Memorable foreign food you can't get at home.

[Marita40]

European coffee--esp. Italian and German. No matter if you can buy the brand here and make it correctly, it still never tastes quite the same.

[MBAustin]

Reading the later posts reminds me of two unique meals in Spain - teeny tiny grilled snails (so small you needed to eat 50+ for a meal) and grilled spring onions (calcots). Mmmmmm

[nash031]

Kokoda in Fiji: cold coconut cream-based white fish soup with "pico"-type tomato salsa. Serve with garlic bread. Ate it every... single... day we were there.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB Too many things to list. There's good food everywhere we've ever gone. A few favorites are Lebanese pastries, chipirones (squid in it's own ink) and tequeños (cheese inside dough, fried in oil).

I first had a similar dish, only octupus, as pulpo en su tinta in Mexico City in 1964. I had been farther south, and was basically starving for enough protein. I met a woman friend in Mexico City who was similarly hungry. We were about to go home from having such fiery food and neither of us expected to survive. We walked past a nice looking white tablecloth French restaurant and just went in. "Por favor, pulpo en su inta para los dos!" Then a reorder. Then we topped it off with broiled corvine fillets. Finally, no longer dying of hunger. The waiters were practically doubled over, a young couple who didn't weight 230 together putting away food like that. I still remember it. Excellent food, excellent service, lovely surroundings, and the sauce of hunger.

I would not like to try to duplicate this, here or in Mexico or Spain. For me, good memories are better left as is.

Ha

[rodi]

cous-cous con pesce.
We make it - but I've never seen it in a restaurant outside of western Sicily. We had to learn how to make it because we craved it and it's cheaper to learn how to make it than to travel to Sicily every time we had a craving.

[SoReady]

Ginja from Portugal!

Impossible to find in the states, other than New Jersey. We happen to be going to New York this week and intend on making a pilgrimage to New jersey for a bottle of Ginja!

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nash031 Kokoda in Fiji: cold coconut cream-based white fish soup with "pico"-type tomato salsa. Serve with garlic bread. Ate it every... single... day we were there.

Wow - you even spelled it correctly! I always wondered whether I could just add some high quality coconut milk to ceviche. Otherwise they are almost identical.

I make do with eating ceviche often.......

[audreyh1]

I adore Ethiopian food. We got hooked on it in Austin when we frequented a wonderful restaurant for many years. They eventually closed, and then we moved, and I have craved it ever since.

[NW-Bound]

I have not heard of ginja or ginjinha, so looked it up. There's a recipe to make it on the Web, but where does one get sour cherry?

Ginjinha; or, Portuguese Sour Cherry Liqueur | Twice Cooked - Cooking, Eating, Politics

When we visited Sorrento, I brought back a bottle of Limoncello, but it did not taste as good as when we were there. And then, for a while Costco carried it.

Recently, one of our nieces and one of our nephews independently learned to make it (they have not been to Sorrento) and each gave me a bottle. It was not bad.

[Major Tom]

I have just one thing to say -

[NW-Bound]

Again, the Web comes to the rescue. If one wants his Spotted Dick badly enough, he can always make it himself. This recipe is from the BBC, no less. And look at the spots in the following photo.

Spotted Dick | BBC Good Food

[sanfanciscotreat]

One of my most memorable foods was duck tongue in China. If I could find it here, I would buy it and force my worst enemy to eat it. It is the closest thing to chewy mud I have ever had.

Nobody ever said that memorable had to be good.

[Major Tom]

That looks good NW-Bound. I was a little less creative, choosing to cover my tinned spotted dick with packaged hot Bird's custard. Still good though - and making me hungry just thinking about it.

[NW-Bound]

I have eaten snails and other delicacies, but stinky tofu and duck tongue do not turn me on, and I would not even try.

PS. I have had "sea cucumber", and did not like it cooked. So, I do not think I would like it raw and still wriggling. Generally, I do not like to see my food moving or wriggling, except for Jello.

[NW-Bound]

Ah, the joy of dining when on travel in foreign lands. Come to think of it, any half-competent cook can make most dishes, except when exotic ingredients are called for. But a Salade Niçoise ordered at a beach-front restaurant in Nice on the Promenade des Anglais somehow was much more enjoyable than one I can make at home. Or grilled squid eaten one afternoon at a beach restaurant in Positano, after we hiked down from the highway. That's how memories were made. Thinking about them brings tears to my eyes.

[NanoSour]

From my prior military days, I have fond memories of Turkish Chicken Tava and Shawarma from Saudi Arabia. You can find Shawarma in the states, but never found one as good as the ones in Saudi. Maybe cause they are too overloaded here. You know, bigger is better theory.

As far as treats go. I do miss bonbons that I would pick up during frequent trips to the UK.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NanoSour From my prior military days, I have fond memories of Turkish Chicken Tava and Shawarma from Saudi Arabia.

There are a couple student type places in the Seattle University District that serve shawarma. I really like it,, the best place has been on the Ave for years and has been run by a large Palestinian family since the beginning.

Ha

[mn54]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bltkmt I am pretty sure you can get this online from many places in the US...even Amazon.

Yes. I ordered it online. But it is imported from costa rica. I haven't found any stores that carry it.

[nun]

Good black pudding. I have to manage with the frozen stuff form an Irish Market a few miles away.

[HFWR]

I'm not too adventurous when it comes to food. I nearly starved in Japan. Not to say we didn't find several excellent restaurants after w*rk, but the food at the company cafeteria reminded me of catfish bait. I ate a lot of ice cream for lunch, and beef curry on the days it was available...

One place had enoki/oyster mushrooms wrapped in bacon with asparagus that was awesome. We visited a hot pot place several times for shabu shabu. Also ate a pizza in a German restaurant.

Of course, I've eaten squirrel, rabbit, turtle, frog legs, deer, elk, and javelina, some or all of which might be considered "adventurous"...