Places Evoke Memories of Food

“It is always sad to leave a place to which one knows one will never return. Such are the melancholies du voyage: perhaps they are one of the most rewarding things about traveling.”

Gustave Flaubert

For me, experiencing new things when I travel is why I travel.  I especially love trying new foods that are specialties of that country.  I am not quite as adventuresome as Anthony Boudain.  If you watch the travel channel on television you know that he travels the world trying very unusual foods (bugs, brains, etc.)  I don't go that far, but if a country has a food that it is famous for, then I want to try it.

Dinner in China

You may say that you have tried foods from other countries from restaurants here at home.  Just because you have tried foods in the United States that is supposedly from a different region of the world, doesn't mean you have actually tried food from that country.  Restaurants here cater to American tastes, and the food is quite often different than what you will get when you are actually in that country.  As an example, I have eaten Chinese food here in the states thousands of times.  But when I went to China I found the food to be quite different from the food I had here in the states.  I enjoyed the food in China, and tried just about everything I was served, but it did not remind me of the food I had here.

Sometimes I will have a food and it immediately calls to mind a trip I have taken.  I remember having that food and it reminds me of the place where I ate it and the fun I had in that country.  Certain foods I will always associate with a place.  Moussaka is certainly one of those foods.  I had never had Moussaka until I went to Greece, now I have it often and even make my own.  None will ever taste as good as that very first taste though.  But whenever I have it, I think of sitting in the Plaka in Athens at a little sidewalk table, and I remember our waiter, who chatted with us and was quite funny.  And I fell in love with Moussaka.  I was already in love with Athens by then.

Greek Salad

Actually moussaka is not the only food I fell in love with in Greece.  The country has some of the best food I have ever eaten.  I really like the food of Greece.  I love lamb, and the Greeks use a lot of lamb in the dishes they prepare.  And Panzanella salad became a favorite, which is made with big chunks of bread.  The Greek salad is so different than the salads by that name here in the states.  The Greeks seldom use lettuce in anything, including their salads.  A true Greek salad is chunks of tomatoes, green peppers, sliced red onions, kalamata olives and fresh feta cheese, with a little olive oil and some herbs over the top.



Tapas

In Spain we went out each evening for tapas, which are small bites of food served either hot or cold, usually with a glass of wine or beer.  The tapas are served in the early evening to tide people over till dinner which is never eaten before 10:00 p.m.  Sometimes we ate so many tapas that we didn't need dinner.  But I did love the dinners there.  I really fell in love with gazpacho in Spain.  Gazpacho is a cold tomato soup.  It is delicious, and I ordered it almost every night while in Spain, as a starter to my meal.  Of coursethey are famous for their
paella and everyone who goes to Spain should try it, it is better than any paella you will get anywhere else.  And the Costa del Sol area where we were, had wonderful seafood dishes. 

Plaza Mayor in Madrid, getting ready for
the dinner crowd

One of the things I love about dining out in some of the European cities is that they dine outside all year long, in wonderful little town square areas.  They set up tables and all the neighbors come out with their kids and their dogs and they wander around the square, saying hello to each other.  The kids and the pets are playing, and people are having their dinner.  We have nothing like that here.

Tomato and Mozzarella Sandwich

We traveled to the Canary Islands in 2003.  We were on the island of Tenerife.  The food that I remember most from that trip was a tomato and mozzarella sandwich, on a long bagette type of bread.  It had basil leaves on it, and sometimes a thin sliced Spanish ham.  We were there with friends from Scotland, and almost everyday we would stop at a little outdoor restaurant somewhere and have one of those sandwiches with a beer, and watch the people, and enjoy the sunshine.  I have had other sandwiches similiar to them since that trip, but none seem quite as good as those were.  Maybe it was the company, or the sunshine, or the atmosphere, I'm not sure.  But I will always associate the Canary Islands with those sandwiches.




Squid in its own Ink

While in Croatia in 2010 I was told that the best seafood in the world was to be had there, and in particular that I should try the squid.  So one night my husband and I were at a typical outside restaurant, like the ones I described above, in a town square with children and pets, and families.  I decided to order the squid.  I have eaten squid here in the states, usually breaded, and had always enjoyed it.  When this arrived it really surprised me.  It was in a bowl, and it looked like a bowl of black rubber bands.  It was served in its own ink.  My first thought was, that it didn't look too appetizing.  My husband was looking a little askance at it.  But I will try almost anything, so I took a bite, and I was hooked.  It was delicious.  I practically licked the bowl.  It is a meal I will always remember, and it is one I loved.

In Thailand everything we ate was spicey.  We were eating some noodle dish and I bit into something that caused me to feel like I was breathing fire.  I turned bright red and started gulping my drink.  My husband laughed at me and thought I was over-reacting.  Then he bit into the same thing, and realized that it really was hot.  I do like Thai food, but I also learned to respect it for what it is, and to be careful. 

Me eating gelato in Italy

In Italy we fell in love with gelato.  Gelato is not just ice cream, it is smoother, richer and more flavorful.  It is in a class by itself.  We were in Italy during the summer, so it was hot out.  We stopped for a lemon gelato on our second day in Italy.  For the next 20 days, while we toured the country fell in love with Italy, we made a point of stopping everyday and enjoying a gelato.  Lemon is still my favorite flavor, I suppose because it was the very first taste I ever had of gelato, or maybe because it was just so refreshing on a hot day.  We tried almost every flavor available, but somehow kept going back to lemon.



Lemoncello

It is not only food that sometimes makes me think of a country.  Drinks also play a large part.  I found that the only thing I ever want to drink with either Chinese or Japanese food, is beer.  That is the drink they serve in those countries to drink.  Of course not everyone has beer, but it is the most common drink with the people of those countries.  It is what I had with every meal when I was in both of those places.

In Italy we spent a week in Sorrento, which is near Naples, Capri and Pompeii.  They are famous for their Lemoncello.  It is a lemon liquour.  It is sweet and sour at the same time.  It is an acquired taste, and I am not overly fond of it.  But when I think of Sorrento, I think of lemons, and Lemoncello.

In Spain we were served Schnapps after every meal.  We didn't order it, it was just set before us at the end of the meal.

Raki in Greece

 In Greece, it was Raki, which was put in front of us at the end of the meal.  Most of the time the Raki tasted like turpentine.  I did not enjoy it, so I would usually pass.  George drank them both, not that he enjoyed it, but he did it so I wouldn't have to.  But one night, on the island of Crete, we had a wonderful meal in the hills overlooking the town of Rethymnon.  They made their own Raki there, and it was smooth, and tasted wonderful.  I even bought a bottle to take home.  When Raki is made the right way, it is actually quite good.  Of course, Greece is more famous for its Oozo, and I also drank that while there.  I quite like Oozo, but then I also like licorice.

A Shandy

And last year we traveled with our Scottish friends across Scotland and around Ireland.  I discovered the Shandy.  A shandy is a mix of beer and "lemonade".  But the lemonade is not what we think of as lemonade, it is sparkling - more like a 7up with a slight lemon flavor.  You mix it with the beer and it is a light refreshing summer drink.  I was completely hooked on it throughout that trip.  Scotland will all be associated in my mind to the Shandy.


We are looking forward to traveling to new places soon.  Africa will be later this year, and I am sure I will have some new taste treats to look forward to there.  Some may be better than others, but I am looking foreward to trying whatever the locals prepare, it is part of the experience.  It is hard for me to imagine going to another country and instead of trying the food of the area, looking for familiar foods from home.  I know people do that, I have even traveled with some who will not try new things.  For me though, I would not feel I had really been there and experienced it, if I had not also tasted it.  So to all of you who are traveling to new places I say "Bon Apetite!"

Here is my recipe for Moussaka.  I hope you enjoy it.  It is as close as I can come to the Moussaka we had in Greece.

Moussaka
6 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound ground lamb
1/2 Cup red wine
1 T. tomato paste
1 1/2 canned crushed tomatoes in puree
1 (1 pound) eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 Cup milk
1/2 Cup grated Parmessan
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1/8 teas. ground allspice
1 teas. salt
fresh ground pepper

Heat the broiler.  In a large frying pan heat 1 T. oil.  Add onion and garlic.  Cook until softened.  Add the lamb and cook until meat loses its pink color (2 min.)  Stir in wine, tomato paste and tomates in puree, bay leaf, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer covered 10 minutes.

Moussaka

Brush both sides of the eggplant slices with remaining oil and season with salt and pepper.  Put eggplant slices on a large baking sheet and broil, 6 inches from heat, until browned.  About 5 min.  Turn and broil until browned on the other side.

In a small saucepan, combine cream chees, milk 1/8 teas. salt and a pinch of pepper.  Warm over low heat until just melted.

Oil and 8 X 8 inch baking dish.  Layer half the eggplant in the dish, then half the meat sauce.  Sprinkle with half the Parmessan. Repeat with remaining eggplant, meat sauce and Parmessan.  Spoon the cream cheese sauce on top; broil until just starting to brown.  Serve hot.



Different Food Customs in Different Countries

“Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own countrymen, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untraveled minds.”

Charles Caleb Colton

We recently took a trip to Scotland to visit our friends who live there.  While there, we took a road trip with them over to the Isle of Skye, and then on to Ireland.  One of the things that struck me on this trip is that as Americans, we eat differently than they do in the United Kingdom, and for that matter, in other parts of the world.  We call things by different names, and we have different customs, even when it comes to food.  I have always known this, but discussing some of our differences with our friends called it more to my attention.

Breakfasts were probably the most different for me.  At home I sometimes have a piece of toast, sometimes oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, sometimes a muffin or a scone, or sometimes fruit with yogurt.  Those are typical breakfasts on a normal day.  Very occasionally we will have an egg and bacon, and rarely will we take the time to make French toast or waffles.

Full Irish Breakfast with beans and blood pudding

While in Scotland and Ireland, however, we were served full breakfasts according to their idea of breakfast, which included a fried egg, a piece of ham (which they called bacon, but would not be anyone in this countries idea of bacon), canned beans, cooked tomato, 2 sausages, toast, and sometimes a small cold pancake or a piece of soda bread, and of course quite often it came with blood pudding.  Way more food than I could eat, beside the fact that although I like beans well enough, they are not my idea of breakfast food.  The blood pudding I found rather tasteless, and the idea of it wasn’t appealing, although I did give it a try.

One morning porridge was on the menu and I ordered that.  It was similar to oatmeal, which I usually eat with brown sugar and raisins.  When I mentioned this to my Scottish friends, they were horrified.  They would never eat anything like that with their oatmeal, they just salt it.

Cranberry Yogurt Sultana
that I had in Scotland

And when I suggested one morning that we have scones or muffins for breakfast – well, it’s just not done.  Scones or muffins are for afternoon tea, never for breakfast.  I personally would consider a muffin or a scone a perfect breakfast, and would probably never eat either later in the day. They have scones either midday, or after dinner, more like a dessert.  We seldom eat anything for dessert unless we have company over, but I do like desserts.  But to me a dessert is more like cake, ice cream, cookies or pie.

Now, I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy eating on this trip, I just found it interesting that we have such different ideas about when food should be consumed, and how.  I have to say I ate more bread and potatoes than I do at home.  And the potatoes were usually either in the form of fries (which they call chips), or boiled (and served dry, without butter).  And sometimes they are served alongside pasta dishes, which to me would stand alone or with a salad, but not with another starch.  Different ideas in different cultures.

Enjoying a Shandy in Scotland

One of the interesting things I found, is what they call lemonade.  I discovered that I loved to drink Shandies, which is half beer or ale and the other half is what they call lemonade.  What I found out is that their lemonade is a clear, sparkling liquid which doesn’t necessarily contain any lemon.  When I asked why they call it lemonade, I was told that they just do.  And it is sold in the stores that way, but it seems to be basically 7up.

George's Caesar Salad in Ireland

Salads do not seem to be a big part of the diet in many countries.  I do miss those while traveling.  It is hard to find good fresh salads on the road.  We did get some good salads in Greece, but they are not the same as a Greek salad here.  For one thing, there is seldom lettuce in a salad in Greece.  Their Greek salad is tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, red onion, a little olive oil and some herbs, and lots of feta cheese.  I did love their salads there, and now that is how I make a Greek salad at home.  And in Spain, the salads were liquid in the form of Gazpacho, which is a cold soup, but it has the ingredients of a salad.  I love Gazpacho.  There were not a lot of salads on the menus in the pubs and restaurants in either Ireland or Scotland.  My husband did have a Caesar Salad one night in Ireland, with salmon and bacon on it.  He said it was quite good.  But that was an unusual offering. 

Sweet and Sour Fish Dinner in Beijing, China

 I do love to try new foods wherever I am traveling, and have been fairly adventuresome.  In China I ate just about everything, where as some of my fellow travelers refused to try some things that were served.  When we lived in the Philippines I know I probably ate dog and monkey, because both are commonly served in the villages, but when we were invited out to the village for a special event, we were the guest of honor, and it would have been rude to refuse to eat something, so I thought it best not to ask what anything was, because if I knew it was dog I wouldn’t have been able to eat it.  And I have tried other regional foods, such as haggis and blood pudding in Scotland, squid in its own ink in Croatia (which was quite good, but it looked like a pile of black rubber bands), baby octopus in noodles in Singapore, and tofu cookies in Japan, among other things.

Times for meals are also different.  In many European countries you would never eat dinner before 10PM.  When in France or Spain, that is when we ate dinner, because that was their custom.  But I have to say, it is hard to eat that much just before bedtime, so we tended to stay up much later, just to give dinner a chance to digest.  In Scotland our friends referred to dinner as tea time, even though we didn’t necessarily have tea with the meal, but it did tend to be at around 6PM, which is when we usually have dinner here.

So, different customs and different foods in different countries.  That is what travel is all about, learning how other people live. 

Eating - Around the World

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home. "
 James Michener

A food stall on the streets of Beijing

Today I would like to talk about food, in conjunction with travel. I have had some of my best meals while traveling. And some of my worst. When I am making plans to visit an area I have never been to, I love to research it first. Part of that research is looking at places to eat in the area. I usually make some notes of places to try. However, while actually traveling, I find that sometimes those places are not in the area of the city I am in, or are hard to find. So they don't always work out.

One of the easiest ways to find a good place to eat is to ask a local. They live there, and they eat there. So they know where the food is good. If you have a local guide who has given you a city tour, ask them. And then be open-minded. The food is going to be different from what you are used to. Recently we were in Split, Croatia. Our local guide told me of a restaurant he liked, and suggested I order the squid. Now I do order squid here in the states. It is calamari and it comes breaded, and is quite good. I ordered the squid in Split. It came in its own ink, and looked kind of like a pile of black rubber bands. I was hesitant, but I'm usually willing to try most anything. I have to say that I would put that meal at the top of my list for best meals. It was melt in your mouth, and very tasty.

On the other hand, I was in Paris many years ago, and was in the mood for something in the seafood category. The menu was in French, so I was studying it trying to figure out what everything was. A gentleman at the next table asked if he could help. I told him I was interested in some seafood and he made a suggestion. I ordered it. When it came I was a bit surprised. It was in a silver mountain of a dish, with different kinds of sea creatures sticking out of it. I was given an assortment of forks to pry the food out of the different shells. I ate quite a bit of it, some were tasty, some were not. However, for the next 2 days I spent more time in the bathroom then I did sightseeing. I was quite ill. That was not one of my better taste treats.



A plate of food - Singapore

Another favorite meal adventure took place in Singapore in 1979. I had read about the car parks. I don't think they actually have car parks today, although they have things that are similar. The car parks were actually places to park your car during the day while at work. At night the people drove their cars home and the car parks were taken over by food carts that were pulled in, and tables set up. The tables had numbers on them. You picked a table and then you went to the carts and ordered the food and had it sent to the table.

It was our first night in Singapore. My husband said he would stay at the table with our daughter and I could go order for us. He would pay when it was delivered. I thought, why not try a variety of things. I saw plates going by, and they were just small plates, so I figured if I ordered quite a few of those we could share and try everything. What I didn't know is that you had to specify the small plates. If you didn't then you automatically got large plates. I ordered about 15 plates of food, and then went back to the table. My husband was paying for food as it came, but we already had a table full of large plates of food. I was a little shocked. He asked why I had ordered so much, we could have fed a small army. I was a little embarrassed at the amount of food before us, and we didn't even make a dent in it. We left so much. But everything was good, and we did try a little bit of everything. We learned a lesson from that though, know what you are ordering.



Meal at farmhouse in hills of Croatia

One of the better meals that stands out in my mind is the teppanyaki meal in Japan. It was cooked on an iron grill in front of us, with about 10 courses, and they were all excellent. And another meal that was special was on a recent trip to Croatia. We had a meal at a farmhouse in the mountains.  It was a simple meal, and I'm not even sure what some of the foods were, but everything was simple and delicious. The pickled red cabbage was particularly good, something I didn't even know I would like, until I tried it.

Shrimp salad on Moorea

A few years ago we went to French Polynesia.  We visited the islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora.  Meals were extremely expensive everywhere we went, and we were being as economical as possible, by doing breakfasts at our condo, and making sandwiches for lunches and taking them with us for the day.  But one of the days we were doing a car trip around the island of Moorea, and we decided we would do lunch on the trip, and then come back to the condo and have pizza, so our splurge for the day was at lunch time.  We found a cute little restaurant right on the beach and I ordered their shrimp salad.  It is a salad I wish I could order over and over again, it was definitly a favorite.  I took a picutre of it, it was quite beautiful, as well as tasty

Agreco Farms, Crete, Greece

Another meal that stands out for me, was on the island of Crete, Greece. We went to a farm in the hills where they grow everything they need. All of the meat was raised there, the grains for the bread, the fruit, the vegetables, even the wine was made there. They made their own feta cheese, and it was the best I ever tasted. They also made their own olive oil, and I purchased some of that and brought it home. We had about 10 courses there also, we learned not to eat too much of any course, to pace ourselves, because they kept bringing more food.  And we were sitting outside, under the grape vines, looking down on the city of Rethymnon and the bay. It was beautiful, and certainly tops the charts for the best meal while traveling.

Food from an open air market

The one thing to remember when looking for a place to eat, is to leave the hotel. You might get a decent meal at your hotel, but it will probably not be memorable. Hotel food is not even always representative of the area. Be adventurous. I admit that I have eaten food directly from vendors in marketplaces, which were maybe not the most hygienic, but the only time I actually got sick was from a high class restaurant in Paris. And some of that marketplace food was quite tasty, even if you aren't sure if it's hygienic, the local people eat there everyday.

Next time I will talk about chocolate and other specialties from around the world.