Travelling as a foodie on a budget
How to eat well without breaking the bank
I love food. I love eating food, I love cooking food, and I love discovering new foods to try when I’m travelling. Did I mention I love food? Food has got to be one of my favourite things about travelling. Trying delicious new meals in foreign countries can be a great way to learn more about the country’s culture and meet local people. Food brings people together and I love that. People pour their hearts into making incredible food and I want to try it all.
While I love trying new food and drinks when travelling, I don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on every meal. I’m a budget traveller, which means that I tend to gravitate more towards street food, supermarket goodies and local establishments. It does depend on the country I’m in and what the average price of food there is, but I generally try to eat as cheaply as possible, while still trying all the local cuisine.
I was thinking about it the other day and realised that almost every country I’ve visited has a cheap, easy lunch option that is normally some form of bread or pastry with some sort of meat or vegetable. For example, in Germany, the go-to cheap and easy lunch is a kebab. In Vietnam it’s a banh mi, in Greece it’s a gyros, in the UK it’s a pie, in Portugal it’s a bifana, just to name a few. Every place you go will have some sort of local budget lunch option that is readily available and costs under $5. If you want to eat well when travelling, but still be on a budget, then find what this local food option is, hope that you like it, and then eat it every day for lunch.
You also don’t have to eat every meal out to try local cuisine. Overseas supermarkets might be my favourite things ever. Supermarkets in every country are so different and offer such a variety of fun new things you never would have even heard of or tried. It is one of the first things I do when I get to a new country, and I would recommend you do the same. Head to the nearest supermarket and see what fun and interesting things you can find to try. There are always so many fun chips, drinks, lollies, snacks, dinner ingredients and more that you’ll want to give a go. Even if the accommodation you’re staying at doesn’t have cooking facilities, you should be able to find a great assortment of goodies for a delicious picnic lunch. Who knows, you may discover your new favourite food.
My favourite budget food destination I’ve been to so far has to be Taiwan. In Taiwan we ate at about four Michelin-star places and paid an average of $5 at each one. It was some of the best food I’ve ever eaten and it was all street food.
One of the other best cheap food and drink experiences I’ve had was in Granada, Spain. It’s the norm in Granada to get a free little plate of tapas with every drink you order. You don’t get to pick what you get which means you get to try all sorts of scrumptious food you might not have had otherwise.
Food sometimes won’t be what you expect when travelling, but it’ll end up making for a good story if nothing else. If a menu isn’t in English and there’s too much to Google Translate, I’ll either normally just point at something and hope for the best or ask the waiter to bring me what they recommend. This normally works out fine, except when it doesn’t and you end up eating a giant plate of fish ovaries in Spain. I’m up for trying anything, but I can’t say I was a fan of the fish ovaries myself.
I discovered my new favourite drink recently on a trip to Madeira (a Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean). The drink in question is called a ‘Nikita’ and I’d seen it on a few menus around the island. I had no idea what was in it but it looked good. It appeared to be some sort of milkshake but upon ordering it I was told by the bartender that it had beer in it. While I was waiting for it to be made, I Googled it and discovered a ‘Nikita’ was in fact made up of pineapple, vanilla ice cream, beer and wine. Beer and wine! Together!? With a dairy product?? I braced myself for the worst, but when it arrived at the table I took a sip and was shocked. It was maybe the yummiest drink I have ever had. It had the texture of a thick shake but was slightly bubbly. I know that doesn’t sound good but you’re going to have to trust me on this one, it was phenomenal.
There are so many cheap eats in every country that are often some of the best food you will eat. When I get to a new country I like to find out what all the local specialities are and then attempt to try them all while I’m there. I’ve tried a spice bag in Ireland, drunk endless bubble teas in Taiwan, eaten my fair share of Greggs in the UK, devoured gyros for every single meal while in Greece, had a Danish hotdog in Copenhagen (tasted remarkably like hotdogs I’ve eaten everywhere else), tried tiny snails in Portugal, discovered my new favourite dessert Faturas (a combo between a donut and a churro), and consumed an entire cheesecake on a fast train in Japan.
I love travelling as a foodie on a budget. It has allowed me to meet some wonderful people, taken me to incredible places and has resulted in some fantastic stories. I’ve also just eaten so much yummy food.
Sadly, I can’t fit all my scrumptious-looking food photos and fun food-related stories into this one newsletter, but here’s one last selection of some of my favourite meals from my recent travels.
