Eating is definitely one of my favorite aspects of travel. Traveling and food, the two go together hand in hand. Any travel junkie you meet will have stories and suggestions of "I know the best restaurant in ________ to get authentic________" or "If you go to ________ you have to try the _________".
One of my best travel food related memories was when my friend Jasmine and I were in Beijing. Neither of us spoke a word of Mandarin and were trying to find something for lunch. We started looked around and noticed a crowd of people around a man sitting on the corner of the road with a wok on a tiny portable stove. He had bowls of noodles and various shredded veggies sitting in front of him on the sidewalk. For around 50cents we bought some of the most amazing piping hot fried noodles.
We stood back and sat next to a fence and ate our street food. This experience stands out in my mind vividly because I was in sensory overload. I could hear the city, see everyone running around, smell the food, and taste the food. This was why I was here and this was the type of experience I was craving.
Across the road another person was cooking squid and serving it on long wooden skewers. A quick evaluation of the risks involved with eating street squid and potential food poisoning and we went for it. Another brilliant choice and more delicious food.
The idea of eating food from street vendors in a strange country scares many people. Personally, I like that I can see my food being cooked right in front of me and can usually tell what it is. It can make things much easier than trying to pick something off a menu in a different language. Yes, you don't always know where the food came from, but the risk of finding something delicious is always worth it.
Granted you should always use your common sense. If it looks bad or rotten, don't eat it. Don't buy the fried bugs or cockroaches. One individual I met in Beijing told me that the vendors sell these at the street markets in Asia for entertainment value and than laugh amongst themselves when someone actually eats one.
When in doubt you can always go searching for a McDonalds....
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| Actual McDonalds from Beijing. Note that it looks just as nasty as at home. |
