Have Food, Will Travel: Top 5 New Culinary Destinations

Some people travel to sightsee, relax or learn about a new culture. Then there those of us who travel to explore exotic marketplaces, try new wines, discover hidden restaurants and then squeeze as much of these foods and spirits into our suitcases as we can so that we can savor the flavors of our travels back home. Call us foodies, bon vivants, gourmands or (occasionally) gluttons; but as long as there are new countries to be explored and novel foods to be eaten, we will be there, forks in hand. Here are five emerging gastronomic meccas to look out for.

 

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1. Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka: A small island in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lankan cuisine reflects the flavors of its surrounding countries as well as its colonial history. Sri Lanka is being recognized for its extraordinary spice offerings, notably its complex and spicy curry blends. Don't leave without trying pittu, a mix of rice meal and shredded coconut that is steamed in a bamboo shoot. Sri Lanka is also known for producing some of the world's most prized black, green and white teas in its central highlands. Behind the Burner expert Rohini Dey agrees, and notes that the most spectacular meal he ever had was breakfast in Sri Lanka, where he enjoyed rich sweet tropical fruits, sambals, rice pudding and fresh crisp "appam" (rice crepe bowl) with an egg cracked into it. (Image courtesy of Lanka Library, www.lankalibrary.com)

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Sri Lanka: A small island in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lankan cuisine reflects the flavors of its surrounding countries as well as its colonial history. Sri Lanka is being recognized for its extraordinary spice offerings, notably its complex and spicy curry blends. Don't leave without trying pittu, a mix of rice meal and shredded coconut that is steamed in a bamboo shoot. Sri Lanka is also known for producing some of the world's most prized black, green and white teas in its central highlands. Behind the Burner expert Rohini Dey agrees, and notes that the most spectacular meal he ever had was breakfast in Sri Lanka, where he enjoyed rich sweet tropical fruits, sambals, rice pudding and fresh crisp "appam" (rice crepe bowl) with an egg cracked into it.

(Image courtesy of Lanka Library, www.lankalibrary.com)

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Comments

[Mike Bloxham]

09:39 PM on 05/16/2010

To travel is to eat (if one travels properly, that is)

[Jeanne Dee]

06:33 AM on 05/15/2010

Yum! Food is definitely a great reason to travel and a fantastic way to explore a culture!

We have been on an open-ended, non-stop family world tour since 2006 ( on just 23 dollars a day per person) so we have been blessed at trying lots of delicious food in 32 countries, 4 continents so far! We are in Spain now & love the food here!

One place we went to last summer was beautiful Krakow, Poland and loved their dumpling festival with all the locals. OMG...good! Great prices & scrumptious food. We're headed to Penang, Malaysia this winter & I'm so looking forward to the food there as I hear it is world famous. We will be back to Paris, Provence and Italy this summer and can't wait to dive into more fabulous food there!!

Keep traveling and eating! ;)

Jeanne Dee

http://www.soultravelers3.com/

[KIVPossum]

09:39 AM on 05/14/2010

Croatia has some very fine food. So does Turkey.

For a city, Odessa is one fine restaurant after another. The food is as good as the service is bad.

[mamacat]

06:49 AM on 05/14/2010

We traveled around Europe, and Turkey, and the quality of the food, and the tastes, were wonderful.

We traveled in Mexico, and once we got past the border zone, the food was amazing.

Even in the U.S. we found some good food, once we got into the really rural areas, away from the big cities. A lot of the food in America's metropolitan areas is pretty bad.

[Dori Scottie]

05:12 PM on 05/10/2010

I would travel the world if i could to taste the history and experience the art of food.......sometimes with just one bite can take you thru history, which is priceless.... i still say my all time favorite place is in Borough market london.... where you meet the world and history all in one... and found a perfect fish and chips place there that had wooden utensils love it! love the pubs in london... and you never get lost there with the tube.

[gudeer kumar]

04:55 PM on 05/09/2010

sounds good...yummy

[Cheryl Petersen]

08:16 PM on 05/08/2010

My daughter and I took cooking classes while we were in Thailand. The classes were great. Our stomachs adapted to the foods, but all-in-all, the culture lingers more than the food scents...nice place to visit.

[aataylor]

12:20 PM on 05/08/2010

Nice article, terrible pictures though. Poland's looking especially miserable here.

[sidtphc]

12:19 PM on 05/08/2010

crazy story..was it outsourced too? Nothing can beat drinking local tea made of yaks butter in chilling cold in the himalayas

[ctravis]

07:39 AM on 05/08/2010

You must be mad, I have been living in Krakow, Poland for the last year and half and the food is really bad.

[pfods]

06:51 PM on 05/07/2010

" Seeing as that Croatia is made up of tiny islands in the Adriatic Sea"

uhhhhh it has a bit of land on the continent. just a smidge.

[seedoubleyou]

06:08 PM on 05/07/2010

It seems cliche to say, but the best pizza I ever had was in a small restaurant off the beaten path in Venice, Italy. Cripsy crust, light tomato sauce, sausage and peppers. I've been looking, to no avail, for an domestic restaurant with pizza half as good as that one for ten years.

[littlemonster]

06:44 PM on 05/07/2010

Cucina in Woodstock, NY.

[seedoubleyou]

02:34 PM on 05/08/2010

Thanks! If I ever make it over there, I will go!

[Cubancoffee]

05:38 PM on 05/07/2010

"Croatia is made up of tiny islands in the Adriatic Sea ... "

Say WHAT? And the U.S. is made up of Long Island.

[Rianna]

05:15 PM on 05/07/2010

The best place to try Sri Lankan food is in Sri Lanka. The seafood especially the Crab dishes are fantastic. The restaurants are of a high international standard, and the variety is endless. The 5 star hotels have wonderful restaurants, and even the Thai, Chinese, and Indian restaurants over there, have great dishes with a slight Sri Lankan twist. Sri Lankan cuisine is, to describe it, between Indian and Thai. The spices are different, and they do use a lot of coconut, and coconut milk in their dishes.
The only down side is, I did put on a couple of extra pounds.

[RamBamBooey]

04:40 PM on 05/07/2010

Puebla, Mexico -- not exactly a "new" culinary destination, but a very alive culinary culture that is often overlooked. Everything from Mole Poblano (a savory sauce with 20+ ingredients including chocolate) to Cemitas (a sandwich with fresh cheese and pounded beef). Excellent/creative high end dining and wonderful food from the stands on the streets. The Mexican food commonly found in restaurants in the United States is northern Mexican/Texas food. The food from central Mexico is much more complex and refined.