Job Discussion Forums

[peder]

Hello,
I would like to hear some imput about the pros and cons of the food where you are or have been living? I myself am more intrested in cooking for myself with fresh local ingredients. What are the best/worst places for good local products? Is it cheaper for you to eat out or to cook for yourself? Feel free to write anything food related. Personally, trying new and interesting foods is one of my favorite parts of travelling/living abroad. What about you?

[denise]

Cool topic! Food is always on my mind, because I am vegan and it can be difficult finding "normal" food. Normal meaning whatever the local cuisine is--very often meat- or seafood-based.

That said, I have never had any major problems. The worst that happens is that I go out to a restaurant and end up ordering french fries, the one universal snack food that is safe. (Discounting rumors of a certain fast food chain frying them in beef fat!)

Maybe I am not terribly qualified to comment on the cuisines of the places that I have lived, given that about 90% of them are off-limits, but...

Czech Republic: uh, don�t really remember. Never mind. I think there were a lot of creamy sauces and dumplings, and some nice veggie restaurants that made "fake" local dishes. I had been warned that in the cold winter months, it would be hard to find fresh produce, but that was not true at all. There are so many supermarkets there that you can find just about anything, any time of year.

Japan: I really enjoyed what little of it I could eat. It is really easy to find tofu and soy products there, the soymilk is actually drinkable (as opposed to a lot of the stuff back in the US--I will bake with it, but drinking it makes me gag!), and they do all sorts of creative things with them.

China: I was only there for a month, and before I went I really did like Chinese food, but something about having it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a month really put me off it. There was a great dumpling place in my town, though, that had a very creative potato dessert.

(Aside: Has anyone seen the "Friends" episode in which they�re discussing Chinese food and Ross joins in the discussion saying, "You know, in China, they just call it food."? Possibly the FUNNIEST line I have ever heard on TV!)

Chile: Great avocados. Lots of agriculture. Yet somehow the national cuisine doesn�t seem to have gotten past the Glorified Hot Dog.

Peru: Yum! Full of color, flavor, and spice. And there are two veggie restaurants in my town that do great soy variations of some of the main dishes.

Of course, in general it is cheaper to cook at home than to eat out all the time, but if food is really important for you, then treat yourself! I don�t do a lot of shopping (clothes, shoes, music, etc.--whatever it is that people buy...), so I always have money for food.

I really enjoy seeing other countries�attempts at replicating foreign cuisine. If the restaurants are actually staffed by the appropriate foreigners, the results are usually quite nice. There was a great Indian place near my town in Japan, and in Chile I found a veggie Taiwanese place. If they are run by locals, though... A "Mexican" place in Japan used crepes as tortillas. Ha!

d

[Guy Courchesne]

You you never been to Mexico, Denise?

Mexican food, the authentic type, is easily the second most powerful inducement for my never leaving this country. My Mexican wife is the first.

I do need to put more effort into eating more veggies - they aren't as prevalent in the Mexican diet as in a Canadian one, though they are widely available.

I can't bring myself to eat as many parts of the many different 4 legged creatures as Mexicans do though. Tongue tacos for example. I ain't tasting nothing that can taste me back!

[denise]

The only parts of Mexico that I have seen are Tijuana and Ensenada. But I loooooove the food! Maybe I am just an arrogant Californian, but I really do think California does excellent Mexican food. (I�m sure Mexico does it better, though!)

d

[lozwich]

[ls650]

I find that as a single person it's as cheap (or cheaper) to eat out as to cook for myself.

For example, I can buy a half chicken, grilled, with salad, rice, tortillas and salsa - enough for two large meals - for about the same price as buying half a chicken raw in the market.

[Guy Courchesne]

[JDYoung]

If you go out to eat on your own in China you find it difficult to order for just one person. No "combo platters". You can always take home the leftovers and zap them in the micro but even at that you get funny looks eating out alone. Many Chinese don't understand why a person would do that - don't you have family? don't you have friends? Why would you want to eat alone? Eating out in China in a local type restaurant is so cheap it's embarrassing but if you want to eat western style then it will cost you.

Lots of fresh fruit and veggies in China but wash them well.

[thelmadatter]

I really like Mexican food, but like Denise and Chinese... eating Mexican 3 times a day, every day really gets on my nerves. Fortunately, even though there is little else done well in my town, I was a fair cook before coming to Mexico and I still cook for myself to vary my diet a bit. I brought all of my cookbooks down with me. I found a Japanese grocery in Toluca (Metepec) if you can believe it and a kick-butt Korean grocery in Zona Rosa DF. Always on the look out for places to buy different products.

As for Mexican food, I like a number of dishes here in the central part of the country but I am much more partial to Sonoran-style (lived in AZ for 11 years) and Oaxacan=style cooking. I also have this theory that tamales get better as you travel south. I wont eat the norte�o varieties (dry and greasy at the same time if you can believe it), I like the ones here but I adore the Oaxacan ones. Im seriously thinking of retiring in Oaxaca.

Oh and I also discovered Argentinian food here. Yum! Love their sausage.

[Chasgul]

Bulgarian food is great. They tend to eat seasonally (still) which means that there is a constantly changing variety of things on the menu throughout the year. They are also religious enough that they often have vegetarian and/or vegan things on the menu for people who are fasting - most fasts here start by cutting out meat, then all animal products and finally not eating for the last day or two.

[Boy Wonder]

Bangkok, Thailand......total variety....available anywhere/anything/anytime.
Thai/Western/Arabic/Indian..you name it.....it's here!!!

[dmb]

In Turkey. There's more to the cuisine than kebabs.

[Mike_2003]

I much prefer Turkish food to Romanian food, but having said that I eat better here in Bucharest simply because there is a wider variety of cheapish restaurants of many different cuisines and the supermarkets sell more eclectic produce.

Turkey was far superior for quick and tasty snacks and picking up a doner sandwich, a baked potato or a durum on those lazy days was probably just a cheap as making something at home. Got a bit tired of the same things all the time after five years though.

Romanian food is ok; mostly chicken- and pork-based meals, schnitzels, soups, stews, etc. It�s all very filling and tasty but not particularly exotic or exciting. You can eat well in a local restaurant for about 7 Euro per head, but it�s still cheaper to eat at home, especially if you don�t mind shopping at the local markets.

Mike

[Iam]

Hi,

Semi-vegetarian here (I eat fish - hey, at least they're not mammals!), with a few world travel experiences.

1) Asparagus Soup - Berlin. Why, why, why are there meat balls in it?

2) Cheese sandwiches - Spain. Usually have a nice thick slice of ham in 'em.

3) Oysters - forget where. An acquired taste some may say, quite nice others may add? Just try them covered in generic batter & Deep Fried - you'll never try them again

4) Kangaroo - forget where :p Actually quite nice ... very healthy too. At least they're not mam... ah well, never said I was a good vegetarian. Plus, was semi-drunk at the time.

Btw - nicest food I've ever had was, of all things, rice. Which is odd, as a virus I caught from a bowlful of rice once semi-paralised me for a couple of months. Anyway, The nice rice though was in Singapore, & was covered in a sweet pineapple juice ... tasted as if it had been cooked in the stuff. Heavenly.

Iam.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

I love being back in America, where I can actually feel like a good cook! Of course, it's so easy to become fat here (so the stereotypes are true). Some of my more-noteworthy food ventures:

Raw liver and raw chicken in Japan

and

Fried silkworms, dog, and donkey tacos in China

Btw, dog is a bit slimy but the flavor is pretty good...like nothing else!