Travelling Stomach First

by Alex in Food, Epigrams and Interludes

There's something bizarre that happens when you travel with a chef. Something we do that no one else really does. And in the two and a half years since we left Australia, we've met a fair few travelling chefs, so I know I'm not the only one who does this thing.

Simply put, when you take a chef to a new city halfway around the world, they want to eat it.



Sure, people travel for the food all the time. Be it paella in Madrid, pasta in Rome, sushi in Tokyo or pad thai in Bangkok, experiencing different cuisines can be a highlight of a trip - whether it's a holiday, or one small leg of a much bigger nomadic lifestyle.
 

photo by: pavlinajane

But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about wanting to eat, well, everything. I can't count the number of times Tash has had to drag me away from a street food vendor.

The number of times she's had to tactfully (and subtly) remind me that we can only afford for me to have one thing from a menu. The times she's had to go hunting for me after I disappeared, giggling, into the labyrinthine halls of a food market.

photo by: xiquinho

Part of this is professional, sure. Or rather, personal. I happen to love food. Taking in the tastes and smells and colours of a food market is one of my favourite ways to spend an afternoon. The subtle differences between the flavours and spices and techniques used from region to region is something I happen to get way too excited about. The multitude of ways that...

...what's that? Off topic? ...right.

Anyway, while some - okay, a lot - of my fascination with food is because I find food fascinating, I do also genuinely believe there's no more immediate way to engage with the places that you travel to.

No matter who you are, where you're coming from or where you're going, you are going to have to eat. I know this revelation may shock some of you, but I'm all about telling the hard truths. You have to eat.

photo by: emsiproduction

The reality of modern travel is that, for Western travellers at least, you can find brands and styles of food that you're familiar with wherever you are. Individual names like McDonalds, Burger King and KFC might not be completely ubiquitous, but even in the middle of South East Asia, you can still find a burger, or a pizza, or a sandwich without any difficulty at all.

It's not hard to travel halfway around the world, visiting people and places as far removed from your worldview as possible, without changing your diet in the slightest.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is inherently a bad thing. Over a year ago, I wrote about how craving a touch of home isn't a bad thing, and I still believe it.

What I don't understand are travellers who exclusively eat at international chain restaurants, passing by street stalls and local delicacies with nary a backward glance or lingering stop to stare at some freshly cooked, marinaded meat, juicy and glistening, the aromas wafting and making you salivate at the thought of...
 
...huh? Focus? Gotcha.

photo by: photographingtravis

I'm not trying to pass judgement on anyone when I say this, by the way. Far be it from me to condemn someone's eating habits - maybe they have severe allergies, maybe they've been here so long that they've gotten thoroughly sick of local food, maybe food's just not what they're here to experience.

I'm not saying any of those are bad perspectives, just that I don't understand them. To brutally bastardize a line from Annie, you're never fully immersed in a local culture without local cuisine.

photo by: mckaysavage

You can immerse yourself in the language, you can visit the temples, you can dress and travel and act in traditional ways. You can use local-style toilets. But when you sit with someone and eat the same food as them, it makes an instant connection. Eating is something everyone in the world does, and eating with other people is one of the earliest, most primal forms of human interaction most of us will ever know.

As a chef, this is one of the main reasons I travel. No matter what your intentions are, no matter why you travel, travel connects you with the world. And if you ask me, there's no better way to do that than with food.

Even if that food is barbecued swamp rat!

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