When considering eating local, there may be some confusion to what is meant by it. You could be talking about eating animal and vegetable products that come from within a certain radius of your home, or it could be referring to eating local cuisine that is a staple in the region or culture you are traveling in.Although we are huge supporters of the local food movement in the first definition of the phrase, this article is not about that. Instead, we want to answer the question of whether or not you should eat local cuisine all the time while traveling.
Is there a time and place for that American meal or dinner at a gringo restaurant while traveling abroad? Although most would scream no from the rooftops, we're going to have to take a step back and, after much reflection, say yes.
Your Trip Duration is Key
When it comes down to it, whether or not you eat local on the road most likely depends on how long your trip is to begin with.
In a country that has a very famous food scene, like Japan, Thailand, or any number of European countries, it would be quite easy to travel around for a few weeks and hardly encounter the same menu item more than a couple of times. You're in, eating new food all the time, loving every minute of it, and on the plane home well before you get too sick of it.
But for long-term travelers, especially those who spend significant periods of time in one country or region, it becomes much easier to get burnt out on the food while traveling.
It Is Easy To Get Sick of a Culture's Diet
If I had to pick a topic that I get the most negative feedback on, it would be this one. When I tell people I got burnt out on Japanese food after 4 weeks, many look at me like I'm sick in the head.
I thought I'd be able to eat it every day for months on end when I first got there, but meal after meal of savory, umami rich dishes for a month put me over my edge and by the end I was ready for some acidity in my diet.
After a while I started to think that there was something wrong with me, but every time I return home from a trip I am reminded of the reason I have such troubles: I'm on an American diet.
Unlike other parts of the world, our diet at home is unique. Where many other cultures have a traditional style of food that is served every single day, in the USA I really do not feel like we have one. Our personal diets consist of everything! For us, one night may be Thai, the next Italian, the day after Japanese, and so forth.
In being so lucky to have every culture's cuisine at your finger tips whenever you want it (and good iterations at that), it becomes a very odd change of pace to be dumped into one style for an extended period of time.
After a while we start craving something new again.
Good Restaurants are Everywhere, and They're Not Always Local
No matter what country you visit, there is always going to be a food scene that is not in the style of the local cuisine. Be it gringo restaurants, cheap imitations of western food, or an Irish pub, you will find several in every city.
The interesting thing is that some of them can actually be really good!
Okay, maybe not the Irish pubs, but the gringo restaurants in other cities can sometimes have menu items that would stand toe-to-toe against your favorite restaurant back home. In the case of these places, it would be really hard to say no especially if you've had enough time to get to know (and get sick of) the country's local cuisine.
So how do you find them?
Other than using popular review sites like TripAdvisor to sort by review, one of the key features to look for in finding great, non-local restaurants in a city is figuring out who owns it. Is the owner of that Italian restaurant Argentinean? Or the chef at the Japanese restaurant Thai? Unless they worked for years perfecting their craft, or were an expat themselves for a while, it is probably going to fall short.
This is the same reason why the food scene is horrible in Oman (one of our least favorite food destinations) as well as numerous other countries- people who don't understand the style are trying to serve it instead of their home's specialty!
Not every city is lucky enough to have great international restaurants. But when you travel to popular destinations, especially those with a huge expat scene, the likelihood that a few residents will bring their former home country's cuisine out to the public goes up significantly. These are the places worth seeking out if you want something different.
Now, there is no guarantee that it'll actually be good. But it'll surely be a step above the rest for the hungry traveler who is looking for something different.
If you eat out at one of those places, you definitely won't hear us complaining.
Have you found some great, non-local meals while traveling? Comment below to let us know where it was!
