When you're on the road, you'll find some incredible
foods along the way. Ian Wright's guide
to the world's good & bad food is invaluable advice
on tasty morsels not to be missed, and offerings to
decline if you can.
 Breakfast in bed just isn't an option when you're on
the road, and unless pack your cornflakes you'll have
to get used to different ways to start the day. In Thailand
its just not done to eat lightly in the mornings, and
at the floating Damnoen Saduak Market near Bangkok traditional breakfast
of fried peanuts, picked vegetables in a hot sauce washed
down with a cool beer is the order of the day. The best
way to sample a local breakfast in Japan is to stay
in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese
hotel. A wonderful way to do it in South India is floating
down the Kerala waterways with a dish
full of dumplings. There are places where breakfast can
be a health hazard, however, such as Jamaica where the
poisonous ackee fruit is cooked to release
its toxins. The fruit is only poisonous if left unopened and eaten directly from the tree - consume with care! Ackee is also the national fruit of Jamaica and ackee with saltfish its national dish. |
Finding food that's tasty and safe isn't always easy
when you are away from home, and while some might prefer
to forage in the jungle, you can always find the freshest
foods in a local market. In Brazil's Belem Market in the Amazon basin you can buy almost anything imaginable
- monkeys heads, bottled sakes and three toed sloths
are all par for the course. Chinese markets also reflect
the unique tastes of the people and the meat is so fresh
you can even pet it before you purchase!
On occasions there's really no option but to return
to your hunter-gatherer roots, and Neil Gibson
is quite chuffed with the piranha he
hooks in Peru. But it's nothing compared to  fishermen's
reports from Alaska's Salmon River
and in Iran's Caspian Sea you can fish
for caviar, an expensive delicacy well
beyond the average traveller's budget. The staple food
for the Nomads of Mongolia is a bizarre little rodent
called Marmot. Shilpa Mehta
risks life and limb in the Philippines to get a taste
of a unique regional delicacy - swallow's saliva which
sticks their nests together is a snip in the shops at
$100 a gram.
Wherever your travels take you, there's always somewhere
to grab lunch on the go. Justine Shapiro puts
healthy eating on hold in South West USA she simply
wolfs down a slice of deep fried bread, and hand made
toffee prepared on the streets of Ecuador is just too
good to be missed. Jonathan Atherton's
appetite is somewhat spoilt by jellied eels forced on
him in London but it's a consoling thought that even
in the Solomon Islands you can find
good old traditional fish & chips if you try hard
enough.
Sometimes the lunch options aren't so great. Foul,
a dish made from Flava beans is eaten for breakfast,
lunch and tea in Syria and in Uzbekistan there's mutton,
mutton or mutton on the menu. In some places you'll
only hit on the hottest grub with the help of a local
guide. Agar introduces Andrew Daddo to betelnut in North India, and lassi,
a popular beverage made of yogurt, cream and milk. Down
South in Madras, Justine is impressed by the thali,
surprisingly a safer option than experiencing the unknown
in some western countries, as Shilpa Mehta discovers the delights of pig's snout in Spain.
Food is sometimes eaten not for its taste but for ritual
reasons In Argentina, a shocking custom involving the
slaughter of a cow each week is common practice, and
the beast is hung up for a few days before its eaten.
During the religious festival of Ramadan,
Muslims fast during daylight hours and feast when the
sun goes down. Mouldy shark meat is
no less common in Iceland than seal hands and sheep
testicles, but that far north you just have to make
do with whatever edible options are open to you.
In the Pacific Islands the drinking of kava
root is an age old custom, just as tea drinking
is an important social ritual not just in China but
all around the world. Most countries have an alcoholic
beverage of choice - be it Vietnam's watery draft beer,
Hungarian wine or pisco in Chile, which
is sure to do the business. In Muslim areas such as
the Middle East where alcohol is prohibited there's
a commendable juice bar on most street corners.
Around the world the greatest diversity of food is
found at the dinner table - much is delicious, most
intriguing, but in his time Ian has tasted some terrible
dishes. They don't get much worse than his top five
all time worst meals in the world - including kangaroo
tail in Australia, sheep eye in Kirghistan and everybody's favorite pet, the guinea
pig of Ecuador. |
