Travel....Food....Disasters....

[MidnightSerenity]

When I was in the Dolomites with my partner, I decided to try pork for the first time ever. We were staying in this lovely little hotel with lots of character and awesome views of the mighty mountains.

Up until then I had never tried pork - nor indeed bacon or sausages etc. Feeling very brave, I ordered the speciality of the night at the hotel....Stinko (pigs hooves). I was informed that it was pork. Well, I took one mouthful and could not manage another one! It was awful! The meat was smelly and was swimming in a sauce-thing! What a disaster! :S

On your travels, what foods have definitely NOT hit the spot?

[Treadtrader]

I have a very strong constitution, i've allways assumed whatever food i'm offered must be edible and not poisonous.
So far this has worked for me, apart from once.
I'm wary of fish, as long as it's fresh should be OK.
Once had some Whelks on Paington sea front and threw up for England a couple of hours later. :woohoo:

[Warthog]

In a word: Oysters.

Island off Chiloe, of the coast of Chile, home to some of the their best specimens.

As they say a picture speaks a thousand words and I think the attached image says it all.

PS: excuse the bits in the beard. I decided to let it grow as it seemed traveller-y, and I had read that "bits in the beard" were de riguer...

SV202309.jpg (106.99 KiB) Viewed 2686 times

[Mark Manley]

On my last day of cycling through Vietnam where I had struggled to find enough good food outside of the cities I came a cross a small town restaurant which was serving chicken. This might not sound like a big deal here but was unusual and most welcome out there. I ordered chicken and was expecting some sort of vegetable or soup to go with it but no, just roast, cold chicken, hacked up with a clever.
I struggled through the tough, stringy meat of which there was very little covering the gristle and bones, looking around saw that the few other diners had the same and seemed to be enjoying it immensely.
The final shock was the bill, it was about 100,000 dong or £3 for leaving me feeling as hungary as when I had come in. I did not leave in a good mood but on reflection I had probably had most if not an entire chicken, it just did not have any meat on it.
That evening Vietnam redeemed itself when at the border with Laos some lorry drivers insisted on buying me dinner and plied me with Laolao, the local rice whiskey, I declined their offer of a ride to the next town and regretted that more than the chicken dinner, Laos is a very hilly country.

[Alun]

I'd been rock climbing in the Wadi Rum in Jordan for a couple of weeks with a guy called Tony Howard. Tony had been the first person to put up climbing routes on the huge red sandstone cliffs 20 or so years ago and had been back to Wadi Rum each year training up the locals as climbing guides and helping and advising on setting up a tourist structure to benefit the locals, rather than the Government. Tony was a Bedouin.

One night Tony was invited to a Bedouin camp over the Saudi border and asked me to come along. Now this was no made for tourists Hollywood tent set in the desert this was real people living the nomadic lifestyle.

As we were guests the head of the family orders a goat to be slaughtered and cooked for a feast and we all sat in the dark around a bowl of cooked goat, and nothing, nothing had been thrown away. Anyway, as is the custom, you stick your hand in the bowl and pull something out to eat and if that something is a 'choice' part you hand it to a guest. Guess what choice part I got handed to me?

It was a male goat by the way.

[scouse]

Last year in Dunkirk I had Andouillette for the first time... it came without the traditional sauces and was to say the least a bit anemic looking ... was like chewing an inner tube... one day I will have to try one again, but it maybe some time.

[john67]

I had no idea the limitless benefits I would gain from traveling for food. I can assure you, now that this very important lesson has been learned, no matter where our adventures take us, food is a central part of the trip.

[AlanHolt]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andouillette

I would rather take a rusty grater to my testicles, fry the grated bollocks and eat them than eat andouillette again.

[DavidS]

As a starter so in a small portion, good andioullete isn’t bad. A whole sausage of it is a step too far.
In Normandy they do small tart versions that are good.

After our first day in India, pretty much all of our riding group went veggie for the other 13 days.

I had stuffed lambs hearts in Hastings a couple of weeks ago...very tasty.

[Whippet]

On my travels I always like to try the local food if possible and try to stay away from the usual touristy "chips with everything", I consider myself to have quite a strong stomach . However, travelling through Bulgaria a few years ago I made the mistake of eating pork from a BBQ, at the time I can remember thinking , I wonder if that's cooked enough ?.
Nearly a week later I still couldn't manage a proper meal, I got food poisoning, coming out of both ends, stomach cramps while riding was interesting.
I think staying away from meat is advisable if in doubt