I love food. All of it. Or at least almost all of it. There are very few things my mouth has met that it has not liked. Many of those foods are foods I’ve first tried in foreign countries and immediately fallen in love with. Sometimes I can find those foods (or close replicas of them) at home. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, I come up short. The dishes simply cannot be replicated. Though this list contains only seven international food and drinks that I miss, I’m sure it could be longer. I know it could be longer. But in contrast to what I do when I’m eating, I showed restraint. I didn’t include foods that I’ve found pretty good versions of at home–like some of my favorite Thai and Indian dishes–and I eventually quit thinking about it, because seriously, my stomach is about to eat itself. Oh how, I wish my lunch contained the following seven items.
We discovered Fanta Passion in Uganda, which unfortunately was too  late, though we didn’t know it then. This passion-flavored soft drink is simply awesome. Sweet and tart and fizzy all at the same time. It blows away all other Fanta flavors, but for some reason it is available in only a very limited sphere, and the United States is not part of it. To our great dismay, Americans do not share our love affair with passion fruit, that funny fruit full of seeds and oh-so-yummy juice. Not only can we not get Fanta Passion here, simply trying to find passion fruit anything is nearly impossible (unless you want it mixed with other tropical fruits), which means that passion fruit lemonade and passion fruit shakes–ubiquitous in much of the world–are also out of the question. After a long, hard, sweaty (okay, not really) search, I did manage to locate passion fruit syrup, which we mix with fizzy water and drink, all the while longing for a cold Fanta Passion, straight from the bottle.
2. Gallo Pinto
So, yes, gallo pinto is in fact about the most basic food in the world. Nicaragua’s national dish, gallo pinto is simply rice and beans. I swear, however, that they do something special to it there that transforms it from one of the world’s simplest dishes into something that is crave inducing. I will admit that while there I did, sometimes, get tired of big plates of gallo pinto, but man just thinking about it right now is making my mouth water.
3. Cambodian Barbecue
While in Siem Reap, our friend Maryann, who lives and works there, lead us across the bridge, away from the touristy Tex-Mex and Italian restaurants to a local barbecue joint filled with nothing but long plain tables and plastic chairs. She ordered a plate of beef with a pepper lemon (or maybe lime?) sauce. The meat was cut into tiny pieces that you dunked into the sauce and then popped into your mouth. It was heaven. I think we ended up ordering another plate at least three times, and when it was all gone, I was very tempted to lick the plate and bowl clean. At this moment, I wish I had.
4. Fresh Mangoes
Except for in Hawaii, it’s practically impossible to get a good mango in the United States. They’re picked green and hard and shipped across the country, ripening on the shelf. If you’re lucky, they sort of resemble this tastiest of tropical fruits. In tropical parts of the world, they’re picked plump and juicy from the tree at the peak of ripeness and transferred directly into your mouth. Though Kota Kinabalu on Malaysian Borneo doesn’t have a lot to recommend it in my opinion, I still dream of the mangoes I bought in the market there. The flesh was the perfect yellow-orange, and by the time I finished eating my half of one, I had juice all over my face and running down my arms. I was a hot sticky mess, but I was oh so happy.
5. Cao Lau Noodles
There is one place and one place only where you can get proper Cao Lau noodles and that is the Vietnam city of Hoi An. This dish of thick rice noodles topped with grilled pork, bean sprouts, greens, and rice paper croutons that give it a satisfying crunch can only be made with water from one special well and lye from trees that grow only in Hoi An. It’s completely unfair, because these noodles beat out pho as my absolutely favorite Vietnamese dish. Though I ate them every single day we were in Hoi An, it was definitely not enough. Must return soon.
These are great. I completely agree with the Mangoes! How I long for a REAL mango!!!
What I miss are: Laab from Laos (and the sticky rice!), Bia Hoi from Vietnam(who doesn’t love fresh beer for cheap), Fresh Chai tea from India and Nepal (Starbucks Chai is a freaking joke), and the Pho. I’m sad I never tried Cao Lau—I was too obsessed with the Pho— sounds like I messed up!
Gelato! In 7 months in Italy, i had at least 200 servings of Gelato. Nothing in the US really comes close to actual italien gelato—and pizza by the slice for pennies.
I’m gonna throw in my $0.02, which largely agree with what Theresa already brought up. Man I miss me some Coco con Dulce de Leche. I’ll also add a second for the street chai in India (along with samosas), an amazingly delicious snack. In Malaysia, I would totally go back for the chicken/beef satay or roti canai (flatbread with curry sauce). They’re so simple, but so not easily copied, and so delicious. The rotis make me think of another simple and impossible to replicate bread, chapati in Africa. So many great foods we had. And now I’m hungry.
Ha, is this where you all were recently. I can’t keep up with your travels. Regardless, I think you all are so fun. I’ll stop over later to tell you about a clothing exchange going on tomorrow. You are invited to that, or we could think of something else to hang out. amanda
I always love checking out (not necessarily drinking though) various flavors of Fanta from around the world. Always so creative.
Decent Bangkok durian that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. First thing I’m going to have when I’m going home to Indonesia in 2 weeks.
Mmm…Fanta Passion. Almost as good is Fanta Lychee which you can get in some South East Asian countries, admittedly it’s very sweet but it’s delicious.
and as for fresh Mango…I love the way you can buy it on the street in Mexico sliced up and sprinkled with chili powder – it’s an unusual but fantastic combination
Yum! Where is this Cambodian BBQ place you mentioned? I’m going there in April and it sounds delicious!!
I feel you about the Mangoes. While in the Philippines you could get fresh cut mangoes for dirt cheap. I think we were paying 10C american for each one they picked for us. Being back in the states now has bummed me with the quality of the ones we have here.
Have you found anywhere, chain or local, that sells close to the quality you described in this post yet?