80 Meals Around the World is the work of Esther Clark and Tom Parnell.
Esther organises events; Tom can barely organise the daily event that is getting out of bed — though he does manage to keep an irreverent wine blog. It may therefore be seen that, together, they make a great team. Mainly Esther. Both, moreover, are verbally armed to the teeth, having studied English literature.
Tom and Esther became friends in Oxford. They then both (independently yet almost concurrently) moved to London. And, shamelessly manhandling this simple fact into a justification of extravagance, they embarked upon a mission that only a glib fool would call noble: to work their way around the globe by means of London restaurants.
The rules? Starting in France (mais oui) they must move from country to adjacent country (although some seafaring is allowable, so that they don't immediately paint themselves into a corner when they get to Portugal) — with the ultimate aim of circumnavigation.
That's pretty much it, really. As has already been hinted, this is an entirely ignoble piece of self-indulgence.
But, after all, this is the internet — where ignoble self-indulgence routinely passes for entertainment.
