Outskirts of Shrewd'm / Travel Wanderer
No. of Recommendations: 1
No. of Recommendations: 0
We eat out too often. I read a lot of reviews and can usually filter out certain reviews that have a grudge or other issue with the restaurant. On trips I look at reviews but it also has to be convenient.
I've never been an explorer when it comes to food. I've had too many issues just eating regular food to experiment with something while on the road. One of life's more unpleasant things is getting sick while away from home.
My wife is more willing to explore. I like simple foods like chicken, burgers, pasta, pizza, and once in a while a nice tender filet.
To show my food strangeness my top foods in no special order are french fries (hot, crispy with ketchup), cinnamon roll, lemon poppyseed muffin, and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I'm not sure what I would list as a entree, beer battered chicken tenders or a juicy burger.
Rich
No. of Recommendations: 6
We tend to travel 6-10 months a year, so eating at home is a luxury. While I do a bit of research before we hit a spot for the first time, a surprising number of meals come from asking Google for a "good restaurant near me" - which has been remarkably successful.
My wife is very conservative (doesn't like spicy food and a long list of stuff she doesn't eat, but even so, after 5 decades of pretty heavy traveling (accelerated since I gave up my day job in 2011), with well over a dozen month-long self-drives through Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and North America (OK - in India I hired a driver and in China we used bullet trains), we have yet to suffer an upset stomach. (That's across the spectrum from Michelin star restaurants to Indian street food).
Simple rules:
1) When in doubt, don't drink the tap water, don't eat salad washed in the tap water (meaning no salad), only pealed fruit.
2) When ordering bottled water, get sparkling water (nobody refills sparkling water, but I suspect that some of the "still" water is tap water - if ordering still water, make sure you hear the crack when the lid is unscrewed indicating it's unused.
3) Don't eat "mystery meat" (chopped meat of any sort), all meat has to be in chunks and cooked well-done.
4) If ordering stew or veggies, make sure they are cooked to order - not out of a chaffing dish (germ factory if not hot enough)
5) Bread, cheese and eggs are generally safe (probably safer than in the US)
And no, other than in super-clean places like Japan, my wife generally won't eat street food, but I enjoy the variety.
All that said, we haven't eaten in a fast-food western-style restaurant for as long as I can remember.
Jeff
No. of Recommendations: 2
We like street food. Something authentic about the experience. We've eaten street food in Ghent (food truck waffles), Seoul, Tokyo, Manila, Bankok, and Keelung...off the top of my head. As long as they cook it in from of me. I agree about chafing dishes and buffets (germ-fests).
I have seen places that have feathers mounted on a rotary device spinning over the food (to keep the flies away). No, I'm not touching that. The one time I ever got food poisoning was in a fast food place in Manila. It was a major chain in the Philippines, and you can see them in CA and NV, too. To this day, I won't eat there.
I avoid western foods when I'm traveling, or at least American foods. The food is part of the culture. So, if I'm not Napoli, I'm not likely getting a pizza (but when I was in Napoli, I did order a pizza). I want local fare, even if I end up not liking some of it. One of the most interesting experiences was in Bangkok. A block or two from the hotel was an open-air food court. My Thai is about 10 words, and most of their English wasn't any better. 1poorlady was walking from table to table "hot? not hot? OK...that one". No idea what we ate that night. She liked the look of it, and it was "not hot", that was the only criteria. (and "not hot" to Thai people is still a little zippy)
I just thought it was interesting that Feynman worked out the 'best' approach to dining. Experiment the first part of the trip, and then return to the one you liked the best during the last part.
No. of Recommendations: 1
I think it was 2024 we went to Vienna and then onto Munich. The first full day in Munich started off ok but late afternoon something just didn't seem right. When I could not eat any of the dinner I had to get to the hotel. I'm not sure if I was partially dehydrated, caught a virus or had food poisoning but I felt like I needed to throw up but couldn't. We called the paramedics who took my vitals and gave me an IV. Then a doctor came to give me something that supposedly would help calm my stock.
Then from 8pm to about 4am I was constantly sick. I always also terribly tired but every movement just seemed to make me sick again and I didn't want to get sick while sleeping. Finally it stopped and I slept the entire next day except for sipping water and ginger ale. Finally the following day I took a shower and made plans to cut the trip short. I didn't eat anything for 3 full days and then it took a while to slower regain my appetite.
I had always feared getting sick like that on the road and avoided it for many decades until something got me. I wish I knew for sure whether it was something I ate or just a virus. Once about 20 years ago I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning and for about 8 hrs on a Sunday I was sick and took a couple of days off work while I regained my footing.
Stay well. And yeah, I'm a big believer of "if in doubt, throw it out".
Rich
No. of Recommendations: 1
OK...to expand my story...
From Manila to Banaue there is an overnight bus. I hate it (can't sleep sitting up), but all of the extended family that came with us said it was the way to get there. While waiting for the bus, we all ate dinner at the giant chain. I'm the only one who had the beef soup. Within a couple of hours, I was in bad shape. 1poorlady had the driver divert to a hospital in a po-dunk town (not denigrating it...it was just really small). I'm guessing we were about half way to Banaue, maybe 3/4. I vaguely remember a wheel chair, but not much else until I woke up in the morning with an IV in my arm. From what I gathered, I had become severely dehydrated because both ends of my digestive tract were evacuating. So, they just gave me saline. And maybe something else (for nausea?).
We then had to get the rest of the way to Banaue. No bus or jeepney service, apparently. 1poorlady actually paid the ambulance to take us the rest of the way. I only ate "senorita" bananas for two days as they didn't upset my stomach.
Banaue was impressive and gorgeous.
And that is the only bad experience I've had eating local food. And it wasn't even street food. I've never had an issue with street food.
