ORLANDO, Fla. – Ricky Ly’s day job as a civil engineer has pretty much nothing to do with food, so he had to go online to express his passion for cuisine.
“I did write for the (University of Central Florida) newspaper back in the day — just like restaurant reviews and things like that,” Ly said. “After I graduated — after work, I had some free time and started blogging, and haven’t stopped since.”
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Ly is the founder of TastyChomps.com, a foodie blog covering all the happenings in Orlando’s restaurant and dining scene. His love of food has a lot to do with his upbringing. He said he has a large immigrant family.
“Every weekend almost was some celebration around food — whether there’s an anniversary or birthday — and there will always be huge platters of egg rolls and noodles and things like that growing up,” he said.
Ly’s father also owned an Asian grocery store in West Palm Beach, which he described as a hub for the community.
“I was wanting to kind of share those stories with others about food and places that you don’t hear about too much. So that was kind of the inspiration behind (Tasty Chomps),” he said.
Ly has been observing the Orlando food scene for years — watching it go through changes along the way.
“I moved up here in 2003,” he said. “Back then it would take years for (food) trends to come to Orlando. Now it could take days — maybe minutes — you know, once a trend pops up on the internet and someone’s already trying it out here locally in Central Florida.”
In the latest episode Florida Foodie, Ly talks about some of his favorite dishes around Orlando. He also talks about the food trends that are growing in the area and how the pandemic affected the service industry.
Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s books, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”
Florida Foodie is a bi-weekly podcast from WKMG and Graham Media that takes a closer look at what we eat, how we eat it and the impact that has on us here in Florida and for everyone, everywhere. Find new episodes on Apple podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
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