Comfort Food (& Wine)

While there are many reasons—and passions—for traveling, I think I’ve finally realized what my top motivator is: the food. No matter where you go, the food you smell, hear, taste, see and eat is one of the first things you either (1) love or (2) love to avoid. I almost always fall into group number one … well almost.

One of my most embarrassing travel food memories involves the notoriously stinky Chinese tofu. Although I’d eaten it before back home, I never quite realized just how pungent its stench was until I went to Shanghai. Rounding a corner in the Yuyuan Gardens, I took in a big whiff of the aforementioned tofu and immediately turned to my guide and asked, “Is there an open sewer nearby?”

“Uh, no,” he said. “It’s just the tofu. I thought you said you were Chinese.”

Ouch. (But totally well deserved.)

Anyway, aside from my occasional cultural cuisine gaffes, what I really love about learning about new foods when I travel is how food and all of its accompanying rituals reveal a place and a culture to you so instantaneously. From the utensils that you use to pick it up to the company you keep when eating it, food, to me, is the ultimate—and universal—common denominator.

Another great thing about food is its ability to, quite literally, bring people together. And, in the process of doing that, it also helps you get over even some of the roughest of times, no matter where you are. That was that case for me when my friends and I decided to spend part of our Labor Day weekend at the inaugural L.A. Times Food & Wine Festival.

One of my friends was initially on the fence about going. Too much hot weather and too many people, she thought. In retrospect, yes, it was pretty toasty—so much so that I bailed on my friend Justina during a “Top Chef” panel discussion in order to satiate my hunger and fend off an impending heat stroke. My self-prescribed cure? Red velvet chocolate chip pancake bites from The Buttermilk Truck. (Sorry, Justina!) And yes, there were lots of people—the event sold out.

But even with the crowds and the heat, I’m so glad that we all went and truly relished our holiday—and all those thousands of calories, too. A part of me sort of wishes that I were exaggerating the total calorie counts, but I’m not (trust me, I have three other witnesses/accomplices to back me up). The other part, well, it doesn’t regret anything in the least bit.

Nevertheless, here are just a few of my favorite items from our veritable smorgasbord …

In the time that it took us to wait for our tacos and basil-mint lemonade from the Nom Nom Truck, we also sampled ice cream (strawberry buttermilk and salted caramel flavors), seafood gumbo from Ragin' Cajun and Wahoo’s tacos, and even tried to win a free T-shirt from a bean bag toss (only Justina succeeded). Yeah, we tend to roll like that.

What I loved most about the free samples of Greek yogurt were the cute bamboo dishes in which they were served.

Although I ate tons of KyoChon Chicken in Seoul last winter, that didn’t stop me from partaking in more of it here …

… Or from taking a spin on its makeshift wheel of fortune. Hey, I got a free tissue box and tape flags from it so please, don’t judge.

A savory duck slider from Campanile was filling.

As was the dosa (a South Indian crepe-like sandwich) from DosaTruck that Jen and I shared. Her portion was sweet potatoes; mine was curried potatoes.

I discovered a new multitasking talent: balancing brownie bites and wine in the same hand.

I also rediscovered one of my favorite donut varieties: the Italian zeppole, from Rosa's Bella Cucina. So did my friend Tricia.

And, luckily, my friends finally got to taste the red velvet chocolate chip pancake bites at the end of the festival.

Although I ate—and drank—exceedingly well that day, what I’ll savor most was being able to spend that time—and all of those meals—with my friends. That entire day, for me, was the absolute best way to indulge in some much-needed comfort food (and wine).

Those kinds of experiences and memories just can’t be bought, and there aren’t any recipes for crafting them together. It’s a little bit like when you travel, I suppose—there’s no magic formula for putting together the perfect trip or experience, no matter how far—or close—you go. But here’s a little tip: a heaping helping of good food never hurts.

Travel With a Passion

If you really love to travel, you have to have a passion either for it, or behind it. Being on the road or in the air on a constant basis can be tough—umm, just ask Steven Slater, my new hero. (BTW, people who stand up out of their seats right after the plane lands are as contemptible as people who constantly kick the chair in front of them, and people who don’t understand the concept of personal space—ewww. Feel free to share some of your top travel annoyances, too.) 

Anyway, that’s why I really admire people who pursue travel, even for the most obscure of reasons or passions, simply because (a) they love to travel or (b) they want to do something with their travels.

Doing something doesn’t have to necessarily be something like stopping world hunger and finding a way to bring peace to the Middle East—although those two passions would definitely bump up your chances of winning a Nobel Peace Prize. You could be like the guy who travels around the world, just so he can say he’s eaten at every McDonald’s on the planet. (On second thought, maybe I’ll take that one back since that’s actually a little sad).

Or you could be like Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson. They took their love of proper English grammar, punctuation and style to the streets—literally—traveling cross-country in an attempt to correct misspellings, typos and bad subject-verb agreement. Eventually, of course, they turned this into a book, The Great Typo Hunt. 

When I found out about their endeavor earlier today, I had the following immediate thoughts: (1) Good lord, there really are other people out there who are as obsessed with good grammar and style as I am, people who probably still have tattered copies of The Elements of Style on their bookshelves and must always repress their urges to correct other people’s bad writing and/or speech; (2) I’m not alone!; (3) Was the use of “its” vs. “it’s” the most common error that they encountered on their travels?; and (4) Geez, why didn’t I think of this? (Photo (c) Benjamin D. Herson)

In thinking about my own reasons or passions for travel, however, I was sort of at a loss. I couldn’t identify one single thing about travel that I loved most, or one single motive for traveling that I held near and dear. After sorting through all of those reasons, however, I think I came up with a common denominator, of sorts: I travel because I want to learn.  That, and eat—really well.

It’s one thing to open up a book and read about something. By the end of it, you might be knowledgeable enough about the subject to win on “Jeopardy!” but, the truth is, you don’t really know it firsthand. Even though some of the personal experiences that you get from traveling might be universally shared—who can forget the first time they see the Eiffel Tower or the first time they ever boarded a plane, for example?—your individual experience of that travel is always different—it’s always your own. And what’s more, you always learn something from it.  

So, for whatever reasons you may travel, whether for work or leisure, or because of a highly developed intolerance for misspellings or an insatiable hunger for Big Macs, keep on doing it.