To Those Who Go Traveling Only For Food, Bon Appetit!
I see a lot of posts on social media about people highlighting the foods they eat when they travel.
To many of them, that is what travel is all about – finding great restaurants, trying the local cuisine and eating until they nearly pop out of their stretch pants.
Some travel entities specialize in catering to that crowd. Cruise ships, for instance. I’ve talked to people who go on cruises just so they can gorge on the buffets.
And that’s all fine, of course. I certainly like to eat when I’m traveling and especially having local foods. To me, that’s part of the experience of being in a different place. I mean, having a Po’Boy at a traditional place in New Orleans, for instance, is part of the thrill of being in New Orleans.
But I do not travel for food. I travel for so many other reasons: the people, the culture, perhaps there’s a big event, and also the nightlife.
I had a PR client tell me before I went to the Greek Islands for the first time that she envisioned a big part of my enjoyment would be the Greek food. HA! I did not want to tell here I was there primarily to party (and I certainly picked a good place for that, by the way) and most of my meals consisted of gyros from gyro stands named Nick’s or George’s and the occasional sit-down meal.
That being said, I’ve had some great meals while on the road. One of the most memorable, in fact, was in the Greek Islands. A friend and I sat down at one of the tiny tavernas in the tiny place of Amoudi on Santorini and on a whim, decided to order octopus.
The waiter pointed to a fisherman in a boat in the small harbor, who when grabbed an octopus out of his boat and handed it – almost directly over us – to the waiter, who then put it on a grill right next to us. Olive oil was added (of course, it’s Greece!) and put on a tin plate. It was outstanding. And memorable.
But then again so were the people and the nightlife.
To me, there’s so much more to travel than eating but to those who go on the road just for the food, I say bon appetit!
Cheers
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