Eating Food Abroad: Discovering Delicacies

Culinary Excitement

A long time ago, a friend of mine told me that he traveled 10% to see amazing places, 10% to talk to amazing people and 80% to eat all their food.  Eating foods abroad brought him a lot of joy, and I agree with the philosophy. I have the belly to prove it.

Food is an intrinsic part of culture, so traveling to eat is always a worthy experience.  Eating food abroad while on the road is especially interesting, since it provides stories that will shock, disgust and intrigue families and friends back home.

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Listing Novelty Food

When heading to a new location, it’s a good idea to seek out specific novelty foods, including local specialties.  Always have a small list of novelty foods you’re interested in prior to arrival.

This can include special cooking methods, like frying venison in coke or outright outlandish ingredients, like sea urchins in stew.  It can also be uniquely presented meals, such as steamed dumplings in the shape of a teddy bear or caramel candies made by tossing down hardening sugar arcs in the shape of butterflies on flat top stoves.  

A brief online search generally reveals some of the more popular novelty foods in an area, but locals are by far the best people to ask about their local specialties.  While in Ecuador, every native can recommend you cuy (guinea pig) which is served as a hot dish.  But it takes a fair amount of cajoling to also learn about spicy Amazon chocolates, cacao leaf medicine tea, hot-spice alcohol canelazo and cow stomach soup.  

Take Photos

Though at times it may seem silly, travel experience tends to fill up and overflow the head rather quickly.  Be sure to take photos of your experiences, especially strange foods.  

It is also recommended to write little notes regarding what food tasted like. This method also helps recall unusual experiences and tastes involved.  

Cooks and chefs in particular can learn all sorts of interesting things about food when trying some of the novelty meals the world has to offer.  

Cultural Novelty Foods

One major type of novelty food is cultural novelty food.  These are meals unique to a city or country.  They generally showcase particular meals intrinsic to the culture.

Sushi in Japan, Hot Pot in China, Ceviche in Central America, Naan Bread in India and Stroganoff in Russia.  

Culture is synonymous with food around the world.  One of the best ways to understand a local culture is by eating food abroad.

Make an effort to seek out local cultural specialties and sample them.  

Cultural foods are also an excellent area to learn.  Generations of families have perfected recipes for these meals.  Learning how to cook local food is an enlightening activity.  

Tourist Food

Aside from local, cultural food, there is also tourism novelty food.  Tourism food are meals that are not part of regular diets, but are still enormously enjoyable to try.  

These include frog legs in Beijing, funnel cakes at State Fairs in the United States, Sugar-Pop Scorpions in Mexico or spicy crickets in Thailand.

These little snacks generally aren’t a major source of nutrition for most countries, but they’re still very fun to try.  Largely since the food is so outlandish, eating it makes a good story for the folks back home.

When looking for tourism food, check out festivals, fairs, parks and popular tourism streets.

Iconic Consumer Foods

Have you ever craved cucumber-shrimp flavored potato chips?  Or had a deep hankering for smelly durian fruit atop a pizza?  Or simply a good, old Bueno chocolate bar?  

Some foods found at almost every shop and convenience store are considered almost too normal by locals to bother mentioning.  This includes reindeer jerky in Alaska or gator nuggets in Florida or Pocky Sticks in Japan.

People tend to know these aren’t exactly normal across the world, but they pop up so much, they sometimes aren’t mentioned.  However, as a foreigner or visitor, these are still excellent novelty experiences.

Festival Foods

All around the world, foods are given their very own delicious and wonderful festivals.  Always hope to have the good fortune of trying festival foods during the appropriate time of year.

Zongzi served during China’s Dragon Boat Festival is excellent, as is Barfi during India’s Holi, Huushuur during Mongolia’s Naadam Festival and carurú  found during Brazil’s Carnival.  

There are also many festivals and events dedicated wholly to a single food, with numerous competitions and samples included.  My personal favorite is South Korea’s Kimchi Festival.  

Display Foods

With the rise of social media and the internet, a lot of food has moved to be interesting and photogenic, rather than strange-tasting.  

Snacks such as Yogurt Bunnies, Pokémon Pastries, Cotton-Candy Cloud Coffee, 3D Printed Chocolates and Foam-Picture-Printed Cappuccinos have grown in popularity.  While the flavor might be mundane, the visual amusement is still entertaining.  

Dangers of Novelty 

Naturally, novelty food has some inherent risks.  Strange foods might not agree with a person’s unsuspecting stomach (though this has only happened very rarely on my journeys).  Additionally, food might be difficult to consume for cultural reasons (Americans tend to struggle a lot when eating bugs or fish heads).  In other cases, the food might not be a part of a person’s personal taste.  

In all cases, it’s still better to try and earn a potentially excellent story.  As with eating everywhere abroad, make sure the facilities are clean, don’t drink tap water if you don’t know if it’s safe and don’t eat in restaurants where you’re the only customer.  

Comfort Food Over Novelty Food

Not all meals have to be a new and daring experience.  Remember that traveling is going to surround you with the unfamiliar.  This can be overwhelming after a while.  

Take a breath.  Make yourself something comforting, like noodles or a sandwich.  One of the best methods for meals recovery is to eat something your body can wholeheartedly recognize and accept. Part of eating food abroad means finding foods you can make easily and enjoy quietly.

Overall, eating food abroad is one of the most interesting and culturally engaging experiences in the world. Enjoy your adventure and eat well while wandering far.

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Every meal is a story and I’ve eaten enough stories to become chubby. Learn about it here at Leftfade Trails Blog Posts.