Tempting titbits for travellers
The first thing I do after booking a trip is to look up the destination’s signature dishes, and where I can find the best or most authentic versions. As well as satiating my appetite with delicious cuisine, the goal extends to seeing a city beyond the shimmering lights of its tourist trail to understand how the locals live and eat.
Learning how to place an order in the language, trying unfamiliar local delicacies, or even the process of cooking them, are brilliant ways to connect with different cultures.
Visiting Bangkok’s Courageous Kitchen in 2019, was a particularly eye-opening experience.
The school operated by American expat Dwight Turner runs cooking classes in support of young refugees from Vietnam’s Hmong subculture, an indigenous group that faces religious persecution in their homeland.
Alongside Hmong teens training in nutrition to support future employment, we cooked spicy pad krapow and som tum papaya salad. The former is now one of my go-to recipes for a quick midweek dinner.
Of course, my dining experiences aren’t always so profound. I have slurped noodles next to salarymen at tachigui standing-only eateries, and found the most delicious Hungarian fried bread in the unlikely location of a neighbourhood subway station. I find the effort makes the end result far more rewarding.
Across this week’s travel pages, we chew through destinations offering mouthwatering food experiences, from Michelin-star restaurants for different wallet sizes to the largest culinary festival in the southern hemisphere.
John Borthwick hits the streets of Kuala Lumpur for a roaming Vespa food tour on page 40, Tim Richards finds the Minneapolis dining scene is more than just unruly cheese-stuffed burgers on pages 32-33, and on pages 38-39, Stuff writers share the best cheap and cheerful meals they have enjoyed on their travels – from a weighty scallop pie in Tasmania to a simple but delicious pork chop bun in Macau.
Dig in and enjoy!