Food Blogger

Edward loves eating food so much that he became a professional food blogger. He would travel from restaurant to restaurant tasting and commenting on the foods he has eaten. Nothing was off limits to him. From snacks to full course meals, he would try them all.

He especially loves eating meat. He has even been in eating contests where the food served is meat and he would win it. Every weekend, when he stays at home he would cook up a barbecue and invite his friends.

He has a few close friends who are all social media influencers like him. Others were also into food blogging while the others are into lifestyle or fashion blogging. But they all compare in terms of follower numbers to him.

The reason why he has only a few friends is that very few people can stand him. He can be very nasty. His nastiness carries on to his food reviews. He would broadcast to his followers: “The food in this restaurant tastes like dog food!” This is how nasty he could get.

But his reviews are not only very harsh but even unfair. He would leave very harsh reviews of restaurants that do not treat him like a king. He knows that he is a popular food blogger with many followers and wants to be treated as such.

He would eat at a restaurant and not pay for his food. He doesn’t wait to be seated. He would force the restaurant to seat him by occupying a reserved table. Many restaurants have ejected him and in return he would broadcast bad reviews about them.

But the life of a social media influencer can be very precarious and short lived. Because of his nasty attitude towards restaurant, his follower numbers and popularity dropped. Many of the restaurants he victimized even started to report his nasty attitude in social media.

New food bloggers were starting to attract his followers. His old followers would even broadcast that he knows nothing about food. One even broadcasted: “Edward just wants to eat food for free because he is a broke blogger wannabe!”

This hurt him considering that what his former follower said was true. His blogging income has dropped significantly. If things continue as they are, he would have to start looking for a job. He was horrified at the thought of getting a job just to feed himself.

He confided what he must do to one of his friends. His friend advised him: “Blog about foods that are totally new. Something people had not eaten before.” He asked his friend how would he be able to do this.

“Go to restaurants that are not famous and out of the way.” Replied his friend. Edward gave his friend’s advise a serious thought and determined it was a wonderful idea. He said to his friend: “Brilliant! There should be dishes out there that my followers have not tasted before!”

With enthusiasm he started wandering around looking for restaurants that he has not visited before. The strategy seemed to work. As he found new food dishes from restaurants he had not visited before his follower numbers increased as they were interested in what he has to say about these new restaurants.

But his competitors followed copied his strategy. They too upped their game and also went looking for previously unknown restaurants. Soon they not only equalled his follower numbers but actually exceeded him.

Pretty soon most of his followers have left him. His social media income dropped so low that he was not able to pay his bills. He was now in debt. Instead of looking for a job to tide him over he stubbornly continued on with his food blogging.

He got no sympathies from his friends this time. His friends met him in a restaurant and one of them told him: “You haven’t changed. The reason why your followers leave you is because you are a jerk. You act like a king to restaurants and to your followers. You are not above anybody.”

“But I am better than everyone! I know what the taste of real food is! These people do not know what real food tastes like!” He arrogantly said. Everyone in the restaurant looked at them and the owners of the restaurant politely asked all of them to leave.

His friends never contacted him again after the incident. He mostly stayed in his apartment because he now has little money to go out. He concentrated instead on cooking. He broadcasted while he cooked food in his apartment.

But his follower numbers did not improve. It took a nosedive instead. His attempt at a cooking blog seems to have alienated many more of his followers. He was desperate. He called his friends but no one seems interested in talking to him anymore.

Then one day he saw an advertisement on television about a restaurant contest. The biggest fast food chain was asking people to submit to them the most delicious food they have so they can add this to their menu. The prize was $100,000.

Then as if on cue the next day another fast food chain also announced that they have a contest. It was the same contest asking people to submit their most delicious food so the restaurant chain can add it to their menu. They offered a higher prize.

Edward became interested in winning the contest. He needed money and the prize is more than enough for him to pay his debts. Winning the contest might also improve his food blogging account. Winning the contest would surely provide him with new followers.

But where will he get a winning dish good enough for the contest? He researched food dishes online and tried cooking the dishes which he thinks could win him the contest. But they tasted bad. He knows he is not a good cook and his only chance of winning the contest is to find a dish cooked by someone else.

He tried once again to find new restaurants. This time he went to more out of the way places. He looked and looked everywhere at the places he knew but to no avail. All the places he visited turned out to be a disappointment.

Still, he kept trying. He was getting more and more desperate. He even considered places that seemed dangerous. Still, he found no dishes worthy enough to enter in the contest. The deadline for the contest was getting near and he became gloomier as the days passed.

Then one day as he was driving back to his apartment he made a mistake and made a wrong turn. It was a part of town he never visited. This part of town is not considered dangerous but it was considered a town where the poor lived.

This is the reason why he never visited the place. He never wanted to be associated with poor people. He wanted to be associated with rich people. This is the reason why he started a food blog. He wanted a job where he can be famous and live a life of luxury.

“Why not?” He said to himself as he studied the place. The place has small shops and there were people going about carrying groceries and food with them. He thought: “Maybe I can find a unique dish here.” Then he made up his mind. He was inspecting the place.

He parked his car and wandered around. There was indeed something to see in this place. When he entered a bakery he saw breads and cookies that he had never seen before. They tasted good too.

Trying out the different foods in the shops convinced him that he has a chance of finding a dish worthy to enter in the contest. He wandered and wandered until he came to a very desolate part of the place. He couldn’t see any shops anymore so he decided to turn back.

He was a few steps back when he smelled something. It smelled so delicious he cannot resist it. His mouth watered as he begins to envision a beautiful dish being served in front of him. “I must have this dish!” He said to himself.

He used his keen sense of smell to track the origin of the smell. The smell took him to an even secluded part of the place where there was nothing but old wooden houses and old rusted cars.

He hated the place but the delicious smell egged him on to continue. “How can a smell be so delicious? Surely I have stumbled into a dish so unknown that not many people know about it!” His mind raced as he thought of the prize money.

Then the smell took him to one of the old houses. It was closed but he is sure that the smell came from it. He knocked at the door. There was no response. Then he shouted: “Hello! Is anyone here. I need to talk to you.” Still no response from anyone inside.

Then he thumped the door hard repeatedly. Finally the door opened. It was opened by a thin old woman. She irritatingly asked: “What is it you want?” He announced himself: “I am a food blogger and I think you have food that I can blog about!” The old woman said that she does not know what he is talking about. He further explained himself.

“We are not interested. Now please go. This is a private place.” She said to him. “A private place?” He replied back. Then he forcefully entered the house brushing the woman aside. He was pleasantly surprised.

The house was a small and undecorated restaurant but it was almost full of people quietly enjoying their meals. There were two tables unoccupied and he sat in one of them. He said to the old woman: “I want to eat your most delicious dish.”

The old woman replied: “This is a private place. We do not serve to strangers. We don’t need your money.” Angered, Edward warned her that it is illegal to refuse a customer and he would report her to the authorities. By now the people eating in the restaurant were looking at him.

The old woman pondered what he said for a while then she asked a question: “If we let you eat here will you leave after you have eaten?” Edward gave out a smile and said: “Yes. I just want to taste your dishes. I would leave after I have eaten. I am a man of my word!”

Seemingly satisfied, she served him the best food he has ever eaten. He tried to take some pictures of the food served to him but there was no cell tower nearby to transmit his social media posts.

Like a pig he ate so much food his stomach was stuffed. All the foods served to him were delicious beyond imagination. He concluded that any of the foods served to him can win him the contest.

While he was resting after finishing all the dishes served to him the old woman approached him again and asked: “Are you satisfied with our food? Are you leaving soon?” Edward replied: “Of course I am leaving soon. But first you have to show me how to cook the dishes.”

The old woman’s face reddened. She said: “But you promised to leave after eating. Are you not a man of your word?” Edward laughed and said: “I am a man of my word. I would leave after I know how to cook your dishes.”

Then he got up to proceed to the kitchen where the cook was. He was stopped by the cook before he can enter the kitchen. Edward protested: “You cannot deny people your delicious food! Your food is for the world to discover. I can make you famous!”

Then the cook said: “We don’t need you here. Get out!” But Edward was stubborn. He lied again: “I could report you to the health authorities. Your kitchen seems to be dirty!” Then he started taking pictures of the restaurant.

The old woman said in an angry voice: “You are a bad person! First you disturb our peace then you threaten us!” Edward noticed that the people in the restaurant had stopped eating. They have stood up and were slowly coming towards him.

Edward panicked. He ran towards the door but it was locked. He raised the curtain that was covering one of the windows of the restaurant. He saw people outside. He started yelling and asking for help but the people outside just ignored him.

The people in the restaurant were coming closer and closer. He got a chair and threw it at them. It hit one of them but it had no effect. “Who are you people?” He shouted panicking. Closer and closer they were coming towards him.

He was cornered. They grabbed him by the arms. He can feel how strong they were. “What are you going to do with me?” He said this as he struggled with their strong grip. They dragged him inside the kitchen still struggling.

Once inside he was tied firmly to a chair. The people in the restaurant were all around him. They were intently looking at him. He can see it in their faces that they were angry at him. Then the old woman spoke in a hushed tone with a few of the people in the restaurant.

This gave him the time to have a look around the kitchen. It was clean. There were pots and pans hanging in the walls as well as other cooking utensils. Then some of the people made way as the cook approached him.

Then in an instant he was gripped with horror. He did not see it before because the kitchen was crowded with people. They covered the horror that was in the kitchen. He saw a severed arm in a chopping block.

Next to it was a boiled human head served in a tray complete with garnishing. The people in the restaurant ate people! He finally comprehended why they want him to go. But it was too late.

The old woman spoke to him: “We don’t want to kill you but you leave us no choice. Many times we pleaded with you to leave but you insisted to stay and even threatened us.” Edward pleaded: “I’m sorry. I just wanted to know why your food is so delicious. I’m sorry. I want to leave now.”

She said: “But now you know our secret and we can’t let you go. You will tell the outside world about us if we let you go.” He sorrily said: “Please forgive me. I’m sorry. I won’t tell anyone about you or your food.”

Then in a wicked voice she said: “But you are special. We have not tasted a food blogger before and now we have the opportunity to taste one. We were planning to cook you but now we think we would just eat you slowly until you die.”

Edward screamed as the old woman and the other people started tearing his flesh.

He was never seen again.