Are You an Adventuresome Foodie?
In the past six weeks, I’ve been in Hong Kong, Scotland and Dubai along with a bit of time at home in the U.S. I’ve had thousands of food choices to select from with having no clue as to what many of them were. My biggest dilemma wasn’t what food to select, but how adventuresome I was going to be.
How many trips have you planned where you said “I’m going to eat something new when I get to ___ .” Then you get in front of a menu with no foods that you know (i.e., feel comfortable with). Worse yet, the menu is in a different language with no photos of the meals. Ok, maybe at the next restaurant you’ll try something new, just not at this restaurant. Before you know it, your travels are about over and haven’t really tried any local foods.
I admit that this is a challenge on all of my international trips. I really want to ‘eat local’ and have new food experiences and yet some menus look so daunting that I revert back to something I know. There are not many new foods that I haven’t liked, and luckily none that I remember getting sick on. So why the occasional reversion to safety?
Some of us are afraid of getting sick on foods that we’re not used to; others are afraid of different textures or smells. Personally, a slimy texture makes me shudder. Deep fry just about anything and I’ll give it a try (as when I tried a deep fried Mars bar in Scotland last week).
It’s also often better to not really ask what a food’s ingredients are. A food we originally said was great turns to yuck when the ingredients become known.
My best tip for being an adventuresome foodie without too much risk is to ask a food server for what’s most popular on their menu. I figure that if lots of other people really like it, it will be fresh because of frequent orders and it hasn’t killed too many customers!
Eating meals throughout your travels can really be the best part of your trip, so be bold, be adventuresome and become an International Foodie!
I’d love to hear about your adventure foods! Upload photos of your more interesting, weird or adventuresome food you’ve eaten to http://smartwomentravelers.ning.com/group/foodadventures.
