This document discusses different ways for travelers to experience local cuisine when visiting foreign countries. It describes the author's early experiences in China struggling to find and order food without knowing the language. It then outlines various programs and organizations that help bridge the gap for travelers, such as Couchsurfing food groups and specialized local food tours. These guided experiences provide insider access to backstreet restaurants and help explain unfamiliar local ingredients. However, the author also values the excitement of stumbling upon new foods independently while traveling. The article concludes that combining both guided experiences and independent exploration offers travelers the richest cultural immersion through food.

1. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 • ` 1 5 0 • V O L . 3 I S S U E 8
PHILADELPHIA
Butchers,
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AND TOBAGO

2. BIJU SUKUMARAN
Voices | SLOW TRAVEL
28 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | FEBRUARY 2015
Biju Sukumaran is
a travel writer
currently based in
Barcelona, Spain.
LUCASVALLECILLOS/AGEFOTOSTOCK/DINODIA
I
n my first year of living in China, with non-
existent language skills, only a few select res-
taurants were approachable to me. If an eatery
had pictures on the menu, I was sold. But the
most interesting places to my mind were the ones
where Chinese characters marched down pages
in indecipherable lines, where the same old-
timers sat at the same table year after year. Places
like hotpot restaurants, where you get all the
adventurous bits—brains, testicles, intestines and
then some. When I finally mustered the courage
to dine at these establishments, I would sit
fumbling with the all-Chinese menu. I was often
saved by other bilingual customers, who helped
me order. With time, I learnt to eat at places that
were previously inaccessible to outsiders like me
who didn’t know the language.
I evolved slowly. I’d walk into restaurants
and glance at other patrons’ tables. I’d order by
gesturing to another customer’s dish: “That one,”
I’d say in childish Chinese. And if I was feeling
particularly adventurous I’d slam my finger with
false bravado on a random item, whose descrip-
tion I couldn’t read, and hope for the best.
Luckily a number of organisations and compa-
nies are now bridging this gap between truly local
food experiences and the surface-level dining
available to tourists. My breakthrough came from
Couchsurfing. Though it started as a free alterna-
tive to hostels, the online community has become
much more, with hosts forming groups that make
insider information available to travellers. We, a
group of Couchsurfing friends, formed a foodie
group to explore the city of Xiamen through food.
Half of our crew consisted of native speakers and
our first visit was an eye-opening trip to a back-
street crab shop mentioned on a city food blog—a
place I couldn’t possibly have found by myself,
much less ordered at.
In other countries I’ve also discovered the
option of specialised tours. In Bogotá, Colombia,
for instance, Mike’s Bogotá Bike Tours gave me
a chance to cycle through the city and visit local
markets, where Mike explained the startling ar-
ray of exotic fruits native to the country—fruits
I never knew existed. In Thailand, a Chiang Mai
cooking school had me attempting pad thai and
curry after a tour of the local market. And in
Buenos Aires where underground dining is all
the rage, a few supper clubs, like the Argentine
Experience, are opening up to the public. Part
cooking class, part exploratorium, it gave me a
fun, hands-on way to learn about wine, cocktails,
and local culinary customs.
And though I like the explanations locals offer,
I also think there is great charm—and excite-
ment, nervousness, and luck—in stumbling
around on your own to discover foods while
travelling. You never quite know what you’ll get.
In 2012, while living in China, I was lucky to
be invited to a friend’s hometown in Longyan,
Fujian Province for Chinese New Year. The fire-
works in that town were so riotous, I could hardly
hear or see through the smoke while walking in
the streets. I was excited because I was going to
witness my friend’s dad making Chinese egg-
plant—and eggplant in China is a glorious thing.
I had sampled it everywhere in Xiamen, and
it was always on my must-eat-dishes list in
any new restaurant I visited. Now I was going
to learn how to make it.
The demo, however, was too fast for me, and
it was impossible to figure out which of the
similar mounds of white powder—salt, sugar,
or MSG—was being used at each point. The
dish itself was delicious; there is something
ineffably enriching about eating with locals in
their own home.
Matching travellers with local families is
exactly what companies like WithLocals try to
do in Asia. Travellers tour locations, learn a tra-
ditional skill, or dine with a local family in their
home. And in the West, companies like EatWith
provide an accessible version of the supper club,
where travellers mix with insiders who want to
share their city through its food.
Both ways of travel—the guided as well as the
chaotic—offer their own distinct experiences.
And blending a bit of both into one’s journey to a
foreign land is a feast for any traveller.
DINING ON DIFFERENCE IS A TREAT FOR ANY TRAVELLER
A Moveable Feast