Tasting local food is an integral part of any trip to another country or just another region. You contemplate the architecture, see the sights, and communicate with locals, but your taste buds also want new experiences. And they will get them, as you’ll necessarily get hungry and drop at a restaurant or find yourself standing in line for authentic street food. For the active Instagram users, new pics of exotic food are a must. New food and dishes you try on your trip count for a big part of impressions. New flavors and tastes will long “haunt” you upon returning from your travel and will send you back to the unforgettable experience. Today, there are several travel trends: food, spa, and romantic trips (the latter are very popular among those on the Planet of Dating). Much can be said about each of them, but today we’ll focus on the perks of traveling for food.
1. Absolutely new food.
Every day you eat the food typical of your area. Tasting something new is already a good excuse to break from the daily grind and set off for a new country for new impressions. You will never know how pierogi taste if you don’t travel to Poland. You’ll never guess what deruny is if you don’t travel to Ukraine to find out that these are potato pancakes. Very often, those tourists who liked some dishes of the countries they’ve been to go there again to refresh their sensations.
2. Different taste of the foods you’ve eaten in your country.
Trying authentic foods is one thing but tasting the foods in the country of their origin and comparing them to those you buy in your country is another thing. It can be a true revelation. Those who taste mozzarella in Italy immediately feel the difference between this cheese and that they buy in their home countries. Try ice-cream in different countries and you’ll wonder how differently one and the same food can taste.
3. Learning culture through food.
Tell me what you eat and I will tell who you are. Since eating habits are a part of national culture, you not only taste local dishes but also get acquainted with the culture of this region somehow. National dishes are usually made of local products and eating them you simultaneously learn about the staple foods. Street food deserves your special attention as it shows the habits of the local inhabitants. For example, the French and particularly the dwellers of Paris are associated with crusty bread, delicious croissants, fine meat, wine and cheese. This set of products characterize them as people who appreciate quality over quantity and value aesthetic in everything.
4. Traveling with and meeting other foodies.
How to choose a companion for a trip? Someone said that you should travel with the ones you love. Why not travel with those who love the same food as you? It can be your friend or family member. Go on a trip together for new cultural and culinary experiences. If you travel solo, food can be a good excuse to strike up a conversation with a person sitting next to you at a local café.
5. New recipes.
If you like food, chances are you like both to eat and to cook. After tasting so many different dishes during your trip, you’ll necessarily want to try to cook something on your own. Of course, it will be difficult to achieve the same shades of flavor, but still, it’s worth a try. If you’re into cooking, you can take some master classes while traveling – they are organized for and popular among tourists. When you return home, you’ll have a lot of photos in your phone and memories in your head. The best way to refresh them is to remember the flavors of foods you tasted, or even better – to cook them in your kitchen.
