when you vacation, do you look for local food favorites to try?

[Caroline]

I've done worse. I can't speak of it, it's so bad. It was a long time ago, but it was really, really, really shameful.

 

I've made reparations.

Pizza Hut in Italy?

[Slartibartfast]

I admit that if one sees restaurant reviews on UrbanSpoon based on incorrect usage of the word "sopaipillas" then that is probably me. *shame*

[LucyStoner]

My husband reads local indie food reviews for weeks in anticipation.

[Rebel Yell]

Or are we just weird? We like to try bbq, pizza, and bakery's, we also look up digs drive ins and dives(?) Places from the food net work. Some are hits others are misses.

 

Same here!

 

We try to not eat at any chain we can eat at at home.  Although we almost always stay at places with the free breakfast buffet in the hotel lobby, so that only gives us 2 meal/day...  anf often our lunch is packed sandwiches. 

 

Traveling on a low budget sucks. :cursing:

[Rebel Yell]

Yes, it is an important part of traveling for us!  The only time we do chains is in airports, for drive through coffee, or if we need to stop and get wifi.

 

We eat street food, local style food from both dives and upscale places, and local in season vegetables.  Actually, some of the places I most want to visit are on the list just because I want to eat the food!

I also love grocery shopping in new places.  I like picking up locally made or unique food items that I won't be able to get anywhere else - saves $$ compared to eating out every meal and you still get a taste for local foods.

 

GROCERY STORES!  My family teases me when we go to Erie, PA. I :001_tt1: Wegman's!  When it was my turn to pick the evening's dinner, I went to Wegman's and got plates of their carry-out food and brought it back to the room. We watched movies, played games, and had a blast!  Rainy day, middle of vacation- we needed the change of pace.

[Rebel Yell]

I'm sure you had your reasons. :)

 

I try not to admit to having eaten McDonald's in Glasgow. But in my defense, it was midnight and I could find nowhere else to get food. No kebab stand, no dodgy pub, not even a convenience store where I could get a box of crackers. It was McD's or a fuzzy cough drop from the bottom of my purse. But I'm not proud of it.

 

Diamond is fascinated that she heard McD's in India have two sides- the vegetarian side and the chicken side.  Anyone confirm this?  She also heard that the menus are different, with localy preferred seasonings. So even though she despises everything except the smoothies at McDs here, she would absolutely have 1 meal in a McDs abroad just for the fun of it.  I remember eating at McDs on my honeymoon in Toronto- first time I ever had vinegar on my fries. I wondered why there were vinegar packets, so I decided to eat like a local (I HATE ketchup!) and I LOVED it!  Now I always have my fries with salt & vinegar. 

[creekland]

Traveling on a low budget sucks. :cursing:

 

Well, sort of.  We have many good memories of finding local grocery stores, buying lunch fixings, then finding the local park to eat at + let the kids run around a bit.  Kids can make friends anywhere.  We'd have never had those memories if we had always eaten in a restaurant.

[Slartibartfast]

Diamond is fascinated that she heard McD's in India have two sides- the vegetarian side and the chicken side.  Anyone confirm this?  She also heard that the menus are different, with localy preferred seasonings. So even though she despises everything except the smoothies at McDs here, she would absolutely have 1 meal in a McDs abroad just for the fun of it.  I remember eating at McDs on my honeymoon in Toronto- first time I ever had vinegar on my fries. I wondered why there were vinegar packets, so I decided to eat like a local (I HATE ketchup!) and I LOVED it!  Now I always have my fries with salt & vinegar. 

 

 

I think all the McDonalds in different countries are much different than what we can get here.

 

Here is part of the menu for McDonalds in India

 

http://www.mcdonaldsindia.net/burgers-and-wraps.aspx

 

I might  be interested in trying a masala chicken sandwich or paneer wrap

 

My dad really enjoyed that he could get a beer at the McDonalds in Germany and at the McDonalds in Hawaii they had special flavors of pies such as coconut (I do like a coconut pie but it was ick!) and Taro (more ick!)

 

NPR did a story about the McDonalds in France. If the McDonalds here were like the ones in France I might actually eat there. I would love a little baguette with little jams for breakfast. I really don't like fast food breakfast but I would like that.

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/01/24/145698222/why-mcdonalds-in-france-doesnt-feel-like-fast-food

[Desert Strawberry]

Oh my heavens. I need to eat at McDonald's in India.

[Melinda in VT]

OK. I'll 'fess up. :-D

 

My three-year-old son and I ate at McDonald's in Toledo, Spain. It was the end of a two-week trip. I was 12 weeks pregnant with what turned out to be twins. And the entire trip, I had the worst luck in restaurants. We'd look over the menu carefully, I'd consult DH, we'd order. He'd get steak and I'd get organ meat or something with odd spices. Gazpacho was great. Everything else just sat wrong. (Except for Morocco. The food was great there!) So, we were in Toledo. It was hot. I was queasy. What I really wanted was a big bowl of noodles with butter and salt. McDonald's on the square was what I settled for. (DH got real food from another restaurant on the square and we shared a table.)

 

But that's not even the worst.

 

The worst is the time we ate two meals in a row at a McDonald's in Shrewsbury, England. We were in England on a home exchange, so we cooked most meals and were able to keep our kids (5.5, 1.5, and 1.5) on our usual meal schedule. We decided to take a road trip from our home exchange and spend a night in Shrewsbury in a hotel. Our kids were starving. It was early evening. Nothing was open yet. Except McDonald's. <hangs head in shame> The next morning, the little darlings were up bright and early. And starving. We walked up and down the streets, looking for a bakery or cafe or a grocery store or anything.  Anything. Nothing was open . . . except McDonald's. We briefly considered making the kids fuss until a more European breakfast hour, but caved. Nothing says American like walking into McDonald's for breakfast with your kids who are holding their Happy Meal toys from the night before.

 

We haven't been back to Spain or England since. How could we? ;-)

[Colleen]

Absolutely, YES. We've always been that way. No way in heck am I going to travel somewhere unique and then eat at Chilis. (Wait, I don't eat at Chilis now.) 

 

The irony is that we ate at a Chili's while on a road trip and THAT was the unique food experience for my guys.  They'd heard about Chili's (which aren't in our neck of the woods) and dreamed of glossy, photo-filled menus showcasing all manner of burgers and fries and what-not.  These are boys who not only are never taken to traditional fast food restaurants, but gamely eat at the "unique", sustainable food sort of haunts to which I lead us.  Let's be honest.  At a certain point, an athletic 16 yo guy isn't thrilled at the thought of a tofu scramble with a side of braised kale, kwim?  So, sure, I make concessions at times.  And wouldn't you know, the #1 food-related memory my guys have of that trip is the opportunity to eat at Chili's?  Oy.  I swear some day they'll all appreciate me. ;-)

 

Pizza Hut in Italy?

 

Ew.  Shudder.  Now that is just wrong in every way.

[Annie G]

My sister and I found ourselves in an off the beaten path neighborhood in Rome - too late for lunch and too early for dinner. We were starving and couldn't find food at any local place. They were happy to sell us a soda but not food. So we went to Subway, and were so embarrassed to find ourselves in a US fast food chain restaurant . But it was SO different than Subway here in the US.  So that was kind of fun. 

[Colleen]

My sister and I found ourselves in an off the beaten path neighborhood in Rome - too late for lunch and too early for dinner. We were starving and couldn't find food at any local place. They were happy to sell us a soda but not food. So we went to Subway, and were so embarrassed to find ourselves in a US fast food chain restaurant . But it was SO different than Subway here in the US.  So that was kind of fun. 

 

And the fact that Subway is unique to the locals was probably part of what made it fun for you.  Just a different sort of experience, with different atmosphere and clientele.  So that counts for something.  Now, if you eat at Subway and then go to the "Hello, Kitty" shop in the heart of Rome, that's a different story altogether.

[Rebel Yell]

Rebel Yell, on 10 Jun 2014 - 4:26 PM, said:

Traveling on a low budget sucks. :cursing:

Well, sort of.  We have many good memories of finding local grocery stores, buying lunch fixings, then finding the local park to eat at + let the kids run around a bit.  Kids can make friends anywhere.  We'd have never had those memories if we had always eaten in a restaurant.

 

Yeah, I know it *could be* fun, but that was rarely the case- it was almost always more of an inconvenience, especially if we had to eat the packed cheapie lunch but were at a place that didn't allow food to be brought in, so we had to leave & come back. Or other times when we had to drag a cooler around, or go back and forth to the car and/or picnic area- so much nicer if we could just drag a $50 or $100 bill around and buy food as we needed it.

 

I wish it was a choice rather than a necessity.  But no worries this year! The furthest we're going is the end if the driveway, if we can afford the gas. :glare:  :driving:  :huh:   :lol:  :leaving:

[In2why]

Pizza Hut in Italy?

 

Uggh........about as bad as Mcds in Paris. 

[Brilliant]

GROCERY STORES!  My family teases me when we go to Erie, PA. I :001_tt1: Wegman's!  When it was my turn to pick the evening's dinner, I went to Wegman's and got plates of their carry-out food and brought it back to the room. We watched movies, played games, and had a blast!  Rainy day, middle of vacation- we needed the change of pace.

I've wanted to go to a Wegman's ever since I read about it on this board! (I think somebody told a funny story about taking some food somewhere and another woman accusing her of taking her food?  They had gotten the same thing at Wegman's).

 

We have found some lovely small independent grocery stores in our travels; we love trying their delis.

[KungFuPanda]

I've done worse. I can't speak of it, it's so bad.  It was a long time ago, but it was really, really, really shameful.

 

I've made reparations.

  

 

Did this happen at band camp?

 

 

GROCERY STORES!  My family teases me when we go to Erie, PA. I :001_tt1: Wegman's!  When it was my turn to pick the evening's dinner, I went to Wegman's and got plates of their carry-out food and brought it back to the room. We watched movies, played games, and had a blast!  Rainy day, middle of vacation- we needed the change of pace.

We just got a Wegman's last summer. After I took my mom. I heard her telling Dad "It was the best grocery store in the whole world."

[creekland]

I've wanted to go to a Wegman's ever since I read about it on this board! (I think somebody told a funny story about taking some food somewhere and another woman accusing her of taking her food?  They had gotten the same thing at Wegman's).

 

We have found some lovely small independent grocery stores in our travels; we love trying their delis.

 

I love Wegmans.  We don't have them close to us, but they are common in places in NY and are headquartered in Rochester - where middle son goes to college.  When we visit, we always stop to get something - not necessarily replacing restaurant options, though, as middle still has plenty of places he wants to show us and we tend to stop at Sticky Lips BBQ for one meal.  I like their fresh fruit, so often get some to bring home with us - along with anything else we need at the time.  Just browsing their store (or sections of it) can be fun.

[Momof3littles]

Always!!  My family laughs because pre-smart phone days, I always had a little notebook with me that contained info for well-rated restaurants, bakeries, places to visit, things to do.  I always research before vacation in a new place :)

[Wabi Sabi]

While we don't exclusively eat at unique places on vacation, we do try to eat at least most of our meals at something new and local. 

We just got back from a road trip. We ate breakfast tacos, Mexican food, and a local ice cream place Austin, BBQ in Houston, and while driving home through Louisiana stopped for fried alligator, turtle soup, crawfish etoufée over catfish, and po'boys. However, there were also a couple of McDonald's drive thrus on our trip when we just needed to keep driving, Starbucks when we simply needed some coffee to start off our day, a Whole Foods salad bar, and various meals from random grocery stores along the way.