5 Foods I'm Pleased I Found While Backpacking

One of the best things about backpacking is eating regional foods in their authentic context. Food is a reflection and extension of the culture(s) that has created them. When you remember a place you’ve visited, where you stayed and what you ate are key in defining your memories.

Eating well is a matter of staying healthy on the road. When you find something tasty and reliable you invariably stick with it. Especially when the food choices are new and foreign to your regular diet.

Hospitality and looking after a guest is normally a source of pride for people everywhere in the world. Buying food is equally often a ritual and a way in which to interact with locals.

Sweetend Mint Tea in Morocco

If you are lucky enough to live within a multi-cultural city, as I do, you can continue to seek out the tastes and flavours you enjoyed overseas. More interesting is seeing the origins of the common variant of a dish in you eat at home overseas.

Here’s my Top 5 list of food experiences:

Traditional Mint Tea in Morocco

Normal leaf tea tastes so much better brewed in a tea pot than commonly experienced in a tea bag. So too mint tea made from the green leaves of the mint plant and hot water in Morocco. It’s hard to go anywhere in Morocco without being offered mint tea. It’s a welcoming gesture and a reviving tonic. Moroccan style also dictates it’s very sweet with chunks of sugar blocks dissolved into the tea pot before serving into small glasses. This photo I took expresses the process, love and care of a good cuppa in Morocco.

Cevapcici in Bosnia

Cevapcici in Bosnia

I still vividly remember visiting Sarajevo in 1996 shortly after the war had ended. The city was ruined but signs of normality were returning. Foremost amongst these signs were the ubiquitous Cevapcici houses re-opening their open air tables with people again sitting outside without fear. Cevapcici are grilled mince meat often spiced and normally served with flat bread. They are the taste and smell of a Balkan BBQ.

Durian in Malaysia

If you have only ever smelled Durian you don’t know what you are missing. The smell is pungent to say the least. Some would suggest it’s smell is the equivalent of rotten eggs. So bad is the smell of ripe Durian, when peeled from its spiky skin, on public transport in Malaysia is banned. It tastes and looks great though; sweet with a fleshy consistency.

Pho of Vietnam

Garlic Breakfast Pho in Vietnam

Pho is a clear beef broth style soup in Vietnam. You’ll find Pho sellers everywhere with so many variations in flavour and ingredients. Eating pho is a great way to rehydrate and eat fresh ingredients. The pho and its variantions are defined by local ingredients. My favourite has to be the garlic breakfast version I often ate. To say it gives your day a kick start is an under-statement. It’s definitely not for a queasy stomach the night after too much local rice wine.

Kushari in Egypt

Finding anything that looked eatable from street takeaways in Cairo was a mission. Until I discovered Kushari. I lived on this vegetarian dish. Forget the Pyramids, for me it is Egypt. It is formed from a base of rice, macaroni. lentils and chickpeas and then spiced with toppings.

Check out this excellent slide show of how to prepare Kushari at home

Your turn:

What were your favourite foods on the road?