Snacking Around the World, part 1

Much like places that stick with you, food is another thing that can define a city, country or culture for you, long after you say farewell.

Some places are famous for their food, and you can’t wait to try it long before you get there–espresso in Italy, gulyás in Hungary, crepes in France. Some other food you discover when you get there, but after you leave, you will forever associate it with that place–yogurt for Greece, hot-pot for central China, squid for Croatia.

I find trying new food to be one of the most exciting things about going to a new place–who’s with me??–or, when returning to a destination, I can’t wait to revisit my favorite dishes!

To spread out the food love while sticking to a budget, I often tend to snack (which I also wrote about here, because I just can’t write enough about snacking around the world).

My favorite snacks around the world include (but are definitely not limited to!)…

Gelato in Italy

More than once I had gelato instead of an actual meal. I have no regrets.

Roti in Thailand

These Thai thin pancakes, usually sold from carts on the street, can have a variety of flavors, but I’d usually go for coconut milk and/or chocolate. I remember picking these up on several late-night occasions–midnight snack, yo. I also clearly recall my last day in the country, I needed one more roti before leaving…and of course it took us hours to find a cart…but I would not be deterred. Such is my passion for roti, and for snacking (and perhaps sugar…).

Waffles in Belgium

Waffles in Belgium. Not a bad reason to visit the country–where you will also find fries, chocolate, beer, amazing cheese, adorable towns, and more! But you guys–the waffles.

Topinky in Prague

Fried bread accompanied by garlic cloves that you apply as butter. Perhaps one of the best appetizers ever. Just be careful and don’t make it look like you applied butter, because then you will smell like garlic for weeks. But….there are worse things.

Arroz con leche (Rice pudding) in Costa Rica

Excuse the terrible picture, but every time we ate rice pudding, the lighting was poor. I just had to document it anyway! I can’t even tell you how many times we had this on our honeymoon (which was six weeks, baby).

Mulled Wine in Germany

Another thing that took precedence over a meal. Can you tell we didn’t have much to soak up the wine?

Dumplings in China

I admit that my first few dumplings in China were not a hit. Eventually I got over my texture issues–if you eat enough!–and I started to see the glory of the dumpling. I love that every province or even region has their own type of dumpling–so many more to try!

Pastry in France

Ah, France. Where you can eat a buttery croissant with some coffee and call it a respectable breakfast. I can’t even list the embarrassing number of pastries we tried during our week in Paris–but especially when you are on a budget, they are the cheapest still-delicious things you can find!

Scones in England

I suppose this category should actually be called clotted cream as that is my true love–but scones and clotted cream are made for each other, like peanut butter & jelly or Will & Kate.

Porridge in Ireland

I’m not sure this one really counts as a “snack” but I just have to tell you about the porridge in Ireland. The one above also came with clotted cream which pretty much brought me to tears. True love will do that.

Smørrebrød in Copenhagen

Or, open-faced sandwiches in Denmark. I think I need to go back to Copenhagen to give the rest of these a try.

Papanasi (doughnut dessert) in Romania

Fried dough + sour cream + jam = a Romanian delight. And a birthday dessert for E!

Fun Ice Cream in Germany

My ice cream tastes tend to expose me as a fake adult. In my defense, the picture of this one in Munich was not a mouse, although the German title of the dessert did include maus so really, I have no defense. The best part of ordering this (besides how delicious it really tasted) was that the waiter thought it was hilarious and said “squeak squeak!” when he put it in front of me.

Do you prefer small meals or snacks when you travel?

Linking up with Emma, Jessi, Angie, and Tanja.