Food Questers

Dave and I like our food. Foodie is too cute a word, gourmand too pretentious. Since we figured out that many of our favorite travel destinations are favorites because of a great food experience we had there, I'm going to call us Food Questers: always on the lookout for authentic food experiences -- and willing to go a long way to get them.

The nice thing is: authentic food experiences rarely require much food intake. The flavors tend to be so pure or intense (or unfamiliar) that you don't need more than a few bites. Take, for instance, the moment immortalized in my current profile photo: eating a fried grasshopper in Thailand. We bought a (really big!) bag of fried insects at a street cart, tried one of each type (there were four), then tossed the rest. They tasted like frying oil, so why down the whole bag?

Besides, once you've ticked off "eat bugs" from your Life List, you can move on, right?

So, in case the natural beauty and/or architectural amazements and/or cultural wonders of the following places aren't enough to get you there, go, my fellows, for the sake of your taste buds. You, too, can be a Food Quester! Huzzah! Plus, you can experience all that other great destination stuff in a post-taste euphoria. Win-win!

Some favorites:

Germany
Dunkel (dark beer) - Bavaria
Rosner's Lebkuchen (spiced cookies) - Waldsassen
potato pancakes - Nürnberg

Italy
cappuccino - Rome
pasta w/ olive oil + garlic - Rome

Spain
seafood paella - Barcelona

France
unpasteurized Brie - Bretagne
banana-Nutella crepes from a street cart - Paris

Poland
liver sautéed w/ apples + onions - Krakow

Czech Republic
goulash w/ steamed dumplings

Thailand
iced tea (w/ condensed milk!) - Bangkok
Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School - Chiang Mai

Malaysia
roti canai from a street cart - Kuala Lumpur

Singapore
roti prata - Singapore

New Zealand
high tea @ Bees Online Cafe - Waimauku
muffins & coffee @ Blah Blah Blah cafe - Dargaville

Ireland
Guinness on tap - anywhere!
soup and brown bread - anywhere!

What have been your favorite travel-related food experiences - domestic or foreign? did you like something you didn't think you would? Have you been able to recreate the experience at home?

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