Holiday essentials: how to plan your culinary vacation?

June – a perfect month to plan your trip! There’s a good reason for the “Where are you going for vacation?” subject to come up every now and then during weekend walks, bike rips, hanging out on the playground and eating ice cream or having open air breakfasts. We search for the best offer, choose it, pay, pack up and go! On location we like to try some local food, even if we live in a hotel with breakfasts and dinners included. We want to try Spanish paella, wash it down with a glass of sangria, we want to keep it tasty, not too expensive and safe – remember that we’re usually travelling with a child.

Fortunately, the times of instant soups and eating the cheapest stuff available on site are slowly fading away. Remember those times? An instant soup was my best friend during all camps when I was a kid. The times when the best thing to eat at night was two instant tomato soups made in one cup to make them thicker and more nutritious. There were also beautiful times when we ate pasta with wieners, onions, cheese, egg and ketchup at 5 am. On student exchange. The flavour that is impossible to forget because it brings back so many memories. But the times of instant soups and cheapest food are long gone for us. We want to eat well and finally enjoy CULINARY VACATION.

How to choose the places to eat? What to eat? Who to listen to and who to not? Why not count on websites such as Trip Advisor and listen to a merchant somewhere in the south of India? Here’s our guide to culinary vacation! 🙂 Grab it!

1) BE READY TO TRY NEW THINGS, FORGET ABOUT PREJUDICE, DON’T BE AFRAID!

New place, different culture and most importantly – new food. It may be scary sometimes, it may look repellent, it may simply not appeal to everybody. We’re not used to seafood, we haven’t eaten calamari since we were little and chewing on some octopus may seem really weird! What if something really extreme pops out? Frog’s, ostrich’s or kangaroo’s meat? Fried crickets? A guinea pig? Spiders with pepper sauce? Things that seem repellent and “barbaric” to us may be a rarity somewhere else. Do we have to try everything? No! I don’t eat bugs or spiders for instance (Łukasz does!). But at least try to give up on chicken breast, pizza or pasta Bolognese on holidays. Unless you’re travelling to Italy. Try new things, look for something interesting, learn new flavours.

 

2) TRY LOCAL FOOD!

Try to forget about what you eat everyday while you’re on a trip. Don’t look for a homespun pork chop or noodles with tomato sauce. I know, it’s not always possible, especially if your child likings aren’t as varied as ours. But you’re older than 2 or 5 years old. Eat local food, local specialties from a region, city or country you’re in. Try a satay, pad thai or a mango for dessert when you’re in Thailand. In Vietnam have some spring rolls and a pho soup. Broaden your horizons! And don’t complain about not having money for exotic trips since you can do food travels in Poland as well. Heard of mrowisko and haluski? Maybe you like pierekaczewnik? Never heard of those? Now you know there’s some catching up in Poland to do.

 

3)  WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO!

 

 

Observe the locals. What they eat, what they like. What they order in restaurants, what the buy on the streets. If everybody drinks coconut water straight from the tree – do it too! Forget about Cola or other beverages you drink in Poland. Do not take eurocentrism with you. You think that eating a still beating snake’s heart is a barbaric form of entertainment made for tourists? Pay a visit to Le Mat snake village near Hanoi and see who eats the snake specialities. Tourists or locals? Let’s not answer that question.

 

4) IT DOESN’T LOOK TOO GOOD? TAKE A RISK AND TRY IT!

 

 

It’s not always about eating bugs, spiders or these awful shrimps. You will sometimes encounter things that have “normal” ingredients but still don’t look too inviting. Georgian churchele is a good example. It’s a local specialty made from nuts put on a string and then covered in fruit jelly. When we first saw it on some market in Kutaisi we thought it was candle of some kind. We bought it, tried it and it was delicious. Last year our parents and friend looked at as suspiciously when we served them this “Georgian specialty”. This year they asked for it specifically.

 

5) FOLLOW THE LOCALS AND LOOK OUT FOR TOURIST TRAPS

 

 

Observing the locals and the places they dine in is something absolutely substantial. Usually these are the places serving the best and more importantly authentic food instead of a tourist-friendly cuisine for white “gringos”. The rule works both somewhere far in Asia and in Europe. If a place is visited by many locals it should be a decent spot. Don’t pay that much attention to things such as beautiful views, good location since they usually mean just the opposite. The better the view, the worse the food. During our trips “OBSERVING THE LOCALS” rule worked on numerous occasions. I.e. in Bangkok in its Chinatown, when we didn’t want to eat on the street because of Maks. We found an eatery with a not so inviting name “Texas”. We peeken inside, saw lots of Chinese people and decided to give it a try.

It also works in Poland, but in a different way: you’re looking for good Vietnamese/Chinese/Turkish food? Go where the actual Vietnamese/ Chinese/ Turks eat. Try Toan Pho on Chmielna, China Town on Aleja Lotników or Turkish Maho.

 

6) DON’T TRUST TRIP ADVISOR AND GASTRONAUCI

 

Websites with restaurant reviews, rankings, TOP 10 lists in every city. Sometimes, you can’t do anything else and just need to use it. But there’s one major “DRAWBACK”.  Both Polish gastronauci.pl and international tripadvisor.com allow anybody add their reviews. We don’t know what these people like, what they know about the food which results in sometimes ridiculous comments. Trip Advisor let us down on Malta and Gozo and Gastronauci? Check Warsaw’s TOP 10! Groole Pieczone Ziemniaki is the best restaurant in the city? Please, is that really the place where you would send your friend from abroad to show him the best restaurant in Warsaw? Where’s Atelier Amaro, Tamka 43, Nolita or Soul Kitchen? Not on the list at least. If someone counted on Gastronauci only, he could not be aware of the existence of such cooking at all. TOP 10 in Toruń? Places with dumplings, a confectionery and a pancake place. It’s similar in other cities. But the best thing we’ve came upon was Mała Szwajcaria restaurant in Zakopane – mostly favourable reviews. The place looked nice, the service was great (A+++ as for Zakopane!!!), but the food had absolutely nothing to do with Switzerland. Raclette consisted of a few drops of cheese while fondue was not even gently reminiscent of the real one we tried in Laax! A big disappointment. Why does it happen? Because people on Gastronauci can rate anything i.e. a lunch set with meatballs and cucumber soup, not the Swiss cuisine the restaurant is supposed to be specialised in. PS. We’re not saying that there are no genuine and substantial opinions on Gastronauci or Trip Advisor, submitted by people who know something about food. But there’s just too many opinions that have nothing to with what we’re looking for (i.e. big and cheap!).

 

7) LOOK FOR OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION!

 

 

What can you do then? What websites should you use? Look for blogs from the place you’re going to, ask your friends, who may have been there, check how the review website opinion differs from the list of restaurants recommended in the guide (results may surprise you..) and remember to stay sensible.

There’s one food website we like to use. It’s called Foodspotting. Why do we like it? Because it allows you to do restaurant searches based on specific meals and photos of them. You can see if the “amazing” dish really looks so amazing. What’s more, Foodspotting is full of real culinary freaks! They are more trustworthy! Sometimes you can find a culinary freak from Hungary for instance and ask him where to eat on your trip. That’s what we did last year!

 

8) ASK! ASK! ASK!

Asking questions is very important. Ask the locals where to eat, ask at the hotel, ask people from around you meet on your way. If you find yourself in a good restaurant, ask the waiters, cooks and the chef. They will surely recommend something good – they cannot spoil their reputation :)! That’s how we found nice places on Malta and Gozo – we found one good restaurant and got some clues from the chef. No disappointments here. It was similar in Yerevan in Armenia – the waiter-manager of one restaurant recommended a place for us. A place that we could never find on our own – hidden in the backyard where the cooks cook in a private apartment! We haven’t eaten better aubergines anywhere else! Don’t people who may profit from recommendations, though. Taxi drivers, tuktuk drivers are a no no!

 

9) THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN STREET FOOD!

 

 

You know what’s funny? That so many people we meet in Asia for instance, seem like they’re competing in “who will eat cheaper” contest all the time. They argue who’s eaten the cheapest pad thai and if it was PLN 3 or PLN 1. They buy food on street stands, eat pho soup in shabby joints in Vietnam and treat all other types of food travels inferior because it’s street food that’s trendy now. A respectable traveller, a backpacker must eat in the street. Well, he doesn’t have to because there’s more to life than street food! I mean there are some people with low budgets who still want to travel which is great! I understand them, admire them and treat them as good example for those who’re afraid to travel because of the lack of funds. But there’s also a large group of people who go for a PLN 20-30 lunch everyday when they’re at home, but in Thailand they’ll stick to spending PLN 10 a day. Well, you can do it, but remember that you will miss a lot this way. In Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam, there’s a lot of amazing restaurants with high standards, high quality food and approach that’s not familiar to us (pho soup with ginger and foie gras!). The food is more expensive but still significantly cheaper than in a large city in Poland. On one hand we will indulge our KUBKI SMAKOWE and on the other gain a broader perspective in order to tell our friends at home that Cambodia is not only a bowl of rice.

 

10) FORGET ABOUT STEREOTYPES

It’s a good example: Cambodia and a bowl of rice. Street food, coconuts and some rice noodles. Istanbul equals kebab, what else can you try there? Stereotypes are predominant when we think about new places and new cuisines. Forget about it! In Cambodia we visited a “fine dining” restaurant with food you would not believe. Our stay in Siem Reap was one of the tastiest moments on our trip. Just have a broader perspective…

 

11) DON’T BE A SLAVE TO TRENDS AND FASHION

 

 

Yesterday I visited a burger place for the very first time! 🙂 I know it may sound weird with this burger bar and burger track madness going on for a while. There’s so many flavours around and burger isn’t exactly my thing. I have my own ideas, my own paths. That’s what you need on your trips: don’t follow all the trends. Have a burger, eat some chips, but find some time for pho soup too. Keep it creative and diverse. And remember that it’s not only what’s local (another trend!) that counts. It’s cool that we eat what’s ours, that we promote our cuisine, Polish cheese and other products, but sometimes it’s good to try a Spanish or French cheese too.

 

12) EDUCATE YOURSELF AND OTHERS

 

 

Culinary education is substantial. If you eat in Italy, you should know how a pizza should taste like and that you don’t cover it with garlic or tomato sauce since it’s barbarity. We know that carbonara with cream is a Polish idea and the real one is made from parmesan and eggs. We should learn about specific cuisines at the source, we should know what to expect from Italian, Vietnamese or Thai restaurants in Poland. A pad thai with lemon – wrong! A pad thai without dried chilli – wrong again! Learn, accumulate knowledge and then teach your family and friends that pastas with seafood go without parmesan etc.

 

13) LEARN AT THE SOURCE!

Going to a foreign place with interesting cuisine? Look around: maybe your hotel or a nearby restaurant organises a cooking lesson. If yes, be sure to attend! You’ll see how the locals cook, and bring the flavours home. A homemade pad thai in frosty Warsaw is a great way to bring back memories of hot Krabi or Bangkok.

 

14) BE REASONABLE AND THINK ABOUT YOUR STOMACH!

 

 

Don’t go too far with trying new things! Choose places that look trustworthy, don’t pretend to be tougher than you really are, especially if you have 2 weeks of vacation only. We travel to travel, but also to relax. We can’t afford 3 weeks of lying down after we get back. We don’t want to. We also travel with a child – it’s getting bigger but it’s still little. Restaurants are more trustworthy when it comes to running water, a refrigerator, appropriate storage of the products and people washing hands before serving us our fruits. We don’t risk spending the whole trip in the toilet. It may be difficult in countries such as India, so don’t make it harder for yourselves. When we were in Jaipur in India, we met a Polish doctor who came there to work for a few months. He said: “During my first month I’ve eaten on the street only in order to adjust. I spent this month on the toilet. After a month it was alright.” So if you don’t have a few months for your trip, act responsible and take care of your stomach. A food trip is supposed to be relaxing too.

Have a nice life tasting!