Traveling without even having to leave the house

My parents were in town not too long ago. I wanted them to experience something that they had never experienced before, so we took them to an all you can eat sushi buffet. I was in heaven as I gorged myself with 21 bits of sushi, plus some Thai food. My parents took the Thai food and ignored the sushi completely (with the exception of the Wasabi, which mom took a generous portion. Only because she thought that it was guacamole).

I did not grow up eating seafood. The only time we ate anything that came from the water was on Fridays when we had to have fish sticks (at the time we were Catholic). If we wanted to have an exotic meal, we would have Chow Main. It was then we were having “authentic” Chinese. Boy how times change. As the world travels more and more, the Earth is getting smaller and smaller. When we travel, we try to eat “ethnic” food (ethnic being a very general term that encompasses everything from Italian, to Moroccan to Mexican and everything in between). Then when we get home, we want to have that same, or as close as we can get to the same, food again to remind us of the trip and the travels we have taken.

Looking in my food cabinet, I discovered just how true that is. We have a blending of just about everything. We have curry sauces, coconut milk, ginger chutney, jambalaya, bulgur, minso soup, sushi rice and wrap, olive cakes from Spain, glüvien and Mozart Balls to name a few. In the fridge/freezer we have snitzel, kebab meat, moose, reindeer, four different types of olives and three different types of soy sauce, bamboo shoots and lemon grass, peanut and fish sauce, and three different types of hot sauce. If you look at our wine “collection”, we have wines from at least ten different countries that was purchased mainly from the country it is from or from friends who traveled to that country. The beer collection, even though it is getting progressively smaller, is similar.

Right now, Southeast Asian is some of our favorite. In order to get the “right” ingredients, we go to specialty shops that specialize in Asian food. That in itself is an adventure. When friends travel to Italy, we have then pick up olive oil; when friends travel to France, we get cheeses and the list goes on. When I travel with work, my bag will be half empty when I go down, but will be totally full on the way home, full of food and wines.

My parents are not nearly as “bad” as we are, but if you look at their cabinet it is not too different. They will have a mixture of food from a multitude of different cultures. If you compared it to what it was 15 or 20 years ago, it would almost be shocking. As traveling has become more affordable and more people are traveling for pleasure, the food in our cabinet has diversified.

If you are unable to go to Italy this year, that is ok, bring Italy to you. Turn on a little Italian music, light some candles, have some good olive oil with olives and fresh mozzarella, and pop the cork on your favorite Tuscan wine. Then have Italy in your very own kitchen. If that is not enough, turn a soccer game on in the background for the added effect!