TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

Local food....... Traveling often bring us out of our comfort zone. And this includes food....... what we eat during our travels. Local food encompasses the cultures and traditions of the place we travel to. Other factors that typically shape the local cuisine are economic development, climate and location. Lunch set consisting mainly of ox meat, Luang Prabang, Laos (2017) While I am always game to try out the same food that the locals delight in dining on, there are some "no-go zones" for me. And where does this red line begins? I generally do not eat anything raw; unless it is sashimi or sushi prepared in a clean environment. Health reasons aside, I personally do not delight in putting something that is uncooked into my mouth. Taking this a step further will be eating "live" food. That is another experience which I totally avoid. Besides the cruelty of it all, I am rather squeamish about eating something that is still squirming and moving. So whil

Traveling and local food, a symbiotic relationship ....... While traveling, I usually prefer to try the local cuisines. This is to allow myself to be immersed into the local culture and customs because food is certainly one area where its preparation, flavour, taste and presentation are heavily influenced by the culture and customs of the people who created the cuisine. During my current vacation in Tokyo (yes, I am writing this article from the comfort of my hotel room in Shinjuku), I again went looking for delicious and authentic local food. And in Japan, there are no other food dishes more popular than seafood. Sashimi set, Ueno District, Taito, Tokyo, Japan (2017) While I do not always dine at expensive restaurants when I travel, I do occasionally splurged on dining when I felt an urge to spend some serious money. But more often than not, I usually dine at local eateries where food prices are affordable and I get the opportunity to mingle with the local crowd.