I've been reading the post for sometime now. I have noticed how people are so obscessed with food when travelling abroad. Where and what to eat seems to be the top agenda. Food was never a prioprity. I can eat whatever as long as it takes the hunger off. Just wondering, is food that important to you?

It is part of the culture of the country you are visiting. That's the point, you have to experience the local food as well as the local sights, atmosphere, people behavior, etc, etc

Personally, I wouldn't say, "you have to experience the local food", as I know many travellers like yourself, bill, for whom it's just not a big deal.<BR><BR>For me, eating well and enjoying the local dishes is very much part of my holiday experience and a very important factor of the enjoyment of the holiday overall.<BR><BR>I love eating out at home too.<BR><BR>All of us travel for different reasons and in different ways. <BR><BR>For me, ticking off the top 10 sights in a destination has never been my thing: We went to Venice without entering the Basilica or the Doge's Palace and without taking a Gondola ride. We did have vague intentions of doing the first but weren't at all worried that we never did, in 6 whole days in Venice.<BR><BR>We did enjoy eating out though...

Oui<BR>Da<BR>Si<BR>et alia<BR><BR>

Bill, I'm with you in the food-as-fuel school of thought. I hate to spend the time to sit down in a restaurant when there are museums and gardens I could be experiencing instead!<BR><BR>Naturally, the other people who think this way aren't posting on the board with questions or discussions about food and restaurants, only the people who ARE interested post about them. So it's hard to figure out who's obsessed with (or just interested in) local food and who's not. I post pretty regularly on this board and the US one, but I can't recall ever discussing food. In my experience, there are plenty of people who are obsessed with food and restaurants even when they're not traveling. <BR><BR>I live in a major city where I can get pretty authentic foreign food (French, Italian, Asian, whatever) without traveling, so when I travel I want to focus on things I can't do at home.

Suzy, I have to agree. I'm one of those people who can hardly remember what I ate at a particular meal a few days later, never mind years. I do (or don't) enjoy the meal while I'm having it (and I sure don't want to go hungry), but it never seems important later. <BR><BR>We sampled the local cuisine at one restaurant meal and lots of street or picnic-type meals in each city, but I'd rather spend time and money on lots of other travel experiences. <BR><BR>We got a number of restaurant recommendations but ended up never going to any of them!

The nice thing about traveling to places that have good food is===sooner or later, you will get hungry and how nice to have so many places with really good food to eat,even if it is just to take the hunger off...much more satisfying to the soul and stomach if it is something better than a Big Mac or the equivalent.<BR>Even when we just stop for coffee sometimes in Paris, how nice that it is tastey!and while walking all over a city and sightseeing, when you need to take a break,that you can sit in a nice cafe and enjoy a tea or wine and a sandwich and enjoy it also!

"foodie," I'm not denying that food is important, and I enjoy a nice relaxing cup of something, and some people-watching, in a cafe as much as anyone. I certainly don't eat McDonald's food, either at home or in Europe! I think bill was referring to people whose vacation plans and reports seem to focus more on their restaurant experiences than on anything else.

There's definitely a balance to be struck between traveling to eat and eating to travel. Two additional comments:<BR><BR>1. the food in Europe often really does taste better than the US because the produce is "real" and fresh, and ingrediants have actual flavor, while preparation usually avoids cutting corners with things like fillers and second-quality oils, etc. So it is, indeed, something for an American to look forward to, even if it's just a "jambon" sandwich at a corner bistro. So Americans are very likely to sound obsessed, because the flavor is such a revelation -- just because you've had a 12-lb. chunk of Chicago pizza (as good as that can be) doesn't mean you have any idea how flavorful a small slice of a Tuscan pie can be.<BR><BR>2. It's usually reasonably easy to narrow down one's choices regarding sightseeing for a day, but somehow decision as to where to have dinner can get way out of hand because of the myriad possibilities. So one ends up dithering and negotiating and talking about the choice for far more time than is actually warranted. An advantage of talking about such things here is to cut all that wasted time short.

"foodie", what you say is true, anyone could enjoy the casual travel eating pleasures you mention.<BR><BR>But I think "bill" was referring to the "true" foodies who travel constantly anticipating their next elaborate restaurant feast; agonize for weeks over the hundreds of choices; trade recommendations with hundreds of others; and post vivid descriptions of each meal on their travel reports!

In a word, yes. I don't obsess ahead of time about which restaurants to eat in (unless there are notables in a town we are visiting). But I do enjoy learning about local specialties, trying the local types of food and enjoy eating in the *manner* that locals do (i.e., timing, length of meal, etc.). While I enjoy seeing museums, cathedrals, and other "sights," I also want to learn something about the culture -- what would it be like to live there. This is virtually impossible, of course, but one big insight into a culture is food. So, while in Spain, we tried eating at tapas bars, we had heavy noon meals followed by siesta, we tasted jamon, jerez, rioja, etc. For us, it is a big part of the trip -- not just something we have to do physiologically.

Just as in NY when the weekend comes and we are trying to decide where to eat, we listen to/read other peoples opinions on different restos.This gives us ideas as to whether we will like them also,or not.<BR>So I think it is very helpful that people include their eating experiences in trip reports,so as to give us an idea of where we will also eat.<BR>And judging by the numerous posts about where and what to eat when in Paris/NYC or elsewhere, I think eating a good meal at the end of a day while traveling is an important part of the experience as a whole.<BR>*I don't really think that people are exactly "obsessed" with food as they are seeing it as one of the important aspects of that trip---after all, they haven't started posting last nights dinner at home!

God yes, the food is important. A big part of our upcoming trip to Italy will involve food and wine. Better eating and drinking at half the price as at home. I can't wait.

This seems an appropriate place to paraphrase a comment made originally about fly-fishing by Robert Traver (nom de plume of Judge John Volker): "It's not that food is so important, it's that so many other things in life are equally unimportant, and not nearly so much fun."

Some of my best travel "souvenirs" are the recipe ideas I pick up in different countries - e.g. zarzuela from Spain, orange frangipane tart from Paris - not necessarily getting the recipe then and there, but finding out about it later. For me, cooking something that reminds me of a great trip is at least as evocative as looking at photos - though those are nice as well.

Our running joke is it's not a family vacation if we're not sitting at lunch planning where we are going for dinner. Entire family appreciates food and loves to cook etc. (and no, fortunately we workout and don't all weight 400 pounds).

My answer is qualified yes. But it depends on where I am. If I were travelling along Western and Mountain States in the US away from major cities, the Food is not a priority. They all taste and look plain. I would just eat to satisfy hunger. If I only visit these places, I would have the same opinion of food as well.<BR><BR>But in Europe, it is a priority.

I try to go by the philosophy, "If I can eat this at home I don't want it when travelling!" This is true when travelling in the states or overseas. This means avoiding chains.<BR><BR>I enjoy eating at the places that the locals ACTUALLY eat at. This means eating in the small hole-in-the-wall family run diners - not the 5 star latest fad restaurant. Saying that, I do try to plan 1 or 2 nice meals on a trip.<BR><BR>Probably 99% of the post on this board are discussing the latest / most popular restaurants in Rome, Paris, London. You also find long list in every guide book. I've always preferred just to find something near where I happen to be.<BR><BR>Oh well, to each their own, we all enjoy different styles.

Yes, food is that important.<BR><BR>Food (if you appreciate it, and not everybody does or can) is a way of gaining insight into how other people live. The ingredients they choose, the time they devote to preparation, and the manner in which they consume it all tell you a lot about the culture. <BR><BR>Museums and other tourist attractions are a way of packaging information, and getting interesting objects together with crowds of people, but if it's a choice between checking out the local grocery store (we always check out local supermarkets as well as outdoor markets and small vendors) and yet another church, I might just do the grocery store. <BR><BR>

After a long day of enjoyable touring, we really look forward to a well prepared meal--it is important to us. Certain dinners you do not forget--the first dinner in Paris at Le Petit Chaise or the dinner we had in Lyon, France. The sumptious rich pasta bolognese in Italy etc. Everybody is different-it's just a preference.