I am so glad there are MC Donalds, Outback Steak Houses, Ruby Tuesdays, and other American resturants in Asia when I travel. It was smelly tofu that changed me. I used to eat anything.
Reply to this Hi Thomas,
Welcome to TravelBlog.
Funny you mention tofu - before living in Japan I hated the stuff, now I really like it. My favourite varieties are black sesame tofu and egg tofu. The green bean tofu is supposed to be really nice too.
Curries and tsukemono (pickled vegetables) are other foods I've come to like since being here.
I usually avoid fast food chains when travelling, in favour of trying local cuisine. For me it's all part of the travelling - why go to another country, then try and recreate home?
Reply to this I love trying the local food (although the degree of my excitement depends on where "local" is). I agree with Jo, that's all part of the experience for me. Plus I just love ethnic food. Especially being a vegetarian, there is not too much American food that i really find fantastic. It's much easier for me to eat in places like Thailand where I can eat so much delicious food that is vegetarian. In fact Asia is actually one of the places I love to eat - so many different things that we just don't usually recreate well over here. And i hate to ask, but what does tofu smell like? For me, it really has no smell at all! that's generally people's complaint - that it's so bland! I'm just curious :-) Also, where in Asia are you?
I will admit that sometimes after a bunch of very similar food, I go for a different cuisine, but i try to still make it something that i dont eat every day at home. For example, in Korea, there was one vegetarian dish i could eat and it was called bim bim bap (i might be butchering this). After about a week of this for every meal, i finally went out for thai food and indian food. But i did a week of it and I still tried to eat something i wouldnt find down the block at home.
Reply to this Smelly tofu is fermented tofu or rotten tofu. It is real common at the night markets in Taiwan and China. I do love tofu, but not rotten tofu. If you can get past the smell, it really does taste good. Smelly tofu smells like the smell from the sewer. I do love Japanese and Korean food, but I cannot eat food from China and Taiwan because of the 5 spices. I am allergic to one of the 5 spices. I have to carry epinephrine with I visit the countries in Asia. I even love kimchee. I am able to eat kimchee because my stomach is used to eat.
I used to love foreign food, but they do not love me. I did try different foods in my travels from the countries of Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Asia. I even lived for 2+ years in many different countries. But as the older you get, you tend to eat the foods that you like and the foods that like you.
The main reason I avoid foods in China and Taiwan for the fear of being quarantine when I do get sick from those foods. In 2002, I almost got quarantine in Taiwan when the country had the SARS outbreak.
I am half Korean and Mississippi redneck. My wife is from Taiwan. We take two trips a year to different counties around the world.
Reply to this wow well that definitely makes a difference, I can totally see it. It's why sometimes I have to revert to other types of food instead of local for being vegetarian or when local food contains a lot of dairy - as you said with certain things, I love dairy but it doesn't always feel the same about me.
I have to agree, i dont think i could eat rotten/fermented tofu. It's kind of like my aversion to mushrooms (in addition to just not liking the taste) - it's a fungus, i don't feel i should consume it :-)! And I have to say, I'm not a big fan of kimche - i can do it in small doses and for certain meals, but i don't know how they eat it for breakfast (it was all over the hotel breakfast buffets!). So I definitely applaud you for enjoying that!
I will say, there are certain places I am more leery of the local food due to issues with not being able to drink the water, eat fresh fruits/vegetables, etc due to the chance of "travellers sickness" or worse. I still try the local stuff, but i don't necessarily eat off the street vendors and things like that. It totally depends on my location.
I think what I dislike more is (and this perhaps goes back to another forum about "travel snobbery"), when people haven't even attempted the local food just because they don't know exactly what it is (barring any allergy or special diet, then it's understandable). For instance, as part of my program for my Masters in Int'l Marketing, we did a two week study tour to Asia. 95% of the students would refuse to eat at the meals that had been arranged for us with the local food, and then went running around afterward trying to find a KFC or McD's. And these were students who were on this trip for the purpose of the degree in Int'l Marketing!! I jsut felt that if they weren't even willing to try to assimilate into the culture at all by even trying some of the local foods, they really shouldn't be involved in the int'l marketing program.
Reply to this Congratulations on your master. I will complete my MBA in 4 weeks.
I used to eat all the local foods but I cannot any more. I cannot eat hot-wings anymore. I love hot-wings and Krystal burgers. They taste so good, but it hurts coming out. But I can understand why some do not eat the local foods.
Americans have a bad habit of using one event to generalize the entire culture. Last year a Chinese restaurant got caught reusing leftovers. Later that year, the same restaurants got closed down when someone took pictures of staff members standing in a bowl of garlic with his shoes on. It was one bad restaurant owner, and we all think all Chinese people do it regularly. These events give most Americans a stigma that many countries do not have clean standards.
Some countries have different standards on foods. For example where I live, restaurants can be shut down for health code violation if they do not throw away all the left over tea at the end of the day. Old tea grows mold and can make you sick.
Reply to this I love trying the local food (although the degree of my excitement depends on where "local" is).
This is how it is for me too. It can be difficult being a vegetarian in some countries. In some countries vegetarianism is widely misunderstood. It can be considered to be self obsession and self indulgent. I usually avoid restaurants in those places.
I loved India because there is nothing unusual about being a vegetarian there and the vegetarian food is excellent.
I generally enjoy a mix of local food and whatever Western style food is available. One Sunday in Thailand me and my daugher went out for lunch. We had Thai coconut soup, French fries, spaghetti, rice and some local fresh fruit.
In India I sometimes ate at Indian restaurant and sometimes had pizzas and sandwichs. In the places where there were pizzas and french fries for sale there were usually lots of Indian teens there.
When I was in Iran I ate tea snacks of dried fruit and nuts and also fresh fruit. That is pretty much all I ate the entire time I was there but that was OK. Anything healthy and readily available in the various countries is OK for me to eat every day. Anything full of fat and calories is good for now and again.
Reply to this It's kind of like my aversion to mushrooms (in addition to just not liking the taste) - it's a fungus, i don't feel i should consume it :-)!
I have that about eggs. Congealed embyriotic fluid. I dont want to eat that! :D Well, I tolerate them in cakes where I cant see them, but a whole egg sitting on a plate..... :D
what does tofu smell like? For me, it really has no smell at all! that's generally people's complaint - that it's so bland!
Being bland is one of the good features of it. It takes on the flavour of whatever it is marinaded in or cooked in.
Reply to this I LOVE Indian food and think I'd be in heaven eating there. Thailand I also found one of the easier countries to eat in. I have definitely sampled the fries and pizza in a lot of countries at least for a lunch here or there. As you said, i try to keep it veg and healthy most of the time, with a little veg and unhealthy thrown in :-)
I agree on both the eggs and the tofu. I like that you can put tofu with so many different marinades, etc and it changes it's taste. That's why i was wondering how it smelled so bad - but the "rotten' description answered that! I can eat eggs in something but i rarely eat them on their own - esp not fried or sunny side up, when i can see the egg yoke. sometimes and omlette where i can forget what it is, but generally, I avoid eating them directly.
Reply to this I think it is part of the whole traveling experience to try local food. Food is a large aspect of local culture and trying different foods is a great way to experience new cultures. Of course if you have allergies that limit you from doing this it is understandable and would be quite a drag. If you have traveled to a region multiple times, I could see why you would be tired of trying new food, since you are probably not there to experience the culture anymore, eating whatever you want is sometimes a necessity.
When I went to Japan, I tried and Liked fermented tofu, I guess the smell didn't get to me.
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