Generally I like to try the native food wherever I am...but by the time I get home I am usually desperate for gravy, or a roast or something very English...and by the time I get to the airport, Burger King or Maccy D's......

The fact that I don't have to lift a finger to prepare it or clean up afterwards. I just sit, eat and appreciate it

All the people who 'don't get' why people eat English food, I 'don't get' why what other people want to eat bothers them so much!!!
It's their holiday, let them do what they want!!!

Chivas69 wrote:

All the people who 'don't get' why people eat English food, I 'don't get' why what other people want to eat bothers them so much!!!
It's their holiday, let them do what they want!!!

I'm inclined to agree with you Chivas. My late father only ate traditional british food at home and would never eat something different. Does that mean he shouldn't go abroad on holiday because he didn't eat the local food? He enjoyed going abroad on holiday for sun, scenery and relaxation, and almost always stayed in hotels on a half board basis and the hotel food would suit his tastes, and on the odd occasion when he ate in a restaurant it would be something british (or as near to as possible) I certainly don't feel that he was insulting his hosts by not eating the local food, in fact his local hosts probably would have been insulted if he had left most of what he had been served on his plate if he had tried a local dish.

We are all different and what I want from a holiday won't always be the same as someone elses, what is a major part of a holiday to one person may mean nothing to someone else and it wouldn't occur to me to criticise them. I almost always eat the local food when I'm away, but then that's all there will be in many of the places where I spend my holidays . But even then I will turn my nose up at some of the things that I have been offered on my travels.

Exactly Judith. I mean how can someone say 'what's the point of going on holiday if you're not going to eat the local food'? Who cares what people eat! I'm sure most people are on holiday for the change of scenery or to relax or to just lie on the beach and get a tan. Good for them I say! The last thing I think about when looking forward to my holiday is the food! It's two weeks with no work doing exactly what we want!
I guess I'll have to look out for the people giving me funny looks when I'm next eating my full English breakfast! Sue me!

eating local/tradition dishes is an important part of my holiday i'm not a beach person,my pleasure comes in seeing traditional villages,archaeological sites and eating/drinking national products of the country we are visiting

I like to try local foods , some i like more than others. I really love going to certain restaurants in Playa Blanca because of the view , one of them does Argentinian steaks with chips of course and very lovely argentinian wine, then there is the italian where i have rissotto , and a greek restaurant which does lovely authentic food, sometimes i will go down the seafront and have bacon egg and chips or cheese and pineapple toastie, i love spanish holiday resorts but don't really like tapas , but i make up for that by drinking only cava and rioja and san miguel .
I'm happy eating anything that i like , doesn't matter which country i'm in , its the alfresco aspect thats important and the fact i don't have to go to work the next day!

I love food, spend a lot of time with it... (making it, writing recipes, teaching my children and grandchildren different dishes etc)

On holiday we go to Cyprus because it fits our wants and needs for many things and not just the food...

The things I find with being there and the food are -

The food (where we go in Pernera) is fresh, its full of flavour (as its grown in incredible soil in the beautiful Mediterranean sunshine) and its plentiful.
It doesn't really matter what you go for (Greek,Italian,English,Chinese, Mexican etc) its all made with great fresh produce that you just can't get back home. Even the eggs taste great and if you go for local farmed organic free range bicycle riding eggs at home they aren't as good. Fresh Cyprus potatoes picked daily and delivered from about 2 miles up the road cannot be bettered no matter what I've tried.
Then lets get to the cooking...the recipes.. the dishes... Cypriot/Greek food is unbelieveable in its complexity, simplicity and its taste... a little garlic, lemon and oregano onto grilled chicken and you have the best charcoal grilled meat you are going to see... Go for a long slow cooked Lamb Klefiko (usually lamb shank cooked for hours in a wood fired oven until the meat is so tender you can at it with a spoon) and you will be stunned at how good meat can be.... stews.. salads... snacks like the koupes are all wonderfull explosions of flavour and texture...

Go to an Italian restaurant (The Nautilus Trattoria Italiana in Pernera) and find incredible pasta dishes, the best pizza (forget anything you get in those chain franchises at home), wonderfull fresh salads, cold meat selections and you cant go wrong (and in the restaurant I've mentioned he trained in Italy and has a massive passion for the country so he goes the extra mile to make things perfect)...

Food is a major part of my holiday (you may have noticed) and we spend a lot of time looking around for new things to try, places to visit etc.. We used to go All Inclusive when the children were young but really missed out with the "international slop" that gets served at many of them...

We get back home and continue to eat the same sorts of meals (I said I had a passion for cooking and recipes etc) and make them for other people to try. This extends our holiday and introduces our family and friends to what they are missing (although most of the family have now been to Cyprus and fallen in love with it for themselves)....

Steve

reason why I opt for spain CDS, we love tapas and spanish food, so healthy and tasty,. I even eat it here at home, although I love they have choices of restaurants ie italian food, indian etc, I very rarely eat english abroad..get enough of that here.. role on ocotber ...:O)

Well Im gunna make everyone hungry like you all are to me, that thai food is my fave as the poster put, massaman curry...mmmmm

Greek food - mmmm

Try

Gambus Pil Pil - with Alioli and crusty fresh bread
Alibondigas - meatballs in a tomato sauce
Patatas bravas - everyone knows these
champiñones al ajillo y vino - mushrooms in wine and garlic
Chorizo al vino

all washed down with a bottle of decent spanish red, sat outside alfresco watching the world go by in marbella...

and i dont touch english brekkie when away I always have churros and hot choc or pan tomate with cafe con leche.

What I've found is that the food of the country you're visiting is rarely reproduced very well back in Britain, and sometimes is totally different. Went into a Chinese restaurant on Hong Kong and the food was nothing like you'd get in a Chinese restaurant back in the UK, I'm still not sure what some of the dishes we ate were. Also found the food in Italy to be nothing like the Italian food we get back in the UK. And why can't you get decent satay in the UK.

Also there are times when a cuisine surprises you. Went to Cambodia thinking the food would similar to Thai only to find it was even better. Trouble is I've never seen a Cambodian restaurant in the UK

What I've found is that the food of the country you're visiting is rarely reproduced very well back in Britain, and sometimes is totally different. Went into a Chinese restaurant on Hong Kong and the food was nothing like you'd get in a Chinese restaurant back in the UK,

This is because the recipes have tended to be adapted to suit British tastes plus as regards to Chinese food in the UK, most of it is based on the Cantonese style of cooking which is not necessarily typical of other styles of cooking. One of the jokes in mainland China about the people in Quangzou (Canton as was) is that they'll eat anything that moves! I don't think it's meant to be a compliment!

My pet hate is that soup in China is traditionally served between courses or as the final course, and is usually quite thin - the idea being that it cleanes the palate - rather than at the beginning as a starter. I never order the soup in a Chinese restaurant up here in Scotland because they are very heavily thickened with cornflower are so gloopy - presumably because the Scots like their soups so think that you can stand the spoon up in them. Great in a traditional Scotch Broth or Cullen Skink but truly disgusting in what should really be more like a thin consomme.

I really love trying out the local food on holiday - it's a big part of the pleasure. But the thing that I really love is the way in so many other countries, eating out means that you order a selection of food for the table as whole and everybody grazes their way through a variety of dishes. Tapas in Spain, Meze in Greece, Dim Sum in China etc - lovely.

SM

Sunbear wrote:

Went into a Chinese restaurant on Hong Kong and the food was nothing like you'd get in a Chinese restaurant back in the UK, I'm still not sure what some of the dishes we ate were. (

We made the mistake of choosing a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong because it was very popular with locals, thinking it must be good. No idea what we ate as no-one spoke English and the food was awful.

luci

Chivas69 wrote:

All the people who 'don't get' why people eat English food, I 'don't get' why what other people want to eat bothers them so much!!!
It's their holiday, let them do what they want!!!

I agree with you Chivas, what people eat on holiday is there business and I am one of the ones who like to eat english food on holiday, but do try some tapas as I like to experiment, but still have to have my full english in the mornings no matter where I am as it helps my hangover lol

Fair play, where I go in Tenerife my wife and daughter go for lunch and I have a full english breakfast with toast and a pint of beer for 3 euros!

On a side note, I was in Wetherspoons in Birmingham the other day and there was a table of Spanish lads all tucking into an English breakfast!!! They were mad for the black pudding!!!

I'm more with Chivas, shazajo and Judith on this and don't really like the way people look down on others for what they choose to eat, at the end of the day its just the same stuff as we have presented differently and cooked differently so I can't see the big deal.

I kind of like it when I am there, but after a fortnight I have certainly had enough of it, whatever country I am in. Restaurant food 14 nights on the trot is about all I can take.

When I get home I just want scambled egg on toast or bolied egg and soldiers.

There are plenty of bad restaurants abroad as well as the indifferent ones we have here. The only difference is in your homeland you learn which ones to avoid whereas its a bit tricky abroad unless you are one of those who goes to the same place 10 years on the trot.

Each to their own I guess.

Doe

doepsmc wrote:

When I get home I just want scambled egg on toast or bolied egg and soldiers.

I especially crave vegetables with gravy. We came back last year from our holiday and I asked my 7 year old what she wanted for tea that night and she asked for vegetables with gravy Says a lot as far as im concerned.

I feel the same. Yes I like different things, but I also like the comforts of home like a sausage or a plain chicken breast. Its each to their own as far as im concerned.

luci HT Mod wrote:

We made the mistake of choosing a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong because it was very popular with locals, thinking it must be good. No idea what we ate as no-one spoke English and the food was awful.

It probably was good - just not what we are used to from a Chinese restaurant:)

One thing I do like is the street food found in many parts of Asia. Some looks grim, like I can't fancy grilled chicken feet or fried insects. But other stuff looks and tastes great. And its cheap enough to not worry if you don't like it, and have to buy something else. And the pancakes yum.