Travel Photo PIP: Food!

[GilliC]

The theme for this bi-weekly Travel Photo PIP Poll is:

Food & Restaurants

For many of us, sampling the local flavors is one of the most exciting parts of traveling. From the familiar to the frightening, the world is full of interesting dishes. So give us a taste of your travel food porn!

Bonus points for tasting notes and reviews!

[Susie]

I am not a big food photographer, so I don't have much to contribute.  Here's the eponymous order at Icelandic Fish & Chips, Reykjavik


Grocery store in Reykjavik

I  (heart) Skyr yogurt.

[GilliC]

I'm also not one to take photos of my plate, so I don't have photos of my favorite meals. But here are some other situations where the food has left an impression!

I love the Chinese New Year temple fairs in Beijing for interesting food experiences!

A traditional soup, served from an incredibly cool dragon pot, and a man making blown sugar animals
 

And you can buy just about anything on a stick! From the fairly innocuous seafood and lamb (Yangrouchuanr, lamb skewers, may be my favorite street food of all time) to things that even I'm not adventurous enough to try!
 


I also love that China's knock-offs even apply to food! Both of these are from a trip to Inner Mongolia:
 


A few interesting dishes from some other places...

Osaka, Japan -- Okonomiyaki (One of my favorite Japanese foods. Savory pancakes that you mix and cook yourself at the table)


Kerala backwaters, India -- Dinner spread fished and prepared by the houseboat staff
 

Kanyakumari, India -- Paper Dosa & Cone Dosa


Funchal, Madeira -- Espetada!

[scout8]

Sirince, Turkey. We saw signs for coffee and we followed them. When we got there, it was basically a few tables in someone's back yard. We weren't expecting much, but this man & son ended up bringing us coffee & cookies served with fresh flowers on the plate. Later he pulled fresh tangerines off a tree and dropped them off. There was a beautiful view too. It was one of those unexpected experiences that make travel so wonderful!


Spice Bazaar in Istanbul:


Market in Peru. Coco leaves in the blue bag.


Oaxaca, Mexico. Grasshoppers anyone?


Tacos al Pastor in San Cristobal, Mexico. My favorite!

[scout8]

Susie that fish looks delicious. Were those a bunch of different sauces you could try? What was the drink?

[christy082]

  
Omelette sushi, The Inn of First, Napa Valley, CA

  
Cauliflower Soup Shooters with Black Truffle Grilled Cheese, Willi's Wine Bar, Santa Rosa, CA

  
Not much of a picture, but such a good pizza. Taleggio and 3-hour roasted grape pizza, La Madia, Chicago, IL

[Deleted]

I don't really take a lot of food pictures while traveling, so you get food market pictures.  



Da Fish Bowl from Da Big Kahuna in Honolulu




Floating market in Can Tho, Vietnam 




Mercat de Sant Josep Barcelona 




No one was brave enough to try this in Bejing 

[Susie]

Feb 24, 2014 8:48:04 GMT -5 scout8 said:

Susie that fish looks delicious. Were those a bunch of different sauces you could try? What was the drink?

My friend got the drink; I don't remember what it is.

The dips were all mayonnaise-based, and all different flavors.  I think I remember garlic, wasabi-something, chili, etc.  They were really fun to sample. 

[sicilygirl]

These are all from our trip to Italy last November.

Gelato!


At a German Christmas Market in Florence


Why can't we get lemons like this here?


The best pizza I've ever had, at PizzaMan in Florence


And at our cooking class in Lucca, just H and I and the chef.  We made 12 pastas and 12 sauces, and they were all incredible!

[librarygirl]

I am one of those travelers who takes pictures of my meals and any and everything food related...

The most amazing poutine at La Banquise in Montreal (it's topped with smoked meats)



Pasteis de nata at Pasteis de Belem in Lisbon, Portugal




Biscuits from Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville, NC




House made chocolates from Remy, the French restaurant on Disney's cruise ship



My entree at Ola, one of the restaurants at Turtle Bay Resort on Hawaii's North Shore (never figured out what the purple stuff was)



A Kentucky Hot Brown (from Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, KY)

[mdgirl]

Feb 24, 2014 12:23:57 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

My entree at Ola, one of the restaurants at Turtle Bay Resort on Hawaii's North Shore (never figured out what the purple stuff was)

I'm going to guess poi. Did it taste really bland?

[vegas]

Feb 24, 2014 14:00:47 GMT -5 mdgirl said:

Feb 24, 2014 12:23:57 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

My entree at Ola, one of the restaurants at Turtle Bay Resort on Hawaii's North Shore (never figured out what the purple stuff was)

I'm going to guess poi. Did it taste really bland?

I would guess a Japanese sweet potato, creamed.  It would have a sweet but starchy taste, like a creamed white potato but sweeter.

[mdgirl]

Feb 24, 2014 16:41:48 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

Lake Como, Italy - the food we made at La Salice Blu, a cooking class we took (L to R: truffled risotto, beef bolognese pasta, ravioli, gnocchi)

Would you recommend this? We're going to be staying on Lake Como (in Varenna) in April.

And I think those are sheep or goat heads. I used to see them in the West Side Market in Cleveland quite a bit!

[librarygirl]

Feb 24, 2014 16:35:15 GMT -5 vegas said:

Feb 24, 2014 14:00:47 GMT -5 mdgirl said:

I'm going to guess poi. Did it taste really bland?

I would guess a Japanese sweet potato, creamed.  It would have a sweet but starchy taste, like a creamed white potato but sweeter.

Definitely not bland but nowhere as "in your face" as the bright color taste wise.

I just googled Japanese sweet potato and that was probably it! They're not available at my local supermarket but thanks for solving the mystery

[librarygirl]

Feb 24, 2014 8:42:13 GMT -5 scout8 said:

Oaxaca, Mexico. Grasshoppers anyone?


Tacos al Pastor in San Cristobal, Mexico. My favorite!


I love your Mexico photos although no, I will never willingly eat grasshoppers! I haven't visited there in years and sadly when I did travel/live there this was in high school and in my early 20s when I was not the foodie/food photographer I am today. So many good photo opps I missed out on!

[GilliC]

@sfgal530 's post reminded me of a photo I'd forgotten about for ages.
Probably for the best, as it's not for the sentimental...

SPOILER: Click to show

Dog at the local market in Guangxi

But when I went looking for it, I found these too:

Bamboo raft restaurants in the middle of the Yulong River, near Yangshuo, China
 

[GilliC]

Feb 24, 2014 17:26:42 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

GilliC, you win! That made me cringe. I don't mind lots of weird foods, but I've got a dog so that just made me so, so sad!

We definitely did a double-take when we walked past. It's not common in the north, so while we'd seen it on the menu, that was very much a   moment for us.

There were also some restaurants in Guangxi that had cages outside, and I wanted to buy all the soft fluffy things and take them home. I didn't even know what they all were!

[mdgirl]

Feb 24, 2014 17:25:17 GMT -5 @sfgal530 said:

Feb 24, 2014 17:00:39 GMT -5 mdgirl said:

Would you recommend this? We're going to be staying on Lake Como (in Varenna) in April.

And I think those are sheep or goat heads. I used to see them in the West Side Market in Cleveland quite a bit!

Yes and no.  It is the best Italian food I have ever eaten and I regretted not going back there for dinner that same evening.  I'm torn on the class - it isn't really hands-on as much as you would need and a lot of stuff gets made on the side (like the bolognese sauce, the risotto, etc.), but I enjoyed it.  It was a focus on making handmade pasta which I had not done, but H grew up with a mom who made it so he was underwhelmed.  However, there isn't a whole ton to do in Lake Como so it was a good diversion from lying by the pool and putzing around the lake in a boat.  

I hope you love Lake Como - it is one of our favorite places in Europe though I think the experience there is highly dependent on the weather - I hope you get sunshine because it is just spectacular with nice weather!

Thanks! Maybe we'll just look into it for dinner since we're not going to be in Lake Como for too long.

[mdgirl]

And here's my contribution:

Conch at Da Conch Shack in the Turks & Caicos



This was in the terminal at Incheon. Everyone looked so confused when they saw it, and nobody touched it in the hour or so we were there. Maybe it was an art installation?



Tater tots in a potato chip basket, because the French are geniuses. (I think this was in Amboise.)



Fried chicken at Addendum in Yountville



Hida beef and beer in Takayama, Japan

[vegas]

Feb 24, 2014 17:17:12 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

Feb 24, 2014 16:35:15 GMT -5 vegas said:

I would guess a Japanese sweet potato, creamed.  It would have a sweet but starchy taste, like a creamed white potato but sweeter.

Definitely not bland but nowhere as "in your face" as the bright color taste wise.

I just googled Japanese sweet potato and that was probably it! They're not available at my local supermarket but thanks for solving the mystery

No problem! I grew up in Hawaii and we ate them all the time but I've never seen them anywhere else. I love them!

[alleinesein]

I'm going to post these in multiple posts because I've got pics scattered all over the damn internet and I lost a ton of them when my hard drive died last year.

Chile- Farmers Market and some Mussel soup dish (not a seafood or bivalve eater, XH ordered it and loved it)

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[alleinesein]

Croatia- lots and lots of meat! 

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London- Afternoon Tea at The Orangery

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[alleinesein]

Various meals in India

Paneer stuffed with apricot in a tomato sauce.  Amazeballs!



Pistachio, Almond and Passionfruit sundae



Green Mole Street Tacos (us California people will find decent mexican food anywhere on the planet!)



Watermelon and Pineapple vendor



Worlds Best Cashews (red chili and sesame cashews)



Jalapeno Honey Glazed Prawns



Peri Peri Chicken Pizza (with Peri Peri fries hiding underneath it)



Vegan Donuts

[wise_rita]

Octopus in Cyprus:


Bitterballen in Amsterdam:


Beef (plain beef served with white rice and that spice mix you see there) in Phnom Penh: 

[scout8]

Feb 24, 2014 17:20:51 GMT -5 librarygirl said:

Feb 24, 2014 8:42:13 GMT -5 scout8 said:

I love your Mexico photos although no, I will never willingly eat grasshoppers! I haven't visited there in years and sadly when I did travel/live there this was in high school and in my early 20s when I was not the foodie/food photographer I am today. So many good photo opps I missed out on!

I was too chicken to try grasshoppers too. On our first trip, we were there for three weeks and I thought I would get tired of the food. Not at all. It was all so delicious! I have found tacos al pastor in Chicago that come close to the ones in Mexico, but I have not found a chicken tostada that is nearly as good as the ones in Mexico.

[scout8]

alleinesein those cashews! I want some of those right now.

[scout8]

@wise_rita what are inside of those fried balls?

[iammalcolmx]

Moqueca but this time in Vitoria ES Brazil made with Olive oil and NOT the Palm Oil they use in Salvador which had H and I sick for three days on our honeymoon.

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[GilliC]

Feb 25, 2014 8:41:34 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Moqueca but this time in Vitoria ES Brazil made with Olive oil and NOT the Palm Oil they use in Salvador which had H and I sick for three days on our honeymoon.

My Bahian SO would cry! He used to fly bottles of palm oil to me in Oslo so that I could make proper moqueca!

But to be fair, the first time he made it (on our second date), he did warn me that it might not agree with my system. Luckily it does. Because acarajé.

[wise_rita]

Feb 25, 2014 8:10:34 GMT -5 scout8 said:

@wise_rita what are inside of those fried balls?

Mouth orgasms, that's what!

Google recipes to see exactly what it is, but it looks/tastes exactly like a thick cream of mushroom soup. It is soooo delicious!