I had a habit when traveling. After a few days of local food, I would default to something familiar — a pizza, a burger, a coffee chain I recognized. The local food adventure would shrink to maybe one meal a day; the rest would be safer comfort.
For 5 separate trips over the past two years I tried the opposite: only local food. No international chains, no familiar comforts. Here is what I learned across 5 different countries.
The setup
Rules for each trip:
- Every meal: local food only
- Allowed: street food, casual restaurants, fancy restaurants, market food, home-style places
- Not allowed: international chains, pizza/burger/familiar safe options, "Western" cafes
- Tracked: meals eaten, costs, what surprised me, what I would not eat again
Countries tested: Vietnam, Morocco, Georgia (the country), Mexico, Turkey.
1. Vietnam (12 days)
Food I ate: Pho (multiple regional varieties), bun cha, banh mi, com tam, bo kho, bun bo Hue, various street snacks, French-Vietnamese pastries, lots of coffee.
What surprised me: The regional variation was substantial. Pho in Hanoi is genuinely different from pho in Saigon. The coffee culture (Vietnamese-French hybrid with condensed milk) is incredible.
What I would not eat again: Balut (the duck embryo egg). I tried it once. Once was enough. The texture defeated me.
Cost note: Vietnam was the cheapest country. €5-8 per day for excellent food. I ate better here than at home.
2. Morocco (10 days)
Food I ate: Tagines (multiple varieties), couscous on Fridays (the traditional day), harira soup, msemen (flaky bread), pastilla, mint tea constantly, lots of fresh-baked bread with various spreads.
What surprised me: The mint tea ceremony is genuinely soothing. The bread-and-spreads breakfast is more satisfying than I expected. Tagine variety is enormous.
What I would not eat again: Some of the more touristy "tagine" places served bland disappointing versions. The good tagines (in homes or smaller restaurants) were excellent.
Cost note: €10-15 per day for substantial meals.
3. Georgia, the country (8 days)
Food I ate: Khinkali (soup dumplings, drink the broth before eating), khachapuri (cheese bread, multiple varieties), badrijani (eggplant rolls with walnut sauce), shashlik, churchkhela (the candle-shaped walnut sweets), enormous quantities of natural wine.
What surprised me: Georgian food is one of the great underrated cuisines. The wine culture is 8,000 years old and seriously good. Khachapuri Adjaruli (boat-shaped, with egg in the middle) is one of the great inventions of human civilization.
What I would not eat again: Almost everything was great. Some traditional dishes (cow tongue, certain offal preparations) were not for me but I was glad to have tried.
Cost note: €10-15 per day, with restaurant wine substantially cheaper than European norms.
4. Mexico (14 days)
Food I ate: Tacos (al pastor, carnitas, suadero), tlayudas, mole (multiple varieties in Oaxaca), tlacoyos, tamales, chilaquiles for breakfast, fresh fruit with chili and lime, mezcal samplings.
What surprised me: Real Mexican food is dramatically different from Tex-Mex or American "Mexican" food. The mole varieties in Oaxaca are like seven completely different cuisines. Street tacos are way better than restaurant tacos.
What I would not eat again: Some grasshoppers (chapulines). They were fine but not something I crave.
Cost note: €10-20 per day depending on location and restaurant level. Street food is incredibly cheap.
5. Turkey (10 days)
Food I ate: Kebabs of many kinds, mezes (lots of mezes), pide, lahmacun, manti, baklava, Turkish breakfast (the spread one), Turkish coffee.
What surprised me: Turkish breakfast is one of the great breakfasts of the world. The mezze culture is the most underrated thing about Turkish food (everyone focuses on kebabs but the mezzes are where the depth is).
What I would not eat again: Some sweet baklava-style desserts were too sweet for me. Otherwise great.
Cost note: €15-25 per day.
What I learned across all 5
1. The default to familiar food is psychological more than practical. "I miss pizza" usually meant "I am tired and want comfort," not "I cannot eat any more local food."
2. Local food is almost always cheaper than international food in the same country. The pizza place charges tourist prices. The local restaurant feeds locals at local prices.
3. The variety within any country's food is bigger than I expected. Vietnam is not just pho. Morocco is not just tagine. Each country had 30+ distinct dishes I encountered.
4. The "tourist food" version of any local cuisine is a downgrade. Local restaurants for locals are almost always better than restaurants designed for tourists.
5. Eating local food substantially improved trip memory. The meals were among the most memorable parts of each trip. The familiar foods (when I had them on previous trips) blurred together.
The honest difficulties
Things that were hard:
- By day 8-10 of any trip, the "familiar food" craving became real
- Some local foods were genuinely difficult for my Western palate
- Dietary restrictions (I do not eat pork) limited some options in certain countries
- The hygiene calculations were stressful at first (street food)
- Some restaurants without English menus required pure trust
What I changed about how I travel
I now treat food as a primary travel activity rather than secondary. Some trips are essentially designed around the food culture I want to experience.
I no longer eat international chain food on trips. Lost the comfort, gained the experience.
I plan food research for any new country before going — what are the major dishes, what is regional, what should I look for, what should I skip.
The hygiene reality check
Honest about the hygiene situation: I got mildly sick on 1 of 5 trips (Mexico, day 4). It was unpleasant for 36 hours. It also did not destroy the trip.
The standard precautions help: avoid raw vegetables in countries with water issues, drink bottled water, eat at busy places where food turnover is high, follow local norms about which foods to eat hot vs cold.
The stomach recovers. The risk of mild illness is real but manageable. Total food-experiment value far exceeded the cost of one bad day.
This is not advice
Some people have specific dietary needs that make this kind of experiment impractical. Some people genuinely cannot tolerate the texture or flavor changes of unfamiliar food. The experiment is for people who can handle some food adventure but typically default to familiar.
If you have a real allergy or medical food restriction, plan accordingly and skip foods that are risky.
The takeaway
The default to familiar food on trips substantially limits the actual experience of the place you are visiting. Every country you visit has 50+ years of distinct food culture you can engage with or skip.
If you typically default to familiar food on trips, try one trip with no familiar comforts. You will discover whether the food adventure is something you actually want or actually do not. Either result is valuable to know.
I have not had pizza on a trip in two years. I have eaten more interesting food than I would have thought possible. Trade was worth it.
