Do You Travel to Taste Local Food?

I have never been a traveller, never had the desire to travel to far off distant places to discover the incredible wonders of the world (as I have heard some travel enthusiast say!). On the contrary, I was of the lazy sort – the unshaven bulky type, lazily whiling away the whole day virtually doing nothing.

A phenomenal change took place in me after I mate Alicia. Influenced by Alicia (my best mate) who was an avid traveller, I too became a passionate traveller and travelled to many places with her.

Both I and Alicia loved to eat. In fact, one of our major reasons of travel was to taste the local food of different places. Our last tour was to Dublin and I want to share with you the local food we tried there:

• Irish stew: This stew had chunks of lamb meat, potatoes, parsley, carrots and onion. It is a traditional and celebrated Irish dish. The stew, though looked plain, was incredibly tasty and though I never bother about the nutrient level of a dish, Alicia said that it’s very healthy.
• Coddle: One day of our stay there, we went to the Toscana restaurant, Dublin as it was near our apartment. Alicia said it was one of the best Italian restaurants in Dublin but we were there to taste the local food. We ordered coddle, which is another traditional food of Ireland. The roughly sliced pork sausages and rashers, with potatoes and onions delighted me. I heard traditionally it included barley. Well, our dish didn’t have that. Alicia learnt the recipe of the dish from the chef. She tried making it in the furnished apartment we rented. Though I said it was exceptionally good, it was actually inedible, with the pork partly uncooked and the potatoes hard as stone.
• Bacon and cabbage: Next day we ventured to another Dublin restaurant and had bacon and cabbage. It had unsliced back bacon with cabbage and potatoes. Trying out different Irish food, I noted that Irish people use potatoes in most of their dishes. It is like one of their main ingredients. Alicia said that sometimes turnips, onions and carrots are also added to this to add a greater taste. The dish was served with white sauce that had flour, milk, parsley and butter (the waiter said this to us).
• Black pudding: The next day we tried out another restaurant in Dublin. After taking our seats, Alicia promptly ordered black pudding without even asking me what I would like to have. I said nothing as I am an obedient husband. Black pudding was ready and served. It was a type of sausage. I quite liked the taste. But when I heard what it really was and with what it was prepared, I felt nauseated. The dish was made of cooking blood. The waiter enlightened us (or rather disgusted me) with what cooking blood is. He said some cultures use bold as food. The blood may be in the form of sausage or in a blood soup. Usually pig, sheep, goat, cattle or duck blood is used to make the sausage.

I have travelled to many places around the world and have tasted their local food. The food tasted in Dublin ranks first in my list though Alicia claims that she has tasted better food. But, I recommend you if ever you go to Dublin, do not miss to taste the local food.

Joselin John, a renowned author, contributed this article. She is a traveller by passion and a writer by profession. She has been giving vent to his experiences by writing articles ever since her school time. In this article she writes about local food to taste in Dublin.