While some people travel for exciting new cities and stunning views, I always prefer the food. Not to say that the cities I visited weren’t exciting and the views weren’t stunning, but, in my opinion, the food really blew everything else out of the water. Even though I’m not yet an official Michelin inspector, I think I am arguably more discriminating.
As about a third of our trip had our group in locations along the Mediterranean, naturally, seafood became a staple of my diet. Since I live nowhere near the water, it would probably shock absolutely no one if I said I had the best seafood of my life on this trip. The only downside to all of the delicious dinners was that I’m not sure anything back home can live up to the meals which had been freshly caught from the Mediterranean.
One of my biggest fears about studying abroad was that I would not be able to find food that I could eat—for reasons beyond the scope of this blog, I am gluten-free. However, despite my limitations, I was able to find something delicious to eat in every city we visited. Shockingly, at almost every destination, there were a number of options beyond just meat and vegetables. In Venice, I had an amazing bolognese with gluten-free pasta and even gelato with a gluten-free cone. In general, restaurants were far more accommodating than in the U.S. In Budapest, I even stumbled upon the best gluten-free bakery I’ve ever been to, again, sadly embarrassing the food I can get at restaurants at home.
In sum, if you are a pig like me, I highly recommend a jaunt to just about anywhere in southern Europe. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
