Traveling by Your Stomach

In the past, the first question my husband would ask when I was researching a holiday to a new place was “what’s the food like?”

It seems that this isn’t an uncommon question to ask as a recent study by the Travel Industry showed that anticipated 60% of Americans would make travel choices this year based on their love of food and wine.

Now, I started Women & Wine, www.WomenWine.com, to share those experiences both virtually and to inspire women everywhere to choose a destination where they can connect with what’s grown in the area, the food on the table and what’s in the glass. No matter who we speak to in the winemaking world—and yes, many of them are women—we are always amazed that each has a different story—and a passion—that is reflected in that bottle. No two stories are the same.

I’m actually so convinced that traveling by your stomach is the only way to go—except of course when I’m visiting my family who are not particularly good cooks or as passionate on this subject.

Three years ago, one of our greatest adventures was a Food Lovers Journey to Vietnam and Cambodia. Who knew that every region of Vietnam—from the North where we started in Hanoi—to the South in Saigon was going to be such a dynamic culinary experience? Our trip was organized by a company based in Vietnam called Trails of Indochina, and we had just read a story in Travel & Leisure that inspired us to check them out.

It seems that this trip was inspired by one organized by the Culinary Institute of America and John at “Trails” had the basics of the journey on the site. Little did we know that we would go to peoples homes, climb ladders to the second floors of old buildings for one of the most incredible meals I’ve ever eaten (it cost about $2.00 a person), and learn that FRESH has a whole new meaning in this country where the ingredients are purchased at local markets before every meal due to lack of refrigeration.

One of the most memorable meals was aboard a junk boat with our own private chef eating the freshest shrimp and fish that I’d every had while we gazed out on the Unesco World Heritage site of thousands of small rock towers out in the sea. We learned that this was where most Vietnamese rowed across to escape during the war—where the term “boat people” got it’s name. It was mesmerizing—and a bit surreal—to be dining on such delicacies knowing those who had suffered so much had also passed through these waters.

I think my memories of these trips are so vivid because the taste of the food leaves a lasting impression on my brain and creates the “postcards” of my life.

If you follow your stomach the next time you make your travel plans—you’ll be sure to find the same satisfaction that so many others have found already.