The magic of travel

Vietnam 2007

There are few things I like better then to travel to far away places and meet new people and new cultures and enjoy the food ofcourse as well! Now I can safely say that not all culinary experiences are as good as you would hope they are. You see, we do like to travel to the lesser known parts of any country that we visit. That also means that there is not so much luxury as we have at home plus we cannot eat it all. Our spoiled bellies are not used to meat hanging out in the street all day and we would get rather sick if we would choose some of the foods on display.

Morocco 2003

I do have to say that while we are careful not to eat contaminated food, we also like to be a bit adventurous. I mean; what is the fun of being in another country if it is not trying out the food, right? And to be honest it is probably good that we don’t always know what the kitchen looks like!!

Malaysia

The only two countries that I experienced a mild case of stomach trouble was in Morocco and in Madagascar. I suspect that it has been the mint-tea in Morocco which we all drank in large quantities and in Madagascar… well, it’s hard not to get sick at some point!

In a lot of cultures the meaning and importance of food is large. That is either because it is a time to share with friends and family or simply because there is not a lot of it. I do realize that we are in the very fortunate position to be able to go to other countries, while there are people there that have hardly anything to eat, let alone being able to visit another country. We’ve seen shocking things, from people lying dead in the streets (India) to beautiful things, such as the happiness of the kids in Madagascar. They are soo incredibly poor, but still manage to be happy. They make toys out of garbage and if you give them a pen to write with they’re in heaven!

I am the kind of person that wants to try stuff too. So when we went to Thailand, where I knew a lot of insects were going to be eaten, I bragged about it to our friends, saying I was for sure going to eat at least a grasshopper…

Eating a grasshopper; Thailand 2005

It certainly wasn’t the best of culinary experiences but I can at least say that I tried it. The guy at the market that sold the little beasties had to laugh so hard that we didn’t even have to pay for the two grasshoppers that we ate… It actually tastes really only very salty and the little legs kind of get stuck in your throat, so hmmm, not something I am going to be eating again.

I did like the worms they had as well. They toast them in a bambooroll and it’s very crispy and quite tasty… Not for everyone I suppose…

This year the plan is to go to Indonesia and I am sooo looking forward to it. We will be going to the Sunda Islands, also known as Nussa Tengara (it could be that I am writing this wrong) and consists of the islands Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Komodo (well and a couple of others, we will not be visiting). We were supposed to go there last year, but had to cancel at the last minute due to the fact that Tom was taking into hospital with heart troubles (irregular heartbeat) He’s all better now though, so in a few weeks time we will be off to bluer skies and good food!!

Thailand 2005