Apple
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Post by Apple on Jul 26, 2016 14:32:05 GMT -5
I was just thinking, as I sit here drinking a latte from my fancy espresso machine, from a container more like a bowl than a mug, do you do things differently after you travel someplace? We had really great espresso while in Europe, and my son wanted me to get an espresso machine when we got home. I've had a cheap one before and didn't care for it, so I got "fancy" and bought a better one. Now I drink a latte daily. Also, instead of just cheese and meat and crackers or bread, we also add honey and jam (along with the cheese). This and the "coffee soup mug" are the direct result of staying with family in Southern France. Instead of coffee mugs, they drank their tea and coffee in much larger vessels. I have a ceramic Toy Story soup bowl that has now become my favorite "mug". My son has been more adventurous in the recipes he tries, recently pulling some recipes from Ukraine and Poland. This afternoon, he's going to attempt to make kvass/kvas/kwass ("bread acid drink", which he couldn't decide to like or hate the first time he tried it, decided he hated it, but then found some in a Russian market to try again, and now loves it.) Diving into the local food culture is a big part of our travels
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2016 14:37:21 GMT -5
I brush my teeth at work ever since I used to travel to Costa Rica for work. It amazed me while I was there that everyone in the manufacturing plant would brush their teeth at lunch, you couldn't even get into the bathroom because the line was out the door. They kinda looked at us like "you mean you don't?"
Cavities are almost nonexistent since I started doing it.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Jul 26, 2016 14:43:16 GMT -5
I refuse to drink that. Sour bread juice. Ugh.
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Jul 26, 2016 14:45:24 GMT -5
I can't say that I have. I am a typical spoiled American tourist that natives hate. In the Bahamas everything was made with conch & I found it rather disgusting. In Switzerland I didn't like the spices their meat was cured with & the yogurt was runny. I did love their bread & cheese but haven't seen similar here. In T&C we stayed at a B&B run by expat Americans so we ate home cooking. Those are my only ventures outside the US.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Jul 26, 2016 14:51:04 GMT -5
In Venice I had some wonderfully rich hot chocolate. I can no longer stand to drink that powder crap. I can't seem to quite get down what I had in Venice but chocolate shavings melted in warm milk is close. I think I need to try some darker chocolate.
Ice cream has been replaced with gelato
I sometimes eat meat and cheese for breakfast
The thing I loved in Ireland is something I cannot duplicate where I live, which is sleeping with the windows open. It is too damn hot and way too much pollen/mold/oak, etc.
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Jul 26, 2016 14:52:21 GMT -5
I brush my teeth at work ever since I used to travel to Costa Rica for work. It amazed me while I was there that everyone in the manufacturing plant would brush their teeth at lunch, you couldn't even get into the bathroom because the line was out the door. They kinda looked at us like "you mean you don't?" Cavities are almost nonexistent since I started doing it. Interesting
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Jul 26, 2016 14:58:18 GMT -5
would love to hear what imanangel would list first. as for me, I definitely picked up a few things along the way. I love red onion in my egg salad, and occasionally a little malt vinegar on fries (both Ireland). I discovered that I love prosciutto and melon in Bologna, and picked up a love of Thai food in Switzerland. I'll have to think about this a little more. my heavy travel days are long behind me, for work anyway, so the "new" stuff I've learned has been part of me for awhile now.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Jul 26, 2016 14:58:29 GMT -5
I had a coworker who always brushed his teeth after lunch. With my 12 hour shifts I keep a toothbrush and toothpaste in my locker, because sometimes you just need to, but I should probably do this too.
The runny yogurt reminds me of the time my son ordered a milkshake in the Czech Republic. It was a glass of ice with ice cubes, and may have had some sugar, but it was definitely not a milk shake like we're used to! We don't replicate that one at home.
Sometimes we just browse the little neighborhood markets and try some things that would be the equivalent to Lunchables, or some other convenience lunch. We've had some hits and misses, lol.
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chiver78
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Post by chiver78 on Jul 26, 2016 15:00:05 GMT -5
I drink coffee black if I'm eating a sweet pastry. oohh, I forgot about that. I do that, too - but usually with a scoop of gelato for me. I'm not big on sweet pastries. but yes, black coffee.
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Lizard Queen
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Post by Lizard Queen on Jul 26, 2016 15:02:09 GMT -5
It's kinda funny, but I grew up eating Polish food made by my mother. Study abroad in Poland, I ate McDonald's nearly every day, or other ethnic restaurants (TexMex in Krakow of all places!). I did have those soft pretzels for breakfast every morning--mostly for the convenience of it. The stuff in the cafeteria there just didn't agree with me. I did discover there that I didn't hate all beer. I tried some really good ones there. So, I guess not so much?
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Jul 26, 2016 15:04:34 GMT -5
I refuse to drink that. Sour bread juice. Ugh. It was one of our "let's just try these random items in a local market" finds, without a clue what it was (it was with the different kinds of pop). He didn't like it. Then he accidentally got more at another market a few days later (looked different). He hated it, now he likes it. Kids... The stuff we had to toss out was a sparkling beet juice. We couldn't even mix it with something else to make it taste ok.
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jul 26, 2016 15:20:22 GMT -5
I have traveled to Europe several times for work. Depending on the assignment, I have spent anywhere from a week to almost 2 months at various work locations. The places where I have spent more than a day are Norway, Switzerland, France and Germany. I enjoy being in the different cultures, but I don't think I really changed a whole lot.
I did learn to appreciate good cheese. I made an effort on smoked salmon in Norway, but after about 3 days I gave up.
I have a hard time with the lack of ice in drinks. You can get it if asked, but I would rather just have a big diet coke with ice. The site I visited in France I had to ask for a cup of ice at the lunch cafeteria. The server didn't understand at first, then had to make a special trip. After that, she would have a glass ready for me! We were in Switzerland in the middle of a heat wave and my co-workers and I would request ice with our drinks and get a cube or 2. At the next table, they ordered a bottle of white wine and it came in a bucket with a whole bunch on ice! When I get back on US Soil I head straight to the soda machine for a nice cold Diet Coke.
Where I was in southern France, they were big on shaking hands every day with people you already knew. The plant manager I was visiting told me about this on my first day. So every day at work, you had to shake hands with everyone everyday. If you went into a meeting, you had to shake hands with everyone there first thing. Walk into the break room and a bunch of people already there, you had to shake hands first. And their coffee breaks were standing around, no sitting. Not much germophobia there!
I always try to eat at as many local places as I can. I enjoy it, but can't think of much that I have changed.
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lexxy703
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Post by lexxy703 on Jul 26, 2016 15:30:22 GMT -5
So much this!!!! In Switzerland I'd ask for extra ice & get two more cubes. I don't drink soda & iced tea is my drink of choice. That was crazy trying to get enough ice to cool down a steaming cup of hot tea. Finally the concierge understood what I was doing & one morning proudly presented me with a cold glass of tea. Still minimal ice but he must have put the glass of tea in the refrigerator over night. Other people started asking me how I got tea & eventually the concierge was making it by the pitcher. I'd bet that hotel still serves chilled tea to Americans since it was such a hit.
I joked I was going to set up a little shop selling ice to tourists!
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violagirl
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Post by violagirl on Jul 26, 2016 15:34:18 GMT -5
I can't say that I would care to eat haggis again. It was not so much the haggis as the beer and lamb burps for the rest of the afternoon. Scottish meat pies - I'm all over that! But they are not so far removed from the traditional cuisine here in Canada that any epiphanies were had. We did discover Sticky Toffee Pudding in London and it apparently is a Canadian dish that someone has failed to inform Canadians about. That is now on my list of winter desserts. Especially with some whisky in the sauce. Mushy peas are great! Best way to eat peas. Plus they seem to eat "brown"sauce on everything and since HP sauce is my favorite condiment I was very happy there.
Eating in Tuscany has led to me never eating bread and pasta at the same time. And much smaller pasta portions.
I can drink espresso but I really prefer an Americano.
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swasat
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Post by swasat on Jul 26, 2016 15:41:34 GMT -5
I loved the chocolates in Switzerland, Spain and France. Now I don't like the chocolates we get here in US, the sugar content is way too high compared to European chocolates. So I have become a chocolate snob. I only buy and consume European chocolates. I LOVED the concept of tapas in Spain. Now I make various kinds of Tapas at home. Best way to eat a lot of variety in a meal. Hated haggis! Loathed it. I tried it and now I am done for life, I really don't see the appeal. And I drink wine with bread. Sometimes At 4 pm. Because everyone in Portugal did it.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Jul 26, 2016 15:49:10 GMT -5
Haha Apple! Many of my French friends have told me they have bought "des mugs" after having mugs of coffee or tea at my house LOL. Personally I never liked the bowl thing because there is no handle.
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justme
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Post by justme on Jul 26, 2016 15:56:18 GMT -5
In Venice I had some wonderfully rich hot chocolate. I can no longer stand to drink that powder crap. I can't seem to quite get down what I had in Venice but chocolate shavings melted in warm milk is close. I think I need to try some darker chocolate. Ice cream has been replaced with gelato I sometimes eat meat and cheese for breakfast The thing I loved in Ireland is something I cannot duplicate where I live, which is sleeping with the windows open. It is too damn hot and way too much pollen/mold/oak, etc. Never been to Venice and don't like chocolate, but Alton Brown has a hot chocolate recipe I remember from one of his shows. It's more complicated than just milk and chocolate. Maybe it'd be close?
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movingforward
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Post by movingforward on Jul 26, 2016 15:57:28 GMT -5
In Venice I had some wonderfully rich hot chocolate. I can no longer stand to drink that powder crap. I can't seem to quite get down what I had in Venice but chocolate shavings melted in warm milk is close. I think I need to try some darker chocolate. Ice cream has been replaced with gelato I sometimes eat meat and cheese for breakfast The thing I loved in Ireland is something I cannot duplicate where I live, which is sleeping with the windows open. It is too damn hot and way too much pollen/mold/oak, etc. Never been to Venice and don't like chocolate, but Alton Brown has a hot chocolate recipe I remember from one of his shows. It's more complicated than just milk and chocolate. Maybe it'd be close? Thanks! I will see if I can find it.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Jul 26, 2016 15:58:12 GMT -5
Haha Apple! Many of my French friends have told me they have bought "des mugs" after having mugs of coffee or tea at my house LOL. Personally I never liked the bowl thing because there is no handle. Mine has a handle! It's the best of both worlds, lol.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jul 26, 2016 16:10:38 GMT -5
After our trip to France, bread in the US has totally been ruined. Even the local bakery, which I thought made a fairly decent baguette, not so much. Butter has lost something in the translation too.
I've gotten some incredible Chinese food in Vancouver, the local places don't hold a candle to them. I think TD's mom is getting tired of dim sum and Chinse food...because that's what I ask for when she asks us what we want for dinner!
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quince
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Post by quince on Jul 26, 2016 16:55:24 GMT -5
I haven't been out of the country . My husband does say that the culture in Hawaii is different enough from the continental US to count, though. Since I moved away, I eat rice NOT for every meal. No kimchee with spaghetti. My husband does eat rice now with pork and beans though. Cross contamination. I love various types of Indian food, which I never ate before I moved to Michigan. I make Thai tea for myself.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Jul 26, 2016 17:08:10 GMT -5
I have traveled to Europe several times for work. Depending on the assignment, I have spent anywhere from a week to almost 2 months at various work locations. The places where I have spent more than a day are Norway, Switzerland, France and Germany. I enjoy being in the different cultures, but I don't think I really changed a whole lot. I did learn to appreciate good cheese. I made an effort on smoked salmon in Norway, but after about 3 days I gave up. I have a hard time with the lack of ice in drinks. You can get it if asked, but I would rather just have a big diet coke with ice. The site I visited in France I had to ask for a cup of ice at the lunch cafeteria. The server didn't understand at first, then had to make a special trip. After that, she would have a glass ready for me! We were in Switzerland in the middle of a heat wave and my co-workers and I would request ice with our drinks and get a cube or 2. At the next table, they ordered a bottle of white wine and it came in a bucket with a whole bunch on ice! When I get back on US Soil I head straight to the soda machine for a nice cold Diet Coke. Where I was in southern France, they were big on shaking hands every day with people you already knew. The plant manager I was visiting told me about this on my first day. So every day at work, you had to shake hands with everyone everyday. If you went into a meeting, you had to shake hands with everyone there first thing. Walk into the break room and a bunch of people already there, you had to shake hands first. And their coffee breaks were standing around, no sitting. Not much germophobia there! I always try to eat at as many local places as I can. I enjoy it, but can't think of much that I have changed. Had to laugh at this. My friends finally accepted the fact that I do not need/want a glass full of ice with every drink. I can drink anything without ice and prefer it that way. ETA: I don't even have to have it cold!!
The lack of ice when EX and I were in Madrid just about drove everyone on the trip crazy except moi.
OK, carry on since I got a tad OT~
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sarcasticgirl
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Post by sarcasticgirl on Jul 26, 2016 17:27:43 GMT -5
I spent a lot of time in europe in my 20s and it has certainly influenced my cooking. And the fact that I love to travel really effected how I lived when I wasn't traveling. I haven't been in almost 10 years... but DH and I are heading abroad in just a couple of months. It will be his first time. I am interested to see how things might change for him.
Sent from my SM-N920T using proboards
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alabamagal
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Post by alabamagal on Jul 26, 2016 18:24:56 GMT -5
In Norway the company we were visiting brought us to a dinner where they served reindeer. It was a private dinner and there were no other options. It was prepared by gourmet chef and was ok not something I would choose again.
Came home right before Christmas and had young kids. I did not tell them that I ate Rudolph.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on Jul 26, 2016 18:36:11 GMT -5
I don't pick up much from traveling unless it is an extended stay. During my childhood, my parents were expats in what was then called the Third World. We picked up an amazing number of European and Asian food customs that way. It's quite embarrassing how few of the locally-produced foods we learned to like (except fresh seafood) and the gusto with which we embraced shelf-stable European delicacies and the food produced at restaurants that catered to expats. I ate a lot of tinned Camenbert and ate a lot of lobster mornay as a kid because these were relatively cheap and easy to find options. This was back when the US was imposing quite stiff tariffs on French cheeses and before exporting the lobster became feasible. I'm sure these have since become much less affordable in the less developing and least developing worlds, but they sure were cheap three or four decades ago.
I developed a taste for tonic water while living in a place that didn't have safe drinking water. I miss Indian fried snack food and really don't understand why it hasn't caught on more here. (I've never been to Asia.) I had some damn fine Chinese food outside of the US but only once or twice in the US. I developed a taste for hummus and pita in West Africa. I've always believed that curry was a dish of sauce ladled over rice and then loaded with condiments according to the diner's discretion. I've since learned that the gymkhana club served a "rice bar" instead of a true curry but my mom still serves this when she says that we're having curry. I discovered sashimi in the South Pacific from an Australian or a German. The one Japanese restaurant there did not serve sashimi but Akiko introduced me to sriracha sauce, hot and sour soup, and putting mayonnaise on hamburgers. She also introduced me to panko, which is kinda life-changing, and authentic Japanese corn soup made with canned US sweet corn, which isn't life-changing but does make a person smile inside. (Any embarrassment that I might have ever felt about liking my mother's creamed tuna on toast, which looks much more like SOS than chipped beef in bechamel sauce over toast ever will, disappeared after trying corn soup.)
The point that I'm trying to make here is that it's pretty amazing how often traveling somewhere else introduces one to food that is new to you but still originated far, far away from where it is being served.
I'm still quite embarrassed about spending three years in West Africa and not having a clue what check rice is, what fufu tastes like, what the heck pepper soup is, or liking anything derived from palm kernels. My memories of East Africa (at an even younger age) are even sadder. I don't even know the names of what I didn't try there. The only thing that I truly remember is that tiny bananas are good ...
and that taka and sometimes takataka refers to rubbish. My family might have been unadventurous eaters but we've absorbed quite a few words into our family language. I've never been tempted to cultivate a potager but I've made several attempts at shambas. I'll never forget what a "dash" is and in my family when you say "omi" it means "gimmie". Those are the words and expressions that I'm comfortable sharing with you. There are a lot of other words and idioms that I picked up on travels that are much more problematic. In many of the places that I grew up, the English that was spoken came from the King James translation of the Bible, the British colonists' English, or the language of the antebellum US South. I've been called a little missy, a piccin, and a maiden/virgin/nubile young thing in several different languages but I definitely recoil whenever I hear those words used and avoid using them myself. It's definitely odd to know what these words sorta mean and to have once heard them used because they were the only common language available but be avoiding/afraid of them now. On the plus side of things, I don't assume that just because someone is speaking King James or the Queen's English that they are an ignorant, reactionary, fill-in-the-blank. I've met some pretty awesome and amazing human beings that spoke this off-putting language.
I'm pretty sure that travel changed me for the better.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Jul 26, 2016 19:56:18 GMT -5
My son and I will often say "Take! Take!" when passing something on the table. The family we stayed with spoke limited English, I speak extremely limited French. But, when encouraging us to take more food (the French do eat a lot, just in five courses so one course might look small!) they'd point to more, or hand us a plate and say "Take! Take!" They were wonderful people, and I hope to visit them again.
I don't think travel has to be foreign to discover new things (or foods). When I went to Virginia, I discovered sweet tea. I had never liked sun tea/iced tea much before because my mom only let me put about 1/8 cup of sugar to a gallon of tea.
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Jul 26, 2016 20:14:19 GMT -5
I can't say that I have. I am a typical spoiled American tourist that natives hate. In the Bahamas everything was made with conch & I found it rather disgusting. In Switzerland I didn't like the spices their meat was cured with & the yogurt was runny. I did love their bread & cheese but haven't seen similar here. In T&C we stayed at a B&B run by expat Americans so we ate home cooking. Those are my only ventures outside the US. I love conch. In the Caribbean, we'd go diving for conch and make fresh conch fritters. Delicious! I developed an affinity for pumpkin soup, jerk chicken, soursop, callaloo and saltfish and ackee. I brought a lot of spices back with me from the outdoor markets. These foods are widely available in Montreal now. In Paris, tea from Mariage Freres blew me away and now it's my favourite tea. The bread was great but no better than the bread and croissants we have here. The curries in London were fabulous.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Jul 26, 2016 20:16:03 GMT -5
I have travelled a lot and eaten a lot of foods I did not grow up with. I still eat them when I feel like cooking (mostly when I have someone to cook for) but I never forget my first Vietnamese meal. It was in this tiny backstreet restaurant in Paris. That was when I decided that I needed to try food from all over the world. For the most part I have kept that promise to myself. But I have learned that if my nose says "no -uhuh -don't put that in you mouth" to stay away from it. Like the soup made of sheep heads in Istanbul (tried one spoonful and that was it or the curry that smelled like pee in Thailand (tried that one too since I love Thai food). But I can learn so Durian, Jackfruit, and Limburger cheese have never passed my lips. The SMELL... OMG...
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weltschmerz
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Post by weltschmerz on Jul 26, 2016 20:17:24 GMT -5
I did discover heavy, sweet cornbread in the US. Loved it! We don't have it here, so I've learned to make my own. We have bread made with corn flour, but it's nowhere near the same.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2016 7:27:17 GMT -5
How did this thread turn into a discussion on food?
The first thing that occurred to me was that travel has allowed me to see the world from a different corner and a different point of view. When I read headlines about countries I've visited, I go deeper because I've been there and am interested. It also motivates me to keep up with my French and German because they occasionally come in handy. Free video podcasts are great!
I've also learned a ton about art and about European history since DH and I met and started traveling to Europe at least once a year starting in 2000.
Having said that- I do try to "go native" with the food when I'm in another country. I almost always drink black coffee, except on the other side of the Atlantic, where I use cream because it's better and I'm on vacation. I've stayed almost 100% vegetarian on trips to India and LOVED the food. (Someone had suggested that avoiding meat might reduce my chances of food-borne illness and the worst case I had was after having fish in the restaurant of my hotel.) I love having meat and cheese at European breakfast buffets, but don't do it at home because of the fat/calorie content. Iceland was a different matter; because of the short growing season and the expense of importing things, there were few fresh fruits and vegetables. Meat, even in the very good restaurants, might include whale, puffin and horse. We loved Iceland, but not for the food, other than a brand of yogurt called Skyr. Most of our meals were premade sandwiches from the local grocery store!
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