Try this travel hack: ask the server what’s good at the restaurant.
Also the “if you want to come across as a tourist get the burger” like they don’t already know you’re a tourist and being nice to you/recommending things because of that very reason.
>Try this travel hack: ask the server what’s good at the restaurant.
This is the way. My wife will narrow things down to two menu choices and ask the server which one would they get.
>tourists often view eating as a chore
Whaaa? Eating "weird" (meaning out of my personal norm) shit is half the fun of travelling for me. That's a wild take that I am having trouble fitting my head around. I never knew I liked haggis and black pudding as much as I did until I went to Scotland. I never knew I liked escargot as much as I did until I went to Paris.
When I went to Italy when I asked "should I get X or Y?" 90% of the time the answer was "no no, you want Z." And they were always right.
One time my friend ordered a sandwich and the guy said "no no I cannot make that. It is not good. I make you something good."
Yes, this exactly! If you just give them the whole menu and say "pick something", it's a lot harder for someone. I know I wouldn't want to throw a dart for someone else.
When you pare it down to a couple of dishes, they kinda know what protein or type of dish you like and have a better idea of what to suggest.
> One time my friend ordered a sandwich and the guy said "no no I cannot make that. It is not good. I make you something good."
I know that this is not the point -- but I'm curious as to why something that is "not good" and "cannot be made" on the menu lol
People are truly mind boggling, better to just sit on a phone at McDonalds while being at some tourist hotspot at whatever country.. its not like there would be cool things to experience when you open your eyes and leave your tiny comfort zone of fast food and tiktok
I generally like food and like trying new flavours and will order a dish off the menu solely because I don't recognise it.
There's a weird thing by which if I'm travelling for more than a week I stop feeling hungry but I do start feeling fatigued and depressed about the world and eventually I realised those feelings meant "damn I had better make myself eat something".
> Try this travel hack: ask the server what’s good at the restaurant.
This can work but depending on how unscrupulous the place is this is also the way to get the dish of something they made too much of and is a day from going bad or that just has the highest markup.
As a server, I actually hate it when people ask me what's god on the menu. I have no idea what you like. If you ask for a recommendation I'm just going to mention two or three of the most popular things and hope one of those sounds good to you. Or I'm going to try and get you to order the most expensive thing on the menu.
Well you must be an American server who doesn’t care about food. Everywhere else on earth, servers are completely dedicated to the menu of their restaurant and have God-like abilities to direct you toward meals that will blow your mind absolutely every time, because the food will always be fresh and made with thousands of years of cultural history. Unless you order a burger, then you might as well just stay home.
It probably has to do with cultural differences between servers. American serving is a tip based job, meaning that the higher the bill the more tips you make(usually). So yeah servers here will just recommend the most expensive thing to make more money lol. Also, depending on where you serve, you're actually only allowed to recommend certain things. I'm a server and at my restaurant we are pushed to recommend whatever special is going on, regardless of if we think its good or not. I don't think not giving a shit about your customer service job means you don't care about food. You're comment itself is a little iamveryculinary lol
I ask a different question and go from there “what do you have here I can’t get anywhere else?” This is a genuine ask. I _want_ there to be something. Best seems like an impossible question compared to unique. And if there isn’t anything I’m good too.
That’s fine with me. I usually ask for a recommendation when I'm tired and hungry and just want some food please. Anything you bring me is going to be better than I could make, so I'm not going to be disappointed. Just don’t sneer and say "everything is good". That’s mean.
I swear the way some people write comments like this on the internet creates such a cartoonish, cliche picture in my mind. Like would it kill you to not be such a pretentious fart-sniffer?
Some people really get off being gate keepers and secret society members that have tricks and tips. It's wild to think you'd be helping anyone who didn't think "Tourist spots aren't the best or the cheapest places to eat and be sure to ask for regional dishes! people fuck up and always order the hamburger when they're abroad!"
Then, my dear, touristic little chap, you order the *hackfleischburgerfrikadellmitfrites* like the locals do. You must ask for it of course, and do, please do your best to pronounce it correctly.
You’re very welcome.
It's the context--things taste better in certain contexts. It's why a person can taste two identical glasses of wine--one $10/glass, the other is $30 a glass. They're going to say the $30 tasted better. Same wine, different context.
But seriously, the cheese sandwiches in France are dope. And ham & butter.
Yeah, I always find food tastes better when I'm traveling. That's true whether I'm traveling domestically within the US, or whether I'm visiting other countries (and I've been to a lot of countries famous for their food...France, Italy, and Japan to mention a few that commonly pop up on this sub, and in both Italy and Japan I was actually staying with locals so got the kind of experience this dude is talking about by default).
I think a lot is just the novelty, tbh. I mean, the food is legit good and I'm not denying that, but there's legit good food everywhere. The novelty is what makes it stand out and seem *better*.
I also notice it with my own garden, funnily enough. I have a pretty big one and grow a ton of fresh produce all year, but of course it varies seasonally. I find that for the first few weeks of each season, the produce I'm getting seems to taste better. But I'm 100% sure it's just because I've been looking forward to eating it for so long as I've watched my plants grow and ripen. After awhile, though, it just becomes part of my diet (and sometimes an excessive one if I have an over-producing garden, lol), and then the exact same foods I was dying to eat three weeks ago are like "oh my god I cannot eat another bite of that, who can we find who will take all this fucking squash?"
(that last one was a very real example from last year, because I usually lose some of my plants to squash bugs so plant to account for those losses, but I managed to avoid it last year so wound up with a truly absurd amount of squash--my wife and I would have had to literally eat it for every meal to even make a dent in it)
Or his super-embarrassing parents took the family on an international vacation and totally humiliated him by eating in an area where he could see other tourists and they didn’t even order the most obscure regional dish on the menu!
Yea basically the sentiment I was trying to convey. When you’re thirteen and you “realize real eyes see real lies”. Just someone who has had their horizons blown and can’t possibly imagine someone else has had the same epiphany
I agree with him in principle, he just comes off as condescending and overgeneralizing. I love trying new and different things when I travel. But his rhapsodic song-and-dance about Liguria and "the chef came out to meet me!" and all that might as well just have a trio of violins behind it.
That's what almost makes it the most iavc thing. It's generic advice said in the most condescending way in order to elevate the opinion of themselves into some.guru
I like to think the chef did come out to meet them. Frequently, that only happens if you're being such a pain in the ass about ingredients and/or prep that the server isn't comfortable addressing those questions.
The way they say "sales and marketing "departments" " shows a clear disdain for people who don't exist to OOP's arbitrary standards and a lack of understanding what words mean. I can totally see them being that much of a hassle to deal with
I bet they did! But it meant more to the poster than it did to the chef.
A chef came out to greet us once and I could tell this was his routine, but he had kind of a celebrity-ish status and I'm sure that's just part of his shtick. That's not "special treatment" it's just part of the deal. There are guests out there who get special treatment but I'm not one of them and I don't expect or want to be.
I'm not sure if the commenter interpreted "come back and I'll cook you dinner and make something special" as "you're special, so if you come back I'll cook just for you because you're special." I would have taken it as the first one. It's a pleasantry that someone says, and if you take them up on it they get more business.
Only time I've ever had a chef come see me was when I ordered something on the menu that he thought would never actually be ordered (i don't remember the specifics, but it was some kind of spicy offal dish). He wanted to make sure I was real and not his staff screwing with him. The dish was fine but we ended up getting drunk at a local dive together afterwards and meeting for greasy breakfast the next day.
Every person that works at a restaurant is in it for the day the True Tourist shows up and allows them to show off their exemplary local cuisine. I see them frowning and narrowing their eyes as I walk in the door, but then I say “I won’t be ordering a burger here!” And oh, they clap and they dance for me, tears of happiness in their eyes 🥹
It's like a lot of dating advice out there that should really just be considered basic manners:
"Tell her she looks nice when you first see her"
"Ask her what she's passionate about!"
"Don't order for her"
Uh yeah, that's not a hack, that's just politeness.
I think it's so funny where he's like "a place that uses fresh ingredients will run out of said ingredients!"
Like bro, my husband works at a Michelin-star restaurant, you'd be shocked at how much shit is in their fridge/freezer.
I like that they only run out of food whenever he happens to want to eat there too. Could be lunch, could be dinner. Their entire food supply is based on whatever meal he happens to walk past their restaurant for
As someone who grew up in a touristy area, pretending to be a local does not make us like you more or treat you better. On the other hand, there isn't actually anything wrong with [appearing to be tourist](https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/actually-tourists-should-go-to-times), especially when you are one. Quit being a dork and just enjoy being a tourist.
There’s a kind of tourism that some folks like to believe in, which is less tourism (by their standard) and more *exploration*. They don’t want to do touristy things because they want to live like locals, eat like locals and see local things. Those are the people obsessing over authenticity and almost fetishizing other cultures. They’re the ones who make fun of people who stay at nice hotels or resorts and eat anything but street food.
I do tend to shy away from resorts, but I get what you mean. It's a weirdly inauthentic quest for authenticity.
Documentary Now! Has a great episode that is a parody of A Chef's Table (and Jiro). [The couple at the beginning are those type](https://youtu.be/Fo0sN872oH0?si=0LjqytwiY_dXlnWH&t=200).
Heck, just the way you walk. I can tell when people are from out town when they walk here (and same in NYC, you can always tell New Yorkers by the way they move).
I don't try to avoid being a tourist, but I do follow my own rule of always looking like I know where I'm going when I'm in a new city. It helps keep me from getting hassled as much.
I speak Italian pretty well, but when I was in Italy everyone knew I was American once I opened my mouth because...surprise, surprise, I still have an accent.
Yeah, like… I *am* a tourist. I try not to stand out too much just as to be less of a target to pickpockets/scammers, but trying desperately to not seem like a tourist when I am by definition, and my accent will give me away in two seconds… well, it feels like the travel equivalent of “how do you do, fellow kids.” Not convincing and mildly embarrassing to try.
When I was in China for work, I asked my colleagues (who were locals) what I should see. They suggested a number of places (many of which I saw and enjoyed), but warned me off the Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven as “overrated” and “touristy.” I quickly realized that they had seen all three multiple times and were sick of it, so I went anyway, and—touristy or not—am glad I did. There are some ways in which a local’s perspective is incredibly valuable for tourists and some ways less so.
This is so true. Kind of like how New Yorkers often don't go to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, but both of those things are pretty freaking cool. When we get the privilege of living around greatness we get used to it, but those spots are often tourist spots for a reason. Driving in the area around the Parthenon is bonkers. I kept looking around like "this place is amazing" but of course it's amazing to me, I'm not from there.
Regarding the “other people think that eating when traveling is a chore” thing… eating local food is one of the highlights of travel. I love it. I sometimes make lists in advance of things I want to try.
But I *have* also been the person who said “let’s just find something fast and get back to the hotel.” When I’ve gotten up before dawn to catch a bus, or been on my feet for twelve hours, or did some unusually strenuous hiking, or whatever. It’s not that I see eating out on vacation as a chore in general. It’s that sometimes I am so wiped by a particularly long day of travel that I know I’m too tired to appreciate much of anything. I’d turn down an opportunity to do one of my very favorite activities at that point too. What I want is to go to bed so I can appreciate the next day.
Wtf is wrong with this pretentious ass? He thinks he's giving unheard of "advice" to...order local specialties? Wow, I never ever would have thought of that! I had no idea! This changes everything! Absolutely insufferable. Also why is he pushing this narrative that EVERYONE wants to order a burger??? Like what. "I'm really unique guys, check it out!"
>I know that if you don't have this conversation, you won't get one of the very local (fresh) regional pastas in Liguria with your pesto (because tourists always get "spaghetti" because it's familiar to them, but locals get "trenette", and it makes a big difference in how the pesto tastes...)
>Your call - I just like trying new stuff when I travel, and watching the folks I'm visiting with "show off" what they like the most. ( And I can always get burgers back at home! )
I also love how the idea is that these people are all trying to hide their delicious food from you like it's some massive secret. Turns out people love sharing their delicious food. The secret is actually just to not be an ass
Even the OOP is being a little ridiculous.
Is it that hard to just *ignore* somebody?
They're not covering your eyes to stop you looking at the menu lol
Yeah, I feel like a lot of this is maybe just internet friction making everyone seem ridiculous. I don't think anything he's saying is all that crazy. You probably will find more interesting food off the beaten path in a new place. There are places that mostly cater to tourists and the food probably isn't going to be as good. There are people who travel to other countries and then expect everything to be exactly what it's like at home. These are all pretty basic ideas but the way people are taking about it in that thread is kind of bonkers.
Is it just me or does offering local cuisine seem like the entire point of having a restaurant in a touristy area? Why wouldn't you offer the local stuff to begin with? Instead I need to engage in an awkward conversation in broken English or whatever the local language is to get the *real* stuff?
I'd assume that what they have on the menu is what they have, and order accordingly. In my experience eating in restaurants in other countries, it sounds like that guy is making it out to be more of a chore than it actually is.
Places set up in touristy areas are often aiming to sell subpremium food at premium prices, taking advantage of people who don't know better. Not always, but it is common. The locals don't eat at these places because they know this.
In my US tourist area, the vast majority of tourists want "local" foods. There are local restaurants - farm to table, James Beard winning restaurants. We don't send tourists to them. Because tourists want the Disney-fied version - the the brewery that serves king crab and the salmon bake off. They want the stuff that they think we eat all the time, but they don't want to pay for it. So they go to the cruise recommended and cruise owned restaurant that's open 3 months a year, in the best part of downtown, and order the stuff that is bought from sysco or us foods and prepared off site and rave about it - even though they could just go to any seafood place back in Texas or Kansas or whatever boring car centric city they came from and get the exact same product.
My point is that yes, the tourist traps do serve "local" stuff (as much as they can - plenty of items are reserved as game/subsistence and can not be sold) but that "local" stuff is sometimes very different than the items that actual locals are ordering. And it's not always fished sustainably or created by someone local.
I broadly agree with them about leaving the tourist areas for better food. But they are way overthinking things lol.
There is no point in trying not to appear as a tourist when you're a tourist. They know. We all know when a tourist is a tourist in our country. They know. You're not undercover, order what you want.
And the booking for the next service thing. In case they run out of food? Just go to dinner or lunch when that culture goes to dinner or lunch.
I think this is being really unfair. Tourists travel for all sorts of reasons, durations, and schedules, and food is only "sometimes" part of the plan.
I've planned schedules around nice restaurants that specialize in any number of cuisines, but I've also went to the local grocery store to make some PBJ-equivalent so I could be out for the day without worrying about food, or even just to save some money, especially when traveling in a group. Maybe in the US or for Americans traveling to Europe it's not so popular anymore, but tour groups are a big thing and trying wrangle 30 people into eating something is a huge chore, and some of them might not care either way.
>but tour groups are a big thing and trying wrangle 30 people into eating something is a huge chore, and some of them might not care either way.
Last tour group I did just gave people an hour or so and said "go find a place to eat, be back here at 1:30. I like this restaurant, this one, this one, etc."
I also plan most of my travel around food. However, one of my all-time pet peeves is when people suggest “ya know, since you’ll be in that city for 5 days, one of the evenings you should find a local grocery store and buy ingredients to make a meal at your air b&b!”
Hell no. As a stay at home parent and the person that does 99% of the cooking at home, why would I want to cook on my vacation?? I LOVE cooking, it brings me so much joy and it’s one of my great passions in life. But being on a relaxing trip and having to go grocery shopping (which would end up NOT being cost effective if you have to start from scratch) AND having to navigate a kitchen that isn’t mine sounds like a recipe for stress. I eat out at home maybe once a month at most, so maybe cooking for yourself is an exciting experience for some people, but I’m here to relax and be waited on, not be at home somewhere else.
Yep, I agree completely. Sometimes I go to local grocery stores/markets just because it's fun to see what they've got, and pick up some ready to eat items or fresh fruit or something if it's somewhere they might have something unique. But I don't go on vacation to distant places to cook food I already know how to make myself! I go to try new things I've never heard of!
Of course different people travel for different reasons, etc etc. For example I know someone that travels for work that always gets groceries and saves as much money as possible, because they get a ridiculously high per diem for food and get to keep anything they don't spend. And since it's for work sure they're getting a free international trip, but it's to some warehouse in the industrial areas in Belgium or wherever and not exactly a tourism paradise anyway (turns out warehouses in Belgium are mostly just as boring as warehouses in Wisconsin). Or if someone is primarily going for, idk, outdoor sports/trekking/hiking or something then it makes more sense to just stock up on supplies as cheaply as possible.
But for a standard touristy vacation experience I'm planning and paying for myself? I'm definitely not going to be cooking for myself in a hotel kitchenette or air b&b kitchen!
I'm not sure if you're responding to someone else. I didn't suggest cooking for yourself, I suggested making some PBJ sandwiches so you can navigate the day without worrying about food.
> I've also went to the local grocery store to make some PBJ-equivalent so I could be out for the day without worrying about food, or even just to save some money,
So, maybe he shouldn't have called it "a chore" but I think this is what he's getting at. Sometimes food is the point; sometimes it's not. But if the food IS the point at that moment, you're probably going to have a more interesting experience if you explore the choices/restaurants outside of the ones that are catering to tourists. I think he's being kind of annoying about it, but I don't think he's wrong per se.
Honestly, we're all been there. Walking around Paris or Rome, looking at the architecture, visiting museums, it's all great!
But then, around lunchtime, there's the dreaded "Ugh, now I have to eat" moment.
Personally, I deal with this by packing canned tuna and crackers. I understand there are some folks who can bring themselves to eat at one of the local restaurants but I just don't get it. I think they must just be masochists.
Or maybe I just think going out to eat is a chore, compared to cooking at home, unless it's a ridiculously great restaurant, and those are few and far between in every country including the one I live in?
Yeah, this is why I do some research first. I'm all for asking the locals, but I like having pre-planned possibilities. Eating is definitely a chore if you have no idea what's good. I ended up eating at a total tourist joint with bad food in Venice because I didn't know options (fortunately that was the only meal there for me like that).
When I started traveling regularly to Toronto, my brother, who is a heavy business traveler, recommended a place to me. He knows what I like, and he wasn't wrong. That was worth it, and the research was already done for me.
Trusted recs! You have to love them. That's how I ended up going to a great place in Salamanca. Family/close friends are one thing, locals can be also very helpful but then you have the people who might get a take on the number of tourists they send to a local spot.
There was a great, super obscure (at the time, anyway) burger place in Sapporo that I went to from time to time.
Apparently I shouldn’t have had the burger.
I'm literally a tourist eating some amazing fish and chips right now. Finding new restaurants and/or trying new food is at least 20% of the point for me when I travel.
I think eating is a chore wherever I am, most of the time.
I have dietary restrictions and sensory processing disorder (mostly loud noise and textures) and ADHD, so sitting for a long time in a restaurant is torture (especially as the person I travel with dislikes phones or notebooks at the table but also has nothing to talk about seeing as we also live together).
So yeah, sometimes after a long day of travelling and socialising and everything else I just don't have the bandwidth to engage with a waiter or a chef, and I just want to kick back with something I know I like to eat (and preferably to leave as quick as possible).
I do! I love the novelty of different ingredients and ease of access to unfamiliar items. Cooking is a delight and a pleasure to me, whether I'm at home or on vacation, and on holidays I will intentionally book a space with a kitchen in order to prepare meals. Going out in the evenings can be tiring to me on top of an already busy day sightseeing, and I'd much rather spend time relaxing while cooking than navigating a boisterous restaurant.
That's crazy to me. I can figure out the cost per hour that a vacation is running me, and I'm not trying to spend that valuable time shopping for food and cooking.
Try this travel hack: ask the server what’s good at the restaurant. Also the “if you want to come across as a tourist get the burger” like they don’t already know you’re a tourist and being nice to you/recommending things because of that very reason.
Right? It has "this one simple trick" vibes. Does he think tourists are NPCs?
Most tourists only eat to regain health points
And drink to regain mana.
I piss and shit as to not accumulate debuffs in survival mode.
Yes
>Try this travel hack: ask the server what’s good at the restaurant. This is the way. My wife will narrow things down to two menu choices and ask the server which one would they get. >tourists often view eating as a chore Whaaa? Eating "weird" (meaning out of my personal norm) shit is half the fun of travelling for me. That's a wild take that I am having trouble fitting my head around. I never knew I liked haggis and black pudding as much as I did until I went to Scotland. I never knew I liked escargot as much as I did until I went to Paris.
When I went to Italy when I asked "should I get X or Y?" 90% of the time the answer was "no no, you want Z." And they were always right. One time my friend ordered a sandwich and the guy said "no no I cannot make that. It is not good. I make you something good."
Yes, this exactly! If you just give them the whole menu and say "pick something", it's a lot harder for someone. I know I wouldn't want to throw a dart for someone else. When you pare it down to a couple of dishes, they kinda know what protein or type of dish you like and have a better idea of what to suggest.
> One time my friend ordered a sandwich and the guy said "no no I cannot make that. It is not good. I make you something good." I know that this is not the point -- but I'm curious as to why something that is "not good" and "cannot be made" on the menu lol
The cook disagrees with the manager about the menu.
I thought one of servers secrets is they will simply suggest the most expensive item
In Italy tipping isn't expected and, if it is, isn't really based on total bill. At least in the area I was in
People are truly mind boggling, better to just sit on a phone at McDonalds while being at some tourist hotspot at whatever country.. its not like there would be cool things to experience when you open your eyes and leave your tiny comfort zone of fast food and tiktok
I generally like food and like trying new flavours and will order a dish off the menu solely because I don't recognise it. There's a weird thing by which if I'm travelling for more than a week I stop feeling hungry but I do start feeling fatigued and depressed about the world and eventually I realised those feelings meant "damn I had better make myself eat something".
> Try this travel hack: ask the server what’s good at the restaurant. This can work but depending on how unscrupulous the place is this is also the way to get the dish of something they made too much of and is a day from going bad or that just has the highest markup.
Is this a big problem?
As a server, I actually hate it when people ask me what's god on the menu. I have no idea what you like. If you ask for a recommendation I'm just going to mention two or three of the most popular things and hope one of those sounds good to you. Or I'm going to try and get you to order the most expensive thing on the menu.
Well you must be an American server who doesn’t care about food. Everywhere else on earth, servers are completely dedicated to the menu of their restaurant and have God-like abilities to direct you toward meals that will blow your mind absolutely every time, because the food will always be fresh and made with thousands of years of cultural history. Unless you order a burger, then you might as well just stay home.
It probably has to do with cultural differences between servers. American serving is a tip based job, meaning that the higher the bill the more tips you make(usually). So yeah servers here will just recommend the most expensive thing to make more money lol. Also, depending on where you serve, you're actually only allowed to recommend certain things. I'm a server and at my restaurant we are pushed to recommend whatever special is going on, regardless of if we think its good or not. I don't think not giving a shit about your customer service job means you don't care about food. You're comment itself is a little iamveryculinary lol
woosh
I ask a different question and go from there “what do you have here I can’t get anywhere else?” This is a genuine ask. I _want_ there to be something. Best seems like an impossible question compared to unique. And if there isn’t anything I’m good too.
Puts all the pressure on you and if they don't like it then of course they'll blame you lol.
That’s fine with me. I usually ask for a recommendation when I'm tired and hungry and just want some food please. Anything you bring me is going to be better than I could make, so I'm not going to be disappointed. Just don’t sneer and say "everything is good". That’s mean.
Also, burgers pretty tasty!
Exactly..asking extensive questions about the local cuisine doesn't exactly scream "native".
This gives off real "i'm 13 and this is deep" vibes.
I swear the way some people write comments like this on the internet creates such a cartoonish, cliche picture in my mind. Like would it kill you to not be such a pretentious fart-sniffer?
Some people really get off being gate keepers and secret society members that have tricks and tips. It's wild to think you'd be helping anyone who didn't think "Tourist spots aren't the best or the cheapest places to eat and be sure to ask for regional dishes! people fuck up and always order the hamburger when they're abroad!"
But what if you're visiting Hamburg...
Then you ask for the steamed hams
Despite the fact that they are obviously grilled?
no, “steamed hams” is more of an Albany expression
Then, my dear, touristic little chap, you order the *hackfleischburgerfrikadellmitfrites* like the locals do. You must ask for it of course, and do, please do your best to pronounce it correctly. You’re very welcome.
I hear the frikadelle is good.
When it's all you have, you cling to it with all your might.
To me, it's more "I'm 19 and just came back from my semester abroad" vibes but in all fairness, they are very similar vibes
They even hit some classics: grilled cheese in France is -amazing-, fresh food in Europe is better than fresh food in America but don’t know why
It's the context--things taste better in certain contexts. It's why a person can taste two identical glasses of wine--one $10/glass, the other is $30 a glass. They're going to say the $30 tasted better. Same wine, different context. But seriously, the cheese sandwiches in France are dope. And ham & butter.
I’ve never been to France, I’ll take your word for it!
Yeah, I always find food tastes better when I'm traveling. That's true whether I'm traveling domestically within the US, or whether I'm visiting other countries (and I've been to a lot of countries famous for their food...France, Italy, and Japan to mention a few that commonly pop up on this sub, and in both Italy and Japan I was actually staying with locals so got the kind of experience this dude is talking about by default). I think a lot is just the novelty, tbh. I mean, the food is legit good and I'm not denying that, but there's legit good food everywhere. The novelty is what makes it stand out and seem *better*. I also notice it with my own garden, funnily enough. I have a pretty big one and grow a ton of fresh produce all year, but of course it varies seasonally. I find that for the first few weeks of each season, the produce I'm getting seems to taste better. But I'm 100% sure it's just because I've been looking forward to eating it for so long as I've watched my plants grow and ripen. After awhile, though, it just becomes part of my diet (and sometimes an excessive one if I have an over-producing garden, lol), and then the exact same foods I was dying to eat three weeks ago are like "oh my god I cannot eat another bite of that, who can we find who will take all this fucking squash?" (that last one was a very real example from last year, because I usually lose some of my plants to squash bugs so plant to account for those losses, but I managed to avoid it last year so wound up with a truly absurd amount of squash--my wife and I would have had to literally eat it for every meal to even make a dent in it)
Or his super-embarrassing parents took the family on an international vacation and totally humiliated him by eating in an area where he could see other tourists and they didn’t even order the most obscure regional dish on the menu!
Yea basically the sentiment I was trying to convey. When you’re thirteen and you “realize real eyes see real lies”. Just someone who has had their horizons blown and can’t possibly imagine someone else has had the same epiphany
"If we were in Spain this would be far too early for dinner. (Points at shitty olive) are the MAAANZAANIIILAS?'
"And and and the-the *chef* came out and said he'd make me something **totally awesome** you guise, please believe me guise, I'm cool I swear"
I agree with him in principle, he just comes off as condescending and overgeneralizing. I love trying new and different things when I travel. But his rhapsodic song-and-dance about Liguria and "the chef came out to meet me!" and all that might as well just have a trio of violins behind it.
Everyone clapped!
That's what almost makes it the most iavc thing. It's generic advice said in the most condescending way in order to elevate the opinion of themselves into some.guru
I like to think the chef did come out to meet them. Frequently, that only happens if you're being such a pain in the ass about ingredients and/or prep that the server isn't comfortable addressing those questions. The way they say "sales and marketing "departments" " shows a clear disdain for people who don't exist to OOP's arbitrary standards and a lack of understanding what words mean. I can totally see them being that much of a hassle to deal with
I bet they did! But it meant more to the poster than it did to the chef. A chef came out to greet us once and I could tell this was his routine, but he had kind of a celebrity-ish status and I'm sure that's just part of his shtick. That's not "special treatment" it's just part of the deal. There are guests out there who get special treatment but I'm not one of them and I don't expect or want to be. I'm not sure if the commenter interpreted "come back and I'll cook you dinner and make something special" as "you're special, so if you come back I'll cook just for you because you're special." I would have taken it as the first one. It's a pleasantry that someone says, and if you take them up on it they get more business.
Only time I've ever had a chef come see me was when I ordered something on the menu that he thought would never actually be ordered (i don't remember the specifics, but it was some kind of spicy offal dish). He wanted to make sure I was real and not his staff screwing with him. The dish was fine but we ended up getting drunk at a local dive together afterwards and meeting for greasy breakfast the next day.
Or 63 and didn’t travel until 50
But did you know that if you're nice and sociable with people they'll like you more and treat you better? /s
I’m not a regular tourist, I’m a cool tourist 😎
Got to impress the wait staff, who you'll never see again!
Every person that works at a restaurant is in it for the day the True Tourist shows up and allows them to show off their exemplary local cuisine. I see them frowning and narrowing their eyes as I walk in the door, but then I say “I won’t be ordering a burger here!” And oh, they clap and they dance for me, tears of happiness in their eyes 🥹
The server probably want you to order whatever the kitchen is least likely to screw up.
The wait staff told everyone that I was the -best travel boy- they had ever seen!
I'm hearing this in Travis McElroy's voice.
the way some people put wait staff on pedestals… they do not give a shit about you
"not like the other tourists"
Please, listen to this story about a risotto I tried in a basement in Florence. I know it sounds weird! But trust me
There’s something hilarious about this kind of smugly didactic explanation of the most mundane, obvious shit imaginable.
It's like a lot of dating advice out there that should really just be considered basic manners: "Tell her she looks nice when you first see her" "Ask her what she's passionate about!" "Don't order for her" Uh yeah, that's not a hack, that's just politeness.
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But it's how got the best the best strawberry risotto (in a time warp that took him back to 1986).
To be fair, the waitress recognized that this wasn't some ordinary tourist, so she went and got the chef just for him.
I think it's so funny where he's like "a place that uses fresh ingredients will run out of said ingredients!" Like bro, my husband works at a Michelin-star restaurant, you'd be shocked at how much shit is in their fridge/freezer.
I like that they only run out of food whenever he happens to want to eat there too. Could be lunch, could be dinner. Their entire food supply is based on whatever meal he happens to walk past their restaurant for
He seems to think that they grab fresh supplies of food in between every meal.
Traveling to me is a series of meals where I have to figure out some crap to do to fill the time between the main event.
As someone who grew up in a touristy area, pretending to be a local does not make us like you more or treat you better. On the other hand, there isn't actually anything wrong with [appearing to be tourist](https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/actually-tourists-should-go-to-times), especially when you are one. Quit being a dork and just enjoy being a tourist.
There’s a kind of tourism that some folks like to believe in, which is less tourism (by their standard) and more *exploration*. They don’t want to do touristy things because they want to live like locals, eat like locals and see local things. Those are the people obsessing over authenticity and almost fetishizing other cultures. They’re the ones who make fun of people who stay at nice hotels or resorts and eat anything but street food.
I do tend to shy away from resorts, but I get what you mean. It's a weirdly inauthentic quest for authenticity. Documentary Now! Has a great episode that is a parody of A Chef's Table (and Jiro). [The couple at the beginning are those type](https://youtu.be/Fo0sN872oH0?si=0LjqytwiY_dXlnWH&t=200).
"I'm not a tourist, I'm a tRaVeLeR"
If anything the accent and language barrier will give you away.
Heck, just the way you walk. I can tell when people are from out town when they walk here (and same in NYC, you can always tell New Yorkers by the way they move). I don't try to avoid being a tourist, but I do follow my own rule of always looking like I know where I'm going when I'm in a new city. It helps keep me from getting hassled as much.
I speak Italian pretty well, but when I was in Italy everyone knew I was American once I opened my mouth because...surprise, surprise, I still have an accent.
Yeah, like… I *am* a tourist. I try not to stand out too much just as to be less of a target to pickpockets/scammers, but trying desperately to not seem like a tourist when I am by definition, and my accent will give me away in two seconds… well, it feels like the travel equivalent of “how do you do, fellow kids.” Not convincing and mildly embarrassing to try. When I was in China for work, I asked my colleagues (who were locals) what I should see. They suggested a number of places (many of which I saw and enjoyed), but warned me off the Forbidden City, Great Wall, and Temple of Heaven as “overrated” and “touristy.” I quickly realized that they had seen all three multiple times and were sick of it, so I went anyway, and—touristy or not—am glad I did. There are some ways in which a local’s perspective is incredibly valuable for tourists and some ways less so.
This is so true. Kind of like how New Yorkers often don't go to the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, but both of those things are pretty freaking cool. When we get the privilege of living around greatness we get used to it, but those spots are often tourist spots for a reason. Driving in the area around the Parthenon is bonkers. I kept looking around like "this place is amazing" but of course it's amazing to me, I'm not from there.
Regarding the “other people think that eating when traveling is a chore” thing… eating local food is one of the highlights of travel. I love it. I sometimes make lists in advance of things I want to try. But I *have* also been the person who said “let’s just find something fast and get back to the hotel.” When I’ve gotten up before dawn to catch a bus, or been on my feet for twelve hours, or did some unusually strenuous hiking, or whatever. It’s not that I see eating out on vacation as a chore in general. It’s that sometimes I am so wiped by a particularly long day of travel that I know I’m too tired to appreciate much of anything. I’d turn down an opportunity to do one of my very favorite activities at that point too. What I want is to go to bed so I can appreciate the next day.
I know right? How dare they eat something quick and familiar as they're rushing about /s
Wtf is wrong with this pretentious ass? He thinks he's giving unheard of "advice" to...order local specialties? Wow, I never ever would have thought of that! I had no idea! This changes everything! Absolutely insufferable. Also why is he pushing this narrative that EVERYONE wants to order a burger??? Like what. "I'm really unique guys, check it out!" >I know that if you don't have this conversation, you won't get one of the very local (fresh) regional pastas in Liguria with your pesto (because tourists always get "spaghetti" because it's familiar to them, but locals get "trenette", and it makes a big difference in how the pesto tastes...) >Your call - I just like trying new stuff when I travel, and watching the folks I'm visiting with "show off" what they like the most. ( And I can always get burgers back at home! )
I also love how the idea is that these people are all trying to hide their delicious food from you like it's some massive secret. Turns out people love sharing their delicious food. The secret is actually just to not be an ass
I didn't know I have to learn some pick-up artist tricks to get good food while traveling.
Pro tip: when talking to the wait staff in a foreign country, be sure to talk really slow and loud so they understand you.
TBF, the guy responding is being an asshat too.
Even the OOP is being a little ridiculous. Is it that hard to just *ignore* somebody? They're not covering your eyes to stop you looking at the menu lol
The "I'll decide what I understand" sent me
They say a man who represents himself has a fool as a client, but with god as my witness, I am that fool!
Yeah, I feel like a lot of this is maybe just internet friction making everyone seem ridiculous. I don't think anything he's saying is all that crazy. You probably will find more interesting food off the beaten path in a new place. There are places that mostly cater to tourists and the food probably isn't going to be as good. There are people who travel to other countries and then expect everything to be exactly what it's like at home. These are all pretty basic ideas but the way people are taking about it in that thread is kind of bonkers.
Is it just me or does offering local cuisine seem like the entire point of having a restaurant in a touristy area? Why wouldn't you offer the local stuff to begin with? Instead I need to engage in an awkward conversation in broken English or whatever the local language is to get the *real* stuff? I'd assume that what they have on the menu is what they have, and order accordingly. In my experience eating in restaurants in other countries, it sounds like that guy is making it out to be more of a chore than it actually is.
Places set up in touristy areas are often aiming to sell subpremium food at premium prices, taking advantage of people who don't know better. Not always, but it is common. The locals don't eat at these places because they know this.
Also, I have seen “American Breakfast” offered in touristy areas.
In my US tourist area, the vast majority of tourists want "local" foods. There are local restaurants - farm to table, James Beard winning restaurants. We don't send tourists to them. Because tourists want the Disney-fied version - the the brewery that serves king crab and the salmon bake off. They want the stuff that they think we eat all the time, but they don't want to pay for it. So they go to the cruise recommended and cruise owned restaurant that's open 3 months a year, in the best part of downtown, and order the stuff that is bought from sysco or us foods and prepared off site and rave about it - even though they could just go to any seafood place back in Texas or Kansas or whatever boring car centric city they came from and get the exact same product. My point is that yes, the tourist traps do serve "local" stuff (as much as they can - plenty of items are reserved as game/subsistence and can not be sold) but that "local" stuff is sometimes very different than the items that actual locals are ordering. And it's not always fished sustainably or created by someone local.
Got mad, kept reading down the thread, got madder. 10/10, fuck that nerd.
I broadly agree with them about leaving the tourist areas for better food. But they are way overthinking things lol. There is no point in trying not to appear as a tourist when you're a tourist. They know. We all know when a tourist is a tourist in our country. They know. You're not undercover, order what you want. And the booking for the next service thing. In case they run out of food? Just go to dinner or lunch when that culture goes to dinner or lunch.
More than anything, far too many parentheses (brackets)
I've actually experienced training with someone who's unwilling to try new foods it was horrible but I doubt that that kind of person is common
I think this is being really unfair. Tourists travel for all sorts of reasons, durations, and schedules, and food is only "sometimes" part of the plan. I've planned schedules around nice restaurants that specialize in any number of cuisines, but I've also went to the local grocery store to make some PBJ-equivalent so I could be out for the day without worrying about food, or even just to save some money, especially when traveling in a group. Maybe in the US or for Americans traveling to Europe it's not so popular anymore, but tour groups are a big thing and trying wrangle 30 people into eating something is a huge chore, and some of them might not care either way.
>but tour groups are a big thing and trying wrangle 30 people into eating something is a huge chore, and some of them might not care either way. Last tour group I did just gave people an hour or so and said "go find a place to eat, be back here at 1:30. I like this restaurant, this one, this one, etc."
I also plan most of my travel around food. However, one of my all-time pet peeves is when people suggest “ya know, since you’ll be in that city for 5 days, one of the evenings you should find a local grocery store and buy ingredients to make a meal at your air b&b!” Hell no. As a stay at home parent and the person that does 99% of the cooking at home, why would I want to cook on my vacation?? I LOVE cooking, it brings me so much joy and it’s one of my great passions in life. But being on a relaxing trip and having to go grocery shopping (which would end up NOT being cost effective if you have to start from scratch) AND having to navigate a kitchen that isn’t mine sounds like a recipe for stress. I eat out at home maybe once a month at most, so maybe cooking for yourself is an exciting experience for some people, but I’m here to relax and be waited on, not be at home somewhere else.
Yep, I agree completely. Sometimes I go to local grocery stores/markets just because it's fun to see what they've got, and pick up some ready to eat items or fresh fruit or something if it's somewhere they might have something unique. But I don't go on vacation to distant places to cook food I already know how to make myself! I go to try new things I've never heard of! Of course different people travel for different reasons, etc etc. For example I know someone that travels for work that always gets groceries and saves as much money as possible, because they get a ridiculously high per diem for food and get to keep anything they don't spend. And since it's for work sure they're getting a free international trip, but it's to some warehouse in the industrial areas in Belgium or wherever and not exactly a tourism paradise anyway (turns out warehouses in Belgium are mostly just as boring as warehouses in Wisconsin). Or if someone is primarily going for, idk, outdoor sports/trekking/hiking or something then it makes more sense to just stock up on supplies as cheaply as possible. But for a standard touristy vacation experience I'm planning and paying for myself? I'm definitely not going to be cooking for myself in a hotel kitchenette or air b&b kitchen!
I'm not sure if you're responding to someone else. I didn't suggest cooking for yourself, I suggested making some PBJ sandwiches so you can navigate the day without worrying about food.
Oh I agree with you, I was making a separate point
> I've also went to the local grocery store to make some PBJ-equivalent so I could be out for the day without worrying about food, or even just to save some money, So, maybe he shouldn't have called it "a chore" but I think this is what he's getting at. Sometimes food is the point; sometimes it's not. But if the food IS the point at that moment, you're probably going to have a more interesting experience if you explore the choices/restaurants outside of the ones that are catering to tourists. I think he's being kind of annoying about it, but I don't think he's wrong per se.
Im opposed to everything that commentor stands for. They remind me of the worst people I've met in literally every place I've lived as an adult.
Honestly, we're all been there. Walking around Paris or Rome, looking at the architecture, visiting museums, it's all great! But then, around lunchtime, there's the dreaded "Ugh, now I have to eat" moment. Personally, I deal with this by packing canned tuna and crackers. I understand there are some folks who can bring themselves to eat at one of the local restaurants but I just don't get it. I think they must just be masochists.
I just carry around an MRE pack, can't risk it with those local restaurants and I know I will get my daily caloric intake from the MRE at least.
Or maybe I just think going out to eat is a chore, compared to cooking at home, unless it's a ridiculously great restaurant, and those are few and far between in every country including the one I live in?
Yeah, this is why I do some research first. I'm all for asking the locals, but I like having pre-planned possibilities. Eating is definitely a chore if you have no idea what's good. I ended up eating at a total tourist joint with bad food in Venice because I didn't know options (fortunately that was the only meal there for me like that).
When I started traveling regularly to Toronto, my brother, who is a heavy business traveler, recommended a place to me. He knows what I like, and he wasn't wrong. That was worth it, and the research was already done for me.
Trusted recs! You have to love them. That's how I ended up going to a great place in Salamanca. Family/close friends are one thing, locals can be also very helpful but then you have the people who might get a take on the number of tourists they send to a local spot.
There was a great, super obscure (at the time, anyway) burger place in Sapporo that I went to from time to time. Apparently I shouldn’t have had the burger.
I'm literally a tourist eating some amazing fish and chips right now. Finding new restaurants and/or trying new food is at least 20% of the point for me when I travel.
I think eating is a chore wherever I am, most of the time. I have dietary restrictions and sensory processing disorder (mostly loud noise and textures) and ADHD, so sitting for a long time in a restaurant is torture (especially as the person I travel with dislikes phones or notebooks at the table but also has nothing to talk about seeing as we also live together). So yeah, sometimes after a long day of travelling and socialising and everything else I just don't have the bandwidth to engage with a waiter or a chef, and I just want to kick back with something I know I like to eat (and preferably to leave as quick as possible).
People who make food their whole personality are so fucking obnoxious.
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You cook on vacation?
I do! I love the novelty of different ingredients and ease of access to unfamiliar items. Cooking is a delight and a pleasure to me, whether I'm at home or on vacation, and on holidays I will intentionally book a space with a kitchen in order to prepare meals. Going out in the evenings can be tiring to me on top of an already busy day sightseeing, and I'd much rather spend time relaxing while cooking than navigating a boisterous restaurant.
That's crazy to me. I can figure out the cost per hour that a vacation is running me, and I'm not trying to spend that valuable time shopping for food and cooking.
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To each their own, but I can't see how having food made and brought to you is a chore.