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Now that most of our time is spent at or close to home, a great way to continue to explore different cultures is explore what we eat and drink! Talk about the epitome of immersing yourself in a culture.

This is one of the major ways I traveling & taking a piece of a destination with me - I love picking up a bag of locally roasted coffee beans on my travels, and it’s a great way to keep exploring my hometown as well.

Here are some ways you can continue to explore the world through food and drink at home:

1. shop at ethnic grocery store and make an international recipe

Cook around the world with recipes from other countries.

Here are a few easy ideas to get you started:

• Indian Chicken Tikka Masala

• Chinese Scallion Pancake

• Argentine Lasagna

• Portuguese French Toast

• Polish Pierogi

• Hungarian Sour Cream Cucumbers

I’ve enjoyed making gumbo, tomato basil soup, and more in my slow cooker! I freeze what I can’t eat, so I can have fun cooking without waste. Here are a few of my most used kitchen tools:

2. Try The “coffee around the world” box! Or continue to support local coffee shops

This coffee around the world subscription box gives you a beans from a new country every month, along with postcard. It looks like they’ve started a Black Friday sale, with $15 off the first shipment!

I also wanted to recommend purchasing from one of my favorite local coffee shops, the roaster is local! Your local shops could use your support, too.

3. Get takeout from local, ethnic restaurants

I don’t get takeout often, but I’ve become much more intentional about who I support and what I eat when I do. Lately I’ve ordered carry out from: a French, Indian, and Turkish restaurant in my area. Pre-COVID, eating out was such a social or comfort thing, and it was easy to visit the same places over and over. Travel was my main outlet for exploring new foods, so now it’s going to take more intention to keep exploring.

Here are some types of restaurants to consider if you do order takeout:

• Japanese

• Thai

• Korean

• Burmese

• Malaysian

• Vietnamese

• Indian
  

• Ethiopian

• Jamaican

• Peruvian

• Cuban

• Mediterranean

• Cajun

• Jewish

• German

• Polish

• Persian/Iranian

• Iraqi

• Moroccan

• Lebanese

• Greek

4. Research popular foods at your next destination.

I’m looking forward to going to Hawaii, Mexico, and Prague at some point, so I’ve spent some time investigating their local foods to help plan my trips there.

5. Learn about coffee or wine!

These are both fantastic mediums to learn about history, politics, and geography. I took the WSET Level 1 course just before quarantine, and it took me right back to my undergrad studies in international political economy. Now’s a great time to become an expert!

You can also check out barista certifications, or just diving in to exploring flavors, history, and regions with the books below.

STAY SAFE & CURIOUS. Travel is all about exploration and growth and that never, ever has to stop.

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