Lauren Vs. Food is my attempt at overcoming my food neophobia by forcing myself to eat new and intimidating foods as I travel around the world. Living in Thailand for the past five months has been a life-changing experience, for many reasons. I’ve had to learn how to cross the road with five thousand scooters, three hundred tuk tuks and and twenty nine songthaews simultaneously racing towards me.... 
By now you may have realised that I am more than a little obsessed with themed restaurants. There was the hospital and Hello Kitty themed restaurants in Taipei, the dog cafe and cat cafe in Seoul and the Obama and midget themed restaurants in the Philippines. It’s safe to say that themed restaurants have now become my “thing” and upon arriving at a new destination the first thing I do is... 
After being less than enthused about the Dog Cafe I had visited a few days previous, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to spending an afternoon in the company of 50 cats. Just like my dog phobia, I was also frightened of cats – something about them creeps me out and I have spent most of my life actively avoiding them. I reasoned with myself that it couldn’t possibly be as terrifying... 
Taipei is the land of themed restaurants. After visiting the Hello Kitty restaurant on my first day in Taiwan, I quickly developed an obsession with these restaurants and made it my mission to visit as many as possible during my time here. A quick search online showed me that there were hundreds of them to choose from, and I got to compiling my list of must-visit places. Next stop: the hospital themed... 
It was the one thing that made me seriously reconsider my decision to leave England behind to travel the world. The thing that I was most worried about facing and the only thing that had frequently reduced me to tears in the run-up to my departure. My nemesis. I spent 6 weeks in Eastern Europe avoiding the inevitable and living in denial. My subconscious mind would not let me forget about it; I found... 
Lauren Vs. Food is my attempt at correcting my terrible eating habits and unwillingness to eat anything that looks strange or foreign by forcing myself to eat new and scary foods on my trip. After having spent my first week in Croatia avoiding any kind of food that looked freaky or foreign, I met up with Michael, and I was finally forced to try something new… Fried Calamari. Shudder. And so,... 
I am the anti-foodie. If it were possible for humans to exist without needing food, I wouldn’t eat at all. I don’t enjoy eating and a lot of different types of food freak me out. In part, I blame my mother for my lack of interest and excitement in food. Growing up, we lived on processed food for the entirety of my childhood and that’s literally all I’ve ever known. Every dinner was a frozen ready... Posted by .
In July 2011 I left England for what was supposed to be a one year trip around the world. Within a few months of leaving I knew that a year would never be enough. I now work online and travel permanently, seeking misadventures in unique, beautiful and fascinating places. Read more.
I'm here to show you how not to travel. Since I've been on the road I've been "poked" during a massage in Bangkok, punched a scammer in Shanghai, been attacked by monkeys in Bali, sat next to a dead woman on a boat in Laos and so much more. I call these The Incidents and you can see a full list of them here.
