What Can Food Add to Your Vacation Home Exchange?

Since I am a person who lives to eat rather than eats to live, I really enjoy exploring the many food options in my travels.Traditionally when you are travelling, and you think about food, you think about restaurant food….But one of the advantages of doing an exchange is that you have a kitchen so you can cook when you want or are so inclined! Personally I especially enjoy visiting grocery stores when I am travelling! Whether it was the butcher on Sifnos, Greece, or the large grocery store outside of Metz, France, I love to see what foods are available and how they come to market. My cooking isn’t anything fancy, so I don’t have to worry about converting to the metric system, since all the kitchen cookware is metric.

I was surprised to find the kitchens last summer did not have salt or pepper, but that was easily taken care of. I actually brought home some ground red pepper, so I will have a souvenir of Sardinia for a longtime!

When I left for my three week visit in Paris with the previously mentioned Snagglepuss, I must admit that I took along a huge jar of Skippy Super Chunk peanut butter. Every morning I would make a peanut butter sandwich to tuck into my bagpack for lunch. THEN I would treat myself to a wonderful French pastry!

Of course, your friends as well as the guidebooks will give you many restaurant ideas. A friend had told me about Angelina's in Paris, for very tasty hot chocolate! Oftentimes, you will be charged more if you sit down rather than standing to eat or drink. So I should have been (MUCH) smarter one very hot afternoon last summer in Rome. We wanted some gelato before our Vatican tour, so we stopped nearby and ordered. There were no prices on the menu (warning #1!), but we ordered without inquiring about the price (error#2!). Our dishes came, and we LOVED EVERY BITE OF OUR GELATO! But I did (almost) faint when the bill came, as our pre-Vatican treat came to 37 euros or roughly $48 !!!! GOOD thing we loved every bite!

Spain is famed for its tapas restaurants. Karen and I went to one in Alicante, which was written up in every guide book we read. We sat up at the bar, so we could watch the cooks prepare some of the tapas!
I'd love to hear about food experiences you have had in your travels! Next post will look at gardens.