10 Dishes to food travel in your own home
TL;DR
We love foodie travel. When we can not travel and eat, we prepare our favourite dishes at home. Travel the world through food with us!
Be a food tourist at home
We love armchair travel through books, movies, and of course, food. If you love food travels as much we do but you cannot currently travel, we have got you covered.
As travelling foodies, we make an effort to try as many new dishes as possible when travelling. And some of them come back home with us. Some because we had them a lot and they remind us of that holiday, some because they are a nice addition to vary our diet, some because they are very easy to make.
So without further ado, here is a list of 10 culinary travel ideas we took home with us - and you can too!
Our favourite food vacations at home
1. Thailand – Pad Thai and Thai Ice Tea
Thailand was our first long-distance backpacking trip. And Pad Thai was the first dish we tried. So of course it's very dear to our hearts. We had it at every stop of our roundtrip: in Bangkok on the famous Khao San road was the first and the best we had, the one in Ayutthaya was the worst. We had it in the jungle and on the beaches of the south - so why don't we have a single picture of it?
Of course, when we came home we bought some Thai ice tea and looked up a recipe for Pad Thai. Fortunately, we can get all the ingredients in our local supermarket - the rice noodles, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and turmeric as well as the chicken, tofu, eggs, sprouts, spring onions, garlic, chili, peanuts, lime, oil, and sugar. We toss everything into our wok, and out comes delicious Pad Thai!
2. Indonesia – Tempeh
In Indonesia, you get tempeh everywhere: in fancy vegan restaurants on Bali (like in the picture below) and on remote boats on the way to the Komodo Islands. Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans and it's much more delicious than it sounds. Additionally, it's super versatile: you'll find it on burgers and sandwiches, in fried rice, salads, and dumplings, as topping for soups - you name it.
Of course, we had to put Tempeh on our food bucketlist. Unfortunately, you can't get in our local supermarkets, but in Asian supermarkets, you can. So every once in a while we make the trip and get creative!
3. Israel – Shakshouka
We had our first Shaksouka in Jerusalem at Mahane Yehuda Market . We found this market stall with amazing energy (later featured in a Kara and Nate video if you want to get a feel for this place) and decided not to go for their signature sandwich but for a Shakshouka, which turned out to be a great decision.
Ever since it's one of our go-to breakfasts at home. It's so easy: Just fry tomatoes and peppers, add a little spice and tomato paste, and poach eggs in the sauce - you're done!
4. Jordan – Falafel and Hummus
Probably Hummus stands even more for Jordan than the famous Petra itself. When we were in Jordan, we ate all the hummus. We had plain hummus, hummus with toppings, Hummus Bil Lahme (with minced meat), Fatteh Hummus (fattet hummus), ... And oftentimes we combined it with falafel. We had it on plates and in sandwiches, sitting, standing, walking.
Luckily for us, you can buy ready-made hummus and falafel in all varieties in Berlin. We also have a large variety of places that sell falafel sandwiches in our neighborhood. But it's also quite easy to make these dishes from scratch. For the hummus, you puree chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice and you're done. For the falafel, you make a paste out of chickpeas, baking soda, as well as herbs and spices and deep-fry them - voila!
5. Iceland – Skyr
In Iceland, Skyr was our go-to breakfast. Many days we just grabbed a Skyr to go and started exploring. We fell in love with it because it's filling and contains a lot of protein. Also, it's super delicious and you can get it in every variety from natural over vanilla to every fruit flavor you can imagine.
We were extremely happy when German supermarkets started to sell Skyr shortly after our trip to Iceland! And we strongly advise you to give it a try if you haven't yet.
6. Spain – Tapas
I was a little girl when I tried my first tapas at a tapas bar in Palma de Mallorca with my parents. I still remember how much I loved having all the little tasters and feeling like I have my own private buffet.
It's a feeling I transported back home and love having nowadays, especially with a group of friends (remember how that used to be?). We all prepare little dishes like meatballs, cheese cuts, stuffed peppers, fried eggplants, chickpea salad, olives, ham, fried chorizo (if you don't try anything else from this blogpost I recommend frying chorizo if you're not a vegetarian or vegan – it's so good!), bacon-wrapped dates - the list goes on and on. We drink delicious Spanish red wine and have our own little private buffet!
7. France – Coq au Vin
I had my very first coq au vin in Paris as a birthday treat. It was preceded by oysters and followed by profiteroles. We loved all the french dishes we tried, and trust me, we tried a lot, but coq au vin is the one that came home with us.
Those of you, who have been following for a while, know that coq au vin is our go-to dish to dream ourselves away to France with!
8. Italy – Seafood
Confession: I did not like seafood before my first trip to Italy. I used to call it squishy food. You know why? - because I never had it freshly caught and prepared! On our trips to Italy, we indulged in all the seafood! We had prawns, mussels of all kinds, scallops, octopus, and cuttlefish as well as all kinds of crabs.
We tried to order seafood in Berlin restaurants and it's honestly hit or miss. So we started to prepare our own seafood at home. Every once in a while we go to a speciality shop and buy fresh seafood and it has never failed us. We tried it as a starter, with pasta, as a salad, and in many more ways.
9. Mexiko – Tacos
You know the drill by now. When we were in Mexico, we ate a lot of tacos both in Mexico City and the rest of the country. I mean like a lot a lot. We had them mornings, middays, and evenings. We had them cochinita pibil (a Yucatan classic), al pastor (which reminded us of Döner Kebab), de asador (with grilled beef), de cabeza (head tacos with parts of a cow's head including the cheeks and tongue), and de pescado (with fish).
Of course, we had to take them home with us! Mostly, we fake cochinita pibil at home. Yes, you heard right, fake. Originally, it's pork with spices and orange juice, which is slow-cooked in a banana leaf. We just use pulled pork because we're lazy, add guacamole and cebollas (onions) and we are good to go!
10. USA – American brunch
We cannot lie: the first time we had an American brunch in the US was a bit bewildering. Sure, we had some American breakfasts in Germany before, but here the sweet components like pancakes and maple syrup are separated from the savory components like bacon and eggs. But our brunch at the IHOP (international house of pancakes) was only the gateway drug. We also had an amazing Jazz Brunch in Harlem, New York, and many other great brunch experiences.
As you probably already guessed, we grew to like the American way of brunch and started to prepare it at home at least every couple of weeks. We make pancakes, waffles, or french toast, fry eggs and bacon, and drench everything in maple syrup. If we feel fancy, there is the occasional egg benedict - 2020 was the year I perfected my egg poaching game!
Voila: This is how we travel at home through food.
Disclaimer: We are not food bloggers and all photos were taken before we knew we would share them with more people than our family and friends. Please be kind. Photographing food is hard!
