Eating Abroad - How to Adapt to Your Host Country's Menu

Appetizing and mysterious. Food safety should be a priority when sampling foreign cuisine.

After months of a long distance relationship with your sweetheart, you finally decided to take things to the next level.

You fly to meet her in the flesh, and she’s everything you expect her to be (and more!) based on your online conversations. She invites you to her home for dinner and to meet her family, and on the way there, a thought flashes in your mind:

“What will they be serving me?”

Your concern is justified; eating abroad can be an issue, especially when you’re unfamiliar with the cuisine of your host’s country.

If you’re like most people, food is comfort — that is, until you travel to a strange country and get exposed to a cuisine that is alien to your taste buds. When you’re in a developing country like Brazil, Russia, and China, safety, specifically food safety, might be one of your concerns, and understandably so. You’re in unfamiliar territory, and you don’t know for sure if their safety standards are at the same level as they are in your home country.

For the most part, you don’t need to worry as your host family will be respectful of your dietary limitations and won’t expose you to the really exotic dishes of their cuisine — unless you’re game for it.

However, to adapt to your host country’s menu, there are a few important adjustments you need to make. After all, you certainly wouldn’t want to be puking your guts out just because you were careless in what you ate and gave yourself a bad case of food poisoning.

The following are some tips you’d do well to apply when eating abroad, especially when it’s your first date overseas with your foreign sweetheart:

1. Learn to cook your own food.

Preparing your own meals will not only ensure that you’re eating safe and well-cooked food, but it will also introduce you to local, high quality ingredients and produce. At local markets, you’d be amazed to discover an abundant variety of fruits and vegetables, some of which you might have never seen before in your life.

You can also take this opportunity to ask your foreign sweetheart to teach you to cook some of their local dishes. This way, you get to show her and her family that you respect their culture and are open to learning different facets about it.

At the same time, this allows you to make sure that the food you’re eating has been made from quality ingredients and has been cooked well because it was made with your own two hands.

2. Expect your natural rhythms to change when eating abroad.

In many western countries, most people eat their biggest meal of the day at dinner while eating just a small breakfast and a rushed lunch during the day. There are some countries, however, that don’t do that.

In Brazil, for example, people sit down to their largest meal of the day at lunchtime, consuming dishes like rice, pasta, beans, salad, red meat, and chicken, with side dishes of potatoes and corn.

When eating in foreign countries, it’s best to “do as the Romans do,” as the popular saying goes. It’s another chance to show respect to your host’s food culture as well as a way of slowly acclimating yourself to their way of eating.

When eating in a foreign country, every meal is its own great adventure
3. Take care of what you eat and drink.

If you’re an adventurous eater, chances are you’ll want to take this time to explore not only your host country’s culture, but also its cuisine. Who’d want to eat another jumbo-sized hamburger from that ubiquitous American fast food chain we all know when you’ve got a wide array of exotic and delectable local dishes to try out?

You might want to sample everything that’s set down in front of you, but being reckless over what you eat might result in a trip to the local hospital’s emergency room. If you want to avoid food poisoning, take note of the things you must avoid or be wary of when consuming:

• Tap water - In some countries, potable water is not something you can drink straight from the faucet. When traveling to a country like Ukraine and China, it’s a common practice to drink bottled water for safety reasons, and you’d do well to do the same. Remember that this includes drinking water in fountain drinks as well. Bottled water will be the safest option to stay hydrated.
• Bushmeat - This term refers to truly exotic fare like meat from bats, rodents, and even monkeys. Experts from the CDC advise against eating such food. Animals can carry diseases such as Ebola. These diseases can transmit to humans who consume bushmeat.
• Street food - For many countries, like Mexico and Thailand, street food is an essential part of their cuisine. There is no reason why you shouldn’t participate in this aspect of the local food culture, but you should still exercise caution when trying out street food for the first time. How is the food preparation? Is the vendor’s stall sanitary? Are there many people lining up? If the answers to these questions are all “yes,” then the food is likely safe and delicious to eat.

Finding the Balance between Adventure and Caution

As a stranger in a foreign country, you need some time to adjust to the local cuisine. On one hand, you want to explore all the new and delectable options offered to you by your host’s family. At the same time, you don’t want to partake of anything that’s so risky that it would end up in you visiting the emergency room for food poisoning treatment.

Finding the delicate balance between indulging in your love for culinary adventures and heeding your sense of caution can be difficult. But if you apply the above-mentioned tips, you are well on your way to finding that happy medium.

Moreover, as to the safest food to eat when traveling, it’s best to do your own research before your trip. On YouTube, for example, you can watch incredibly detailed and well-produced documentaries that talk about the food culture and cuisines of various countries.

Food safety while traveling is one of the most common concerns of many travelers and tourists, so you’re definitely not alone in your worries. Do your research, exercise caution, and heed the advice of your host family, you’ll do well. Eating abroad need not be an issue as long as you’re careful and prepared.