In Italy, you walk in a restaurant. You sniff the air and you smell parmesan cheese. You sit down and you eat a nice bowl of steaming pasta. It tastes so satisfying. When you leave, you have licked the bowl clean. When I travel, I like to eat traditional food because it gives me a taste of the culture. The traditional food tastes different from what I normally eat and it is usually spectacular.  

I’m not really a part of a specific culture, but I appreciate eating food that’s not from where I am from. When I’m in a new country and I eat the food, it makes me feel happy, and I usually want to eat more of it. I  appreciate to experience good food and taking the memory of it back to San Francisco. Carne asada is an example of food I love to eat regularly here at home.  The first time I had it was in Mexico City. My favorite place to eat it is at Taco Bar by the Presidio. Even though eating in the cold San Francisco fog is a lot different than eating in the heat of Mexico City, the taste of the carne asada brings me back to Mexico. This is a dish I eat often!

When you go out for a meal, you need to try traditional food at a traditional restaurant, not a westernized restaurant.  You need to try the food, and not be scared. Even if you don’t love it, it’s usually not going to hurt you. When my family visited a small town in Mexico, we went to a family-owned restaurant. The people who worked there lived right above the restaurant, and they were very friendly. They didn’t speak any English, so my mom translated everything for my family. I guess we were the only tourists in the restaurant. I ordered the best burrito of my life!

Trying traditional foods from different cultures is a lot of fun, but you can also have a personal connection with the food where you live. Hot dogs are American food, and I’m American.  Even though they originated in Germany, hot dogs have become an American symbol. I like to eat them at baseball and football games, which are both very American sports. 

Have you ever had the food of another culture? And you ate it and you loved it? It opened up your palate to a new food, and it gave you a taste of the culture. Even if you can’t travel to other places, you could probably find a traditional restaurant right where you live.  If I were to look into a crystal ball, there would be traditional food in your future. So, prove the future right. Why are you still reading this? Go eat traditional food!!!