032 – Doing things local
September 28, 2007 in Travel
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Craig and Linda delight in local life this week and encourage you to do the same on the “Indie Travel Podcast: Doing things local”.
We talk about what a great time we’ve had eating local food and drinking local beverages, including pumpkin beer from Austria’s oldest brewery, and Linda relives childhood trauma in Malaysia.
Our first newsletter’s coming out on October first, so sign up on the homepage.
We encourage you to leave your favourite local dishes or drinks in the comments…
Links:
- Download transcript (260kb, pdf)
- Join our facebook and flickr groups.
- Listen to episode 57 of TravelCommons where Craig comments.
Now you’ve reached this far, tell us your favourite local food or drink…
This article was written by Craig and Linda
Craig and Linda Martin have been living on the road since February 2006. Both born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand they are ... somewhere in the world! Craig and Linda host the Indie Travel Podcast - you can get in touch with them here.
Since November 2006 the Indie Travel Podcast has evolved into an independent travel hub with regular audio and video podcasts along with articles by travellers from all over the world. 
Hosts Craig and Linda Martin started travelling in February 2006 and have been to over 50 countries. They were 
Craig said on September 28, 2007
The best food I’ve had recently was in Assisi, Italy in a little tratoria called San Tucci. The Grigliata San Tucci, the house special, consists of balls of mozzerella cheese wrapped in thin beef steak and grilled over an open fire.
YUM!
Linda said on September 28, 2007
Oh man, there’s so much good stuff out there. Lunch today was pretty fantastic – we went for a walk with two teachers yesterday and found wild mushrooms, which we picked. Then today, the teachers cooked them for us, schnitzel-style. Local mushrooms and local beer – excellent. Cheers, Eva and Annie.
Gary said on September 29, 2007
A dish I had in Rarotonga and Tahiti. It is known as Poisson Cru in French Polynesia and ika mata in the Cook Islands.
It is tuna marinated in lime juice and coconut milk with cucumber, onions and tomato.
It is excellent.
I’ve also just had a great dish in the Philippines called kare kare, which is a beef dish in a peanut sauce.
George said on October 2, 2007
All this talk is getting me hungry. I am craving the Grigliata San Tucci…
Mark Peacock said on October 5, 2007
Eating local seems to be a popular topic of late.
At the Travelcommons.com web site, I blogged about the growth of local foods in airports. I look show up early for flights out of Memphis so that I can grab a plate of pork bar-b-que.
In TravelCommons #57, which also featured Craig’s bluetooth keyboard suggestion, I told the story of wandering Center City Philadelphia in search of breakfast and found my local food fix in the form of an egg, cheese and scrapple sandwich bought from a street vendor. This takes time, though. It would’ve been much easier for me to grab the usual generic breakfast in the hotel than go outside and find the scrapple sandwich vendor. I’m glad I had the time when I was in Phila, but business travelers don’t often have that luxury.
A few years ago, in TravelCommons episodes #8 and #9, I talked about the “insurance” people believe they get from choosing well-known brands over local fare — avoiding the risk of a bad meal, but missing the opportunity to savor the great local fare and build lasting memories such as the ones mentioned by previous posters. It’s probably easier to take that risk with a meal (you can always leave and grab a bite elsewhere) than it is with, say, a hotel.
Craig and Linda said on October 5, 2007
Cheers guys, I often find food and drink plays a big part in my memories of a place, so I think that risk element is an important one.
Take the risk.
Julia said on April 17, 2008
Thanks for the podcast! I wanted to let you know that we included a link to this one on our blog recently:
http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/Blog/Controller/viewEntry?permalink-title=podcast-roundup–travel-with-a-conscience
We have a podcast called “Two Fools. One Adventure. No Idea: Tuxedo Travels and CouchSurfing.com” that you might enjoy. It’s here: http://www.idealist.org/podcasts
Thanks!
Julia
Patricia Hamilton said on June 7, 2008
Eating local is the way to go! So many reasons today (GAS prices being uppermost on most people’s minds) – but supporting your neighbors who are the growers and preparers is another as is the quality of the food. Me and two others (Stanford University chef Bruce Biron and a Certified Exercise Physiologist Janel Willette) have put together “California Healthy, Southern California Edition,” for your enjoyment. Winner of two book awards and endorsed by David L. Katz, MD, there’s nothing else like it (think “Healthy Highways” on steroids – organic and sustainable, of course).
Craig and Linda said on September 17, 2008
We’ve been hogging out on street food here in Kuala Lumpur. It’s beautiful and oh-so-cheap after European chains. There’s heaps of freshly cooked food around and it’s all so good.
Michael Brown said on March 3, 2010
What a great podcast, both funny and highly informative. I am a big fan of trying local delicacies and have had so many amusing experiences. They always say that you can eat anything as long as you don’t think about it too much.
One of my personal favorites was the local breakfast in Bali known as Bubur Mebasa. It is served in a large leaf and is similar to curry and rice but is extremely hot. If you are ever offered this delicious meal, make sure you have at least 4-5 bottles of cold water handy!
Mr Samui said on July 4, 2010
The food in South East Asia is legendary. I am sitting in my office feasting on home prepared mango and salsa with sticky rice. Oh an as a side dish of chicken on a stick like an over-sized kebab,with a major major spice added. All of this for 50 baht or roughly 1.30 American dollars.