Try New Foods on Vacation

One of the great things about visiting new places on vacation is that you get to try different cuisine as well.  When you go to Italy, you get to sample the original Italian cooking that Italy is famous for.  In Jamaica, you can taste the jerk pork or the patties that we have here in North America, but are only available in their truest form in Jamaica's own backyard.  Every country seems to offer different cuisine and their own specialities.

It is true too that when you travel, the food you eat can have a major impact on how enjoyable your vacation is.  If you go to a resort, for instance, and the food is not up to par, that can seriously hamper your enjoyment of your stay there.  Needless to say, food is important on vacation.

But, when you do travel to different places, you should try new foods - ones that reflect the country you travel to.  For instance, in Greece be sure to try especially souvlaki, gyros, pita such as tyropita and spanakopita, which are some of their local specialities.  If you travel to Thailand, try their own style of Thai cooking.  Even if you don't care for the type of Thai cooking you may have eaten at home, trying the original Thai food made in their own country may be a better experience (just like the Chinese food served here in North America is not the same as the type of Chinese food you would get in China.)

Don't be afraid to try new foods either.  If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it.  But why not be adventurous and discover something new to add to your diet repertoire.  You may surprise yourself!  And it can be a fun activity.  Try, for instance, choosing beetle grubs in China.  That would certainly be something to remember and to brag about when you come home. 

Everyone has their own tastes of what they like and don't like.  But while you are on vacation, try to loosen up a bit and sample the food that the country you are in is famous for.  After all, those foods must be famous for a reason (a lot of people have liked them in the past).  And you never know.  You may come home with a new set of taste buds that crave those new flavors.  You may even want to replicate those dishes to add to your own household meals, and remember your wonderful vacation as you savour them.

Here are a couple of cookbooks from different cultures you may enjoy:

    

Thai Cooking

Since this blog is about food as well as travel, I thought you might like to know a little about some international cuisines. This article is about Thai food.

If you would like a chance to learn a little more about various countries and their unique cuisines, why not try my new Ebook: Tastes and Travels Ebook It offers reviews on various travel destinations and has articles on the cuisine of each place (as well as recipes that you can try).

Thai cuisines, or the cooking of Thailand, is know for its balance of five primary flavors served in a meal, either in each dish or overall. These consist of hot and spicy, sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Thai cuisine is made up from the four major regions in the country, the Northern Region, the Northeastern (or Isan), the Central Region, and the Southern Region. Each provides its own elements to Thai cuisine. For example, southern curries typically contain coconut milk and turmeric, while dishes from the Northeastern areas often contain lime juice.

Rice is a staple of Thai cuisine, as in most other Asian cooking. The jasmine rice popular all over the world today is indigenous to Thailand. A typical Thai meal is composed of a single dish or rice served with other complementary dishes at the same time. Steamed rice is served with aromatic curries, stir-fries, or other spicy dishes with chilies, lime, and lemon grass. Sticky rice, which is a unique variety of rice that contains starches that cause it to have a sticky texture, is also often served. Common Thai dishes may also include noodles which are typically served in a single dish or as a noodle soup.

Chopsticks are rarely used in Thai cuisine, and the food is generally eaten with a fork and a spoon. The people in the North and Northeast regions of Thailand typically eat sticky rice with their hands, making it into balls and dipping them in the side dishes served with the meal. Only the right hands are used to eat with.
Fresh, rather than dried, herbs and spices are typically used in Thai cuisine. The spicy condiments served with the main dishes can include dried chili pieces or sliced chili peppers soaked in rice vinegar, or other spicy sauces. Fish sauce can also be a major component in many dishes. It is very aromatic and strong tasting. As well, shrimp paste is also often used. It is made up of a combination of ground shrimp and salt.

In the South and Central regions, Thai dishes are often made with lime leaves, which add its characteristic flavor to nearly every Thai soup or curry. Garlic, galangal (an ingredient related to ginger with a soapy, earthy aroma and pine-like citrus-y flavor), lemon grass, turmeric and gingerroot are also frequent additions, as well as fresh Thai basil. A variety of spices and chilies are common elements in nearly every Thai dish.

Although common broccoli is often seen in Thai cooking here, gailan is typically served in traditional Thai dishes. Gailan (or Chinese broccoli) is green with a thick crunchy stem and a large, flat leafy end, which quite resembles a cross between traditional broccoli and cabbage.

Other common ingredients used in Thai cooking are cilantro (or coriander), curry pastes and powders, soy sauce, dried shrimp, five-spice powder, long beans, oyster sauce, Thai pepper, roasted chili paste and rice or tapioca flour. Five-spice powder incorporates the five primary flavors of Thai cuisine listed above and contains cinnamon, powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seeds, ginger root and ground cloves.

Thai cooking also has some unique offerings with various sauces and what would be considered exotic foods here. The Northern region offers raw beef dishes, fermented fish paste, and deep fried insect larvae. Commonly dishes from the Northeast include insects and giant water bug, or mang dah is popular.

Thai dishes can be quite unique but often are very tasty. There are becoming extremely popular choices throughout the world today.