Staff - Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe

Delivering freshly baked bread in Mexico City.

Food Journeys of a Lifetime

Published by the National Geographic Society

John M. Fahey, Jr., President and Chief Executive

Officer Gilbert M. Grosvenor, Chairman of the Board

Tim T. Kelly, President, Global Media Group

John Q. Griffin, Executive Vice President;
President, Publishing

Nina D. Hoffman, Executive Vice President;
President, Book Publishing Group

Prepared by the Book Division

Barbara Brownell Grogan, Vice President and Editor in Chief

Marianne R. Koszorus, Director of Design

Barbara A. Noe, Senior Editor

Carl Mehler, Director of Maps

Lawrence M. Porges, Project Editor

Carol Farrar Norton, Design Consultant

Bridget A. English, Mary Stephanos, Contributors

R. Gary Colbert, Production Director

Jennifer A. Thornton, Managing Editor

Meredith C. Wilcox, Administrative Director, Illustrations

Manufacturing and Quality Management

Christopher A. Liedel, Chief Financial Officer

Phillip L. Schlosser, Vice President

Chris Brown, Technical Director

Nicole Elliott, Manager

Rachel Faulise, Manager

Created by Toucan Books Ltd

Ellen Dupont, Editorial Director

Helen Douglas-Cooper, Senior Editor

Jo Bourne, Jane Chapman, Andrew Kerr-Jarrett, Anna
Southgate, Editors

Abigail Keen, Editorial Assistant

Leah Germann, Designer

Christine Vincent, Picture Manager

Sharon Southren, Mia Stewart-Wilson, Picture Researchers

Marion Dent, Proofreader

Michael Dent, Indexer

The information in this book has been carefully checked and is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate as of press time. Its always advisable to call ahead, however, as details are subject to change. The National Geographic Society cannot be responsible for any changes, or for errors or omissions.

The National Geographic Society is one of the worlds largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge, the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 325 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic , and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.

For more information, please call 1-800-NGS LINE (647-5463) or write to the following address:

National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688 U.S.A.

Visit us online at www.nationalgeographic.com

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact National Geographic Books Special Sales:

For rights or permissions inquiries, please contact National Geographic Books Subsidiary Rights:

Copyright 2009 Toucan Books Ltd.
All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

L IBRARY OF C ONGRESS C ATALOGING-IN -P UBLICATION D ATA
Food journeys of a lifetime : 500 extraordinary places to eat around the globe / introduction by Keith Bellows.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4262-1609-1
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4262-0507-1
1. FoodAnecdotes. 2. TravelAnecdotes. 3. Food habits. 4. RestaurantsGuidebooks. I. National Geographic Society (U.S.)
TX357.F646 2009
647.9509dc22

09/RRDW/1

v3.1

In the kitchens of Viennas Hotel Sacher, a pastry chef ladles chocolate onto the hotels opulent signature cake, the sachertorte .

C ONTENTS

Special foods from special places, fruits of the culinary landscape

Journeys to the worlds greatest food bazaars

Regional gastronomic joys savored in their ripened perfection

Learning the intimate secrets of the worlds cuisines

Mouthwatering quick meals and snacks, from chili dogs to jerk pork

From Paris to Hong Kong to Charleston, global hotspots of good eating

Once-in-a-lifetime gourmet treats

All the glorious variety of the worlds greatest drinks

A sweet-lovers paradise of chocolate, pastries, and confectionary delights

With views that seem to come straight from a Canaletto painting, the ultra-luxurious Dogaressa Suite of Venices Hotel Cipriani offers dining paradise.

T HE T ASTE OF T RAVEL

I t is 4 a.m. and Im with a friend in Tokyo at the worlds largest wholesale fish market, Tsukiji. Saws whine as huge tuna are carved up. Buckets brim with octopus, sea urchins, salmon, and creatures bizarre enough to appear in a science documentary. We slip into Daiwa Sushi, the citys oldest sushi counter.

My companion begins ordering in a flood of Japanese. The dishes come in rapid succession: Indian Ocean tuna, mackerel, freshwater eel, oysters, flounder. Suddenly, a single shrimp is set before each of us. I do a double take. Each is undulating, clearly alive. My friend downs his with a grin. After watching mine squirm for 30 seconds, I swallow it without gagging.

This little adventure in eating is part of what makes travel so exhilarating. Invariably, when I think of a place, I recall a memorable experienceeither because of the food Ive eaten or the people I shared it with. Ive had lambs cheeks sitting cross-legged on the floor of a Bedouin tent in Jordan; dined on fresh-caught piranha in the Amazon; eaten sweet shrimp while dangling my legs over azure Thai waters; and lived off baguettes, cheese, and salami while backpacking through France.

A meal abroad is more than an intake of calories; its an exercise in cultural immersion. What people eat, when they eat, where and how they source the food, what gastronomic rituals they observeall offer telling insights to a place and its people.

This book celebrates the unique relationship between food and travel, between place and the plate. It is endlessly fascinating, offering up a cultural and culinary smorgasbord that can enrich your travels, surprise your palate, and even enliven the meals you serve at home. It truly delivers the taste of travel.

Keith Bellows
Editor-in-Chief, National Geographic Traveler magazine

S PECIALTIES & I NGREDIENTS

No food is as evocative of its source of origin than the wonderful array of