Culinary surprise episode

Little foreword 👶🏼💬

Our journey so far is not just about beautiful new places🎀, nice people🫂 and sweating or suffering, but also about the most important thing in both of our lives: really good food🥐🌮🍬 or just the type of food that suits you Stomach twisted. Everything has to be tried, otherwise how can you form an opinion.

T Hailand (Bangkok): Pad thai, dumplings, coconut ice cream, food night markets .🇹🇭🥢🍦🥥🐉

Our first stop, Thailand was only for 3 days, but delivered well. Delicious, sweet, sour and at the same time spicy Pad Thai's for somehow 60 cents🤑, juicy filled dumplings🥟 and the best coconut ice cream we've had the chance to try so far. Pistachio milk was a treat for the palate that we had never enjoyed before.🧋

Australia: Coffee! Loaded Bananabread, sushi, restaurant fine dining, healthy food, Izzy's food.🇦🇺🦘🍌🍱🍔🥑

Australia has been all about coffee. I don't think there is a country in the world that puts so much thought into pouring coffee and milk at the right angle into a cup with a large opening.☕️ In addition to the exquisitely roasted beans, Australia has much more to offer.

A noticeable influence in the food market is Asian cuisine.🥡 Australians love all types of Asian food and cannot live without sushi, at least not in the bubble🧋 of Australia that we were able to experience. It was also just something you could afford there (10 AUD for 4 large rolls of sushi or something). 🤡

Another big thing is wild breakfast creations.🥞🥓🍳 Everything revolves around presenting wild creations in large quantities on a slice of sourdough bread. It's always delicious. We also got a deep insight into a completely different kitchen in a backcountry diner/café/pizza restaurant/catering, which we have already reported enough about. On the whole, there are quite tasty things to discover here to feast on, sometimes you just have to be able to afford it, which is why we relied a lot on cooking our own food.👩🏼‍🍳🧑🏼‍🍳

Brazil: Fish in Banana Leaf, Fruits, Palleta mexicana, Kilo Food, Shakerito, Pastel Cameron🇧🇷🎣🌴🍍🥭🧊🦐

In Brazil we were lucky enough to often cook and eat with locals, which was often good but just as often unfortunately not quite to our taste (CHOUGH fish head sauce with eyes lol).👁 But what we were able to try was all the better. There was juicy fish Cooked banana leaves 🍌, lots of beans 🫘 countless fruits and probably the best ice cream on a stick we've ever tasted (Paleta Mexicana). 🤤

Like every country in South America, Brazil also had a variation of an empanada,🥟 here it was pastel de camaron. A fried dumpling filled with shrimp, extremely tasty. Another very common way of going out to eat is the "kilo food" listed above🫃🏼 where you pay per kilo no matter what you have loaded up with. A kilo of beans was the same price as a kilo of meat (of course you don't have to take a kilo, it could be less ^^ so who wouldn't buy it here). 🙃

We were completely blown away by a caffeinated cold drink that had a shot of espresso, freshly squeezed lime, some sugar and ice cubes, which was shaken properly. Just awesome.

Argentina: Casa Telmo, pizza, cheap steaks, empanadas🇦🇷(great flag) 🍰🥮🥩🥟

Our time in Argentina rekindled our love for sweet pastries (actually never left, but there weren't that many in Brazil). Our apartment, located in San Telmo, was no further away from some (too many) delicious bakeries than Maggus Söder from the next pub.🤰🏼🍩

Due to inflation, which is good for us, each cake and biscuit cost no more than $1-2.50 and we're talking about slices of cake☠️, also vegan, which always put a smile on Anna's face. Luckily we were doing CrossFit at the time ;) What can we say about the Argentinian pizza... it's not right for our palate. It's just way too much cheese and raw onions (don't order onion pizza^^). 🍕❌

The hearty highlights were definitely the Argentinian empanades, which, along with the Chilean ones, were one of our empanada highlights and of course the STEAKS. An outstanding quality and prices of the kebab back then lul. I paid just $10 for 450g of the finest fillet and it couldn't have been better. Perfectly fried, well salted, a dream.

Chile: Ester's Health Food, Empanadas, Pizza Natales 🇨🇱🥒🌱🥟🍕

Pizza was not neglected throughout the entire trip and what can you say the south of Patagonia had a delicacy to offer. There are one or two delicious pizzerias in Puerto Natales. Leo had a guanaco (a larger version of a llama) pizza that was incredibly delicious. The taste is similar to lamb. 🐑

The empanadas were again very tasty in Chile. Mainly because they weren't fried but baked in the oven, which somehow gives them the pizza pocket quality^^. The vegetarian month. Leo's first vegetarian month of his life had begun, but the Chilean prices pushed us to do so, as did our volunteer work, for which we lived and worked on an organic farm in Chile for 3 weeks. We lived with Ester, a nice woman in her mid-60s. 🌾🦃🪚

Since she grew and cooked everything herself, there was no processed food, only from the garden (or directly from the sea, to the table). Well that makes it pescetarian, but no meat.🐡 And lo and behold, Leo is still alive. It was a lot of work but a lot of delicious fresh food. A blessing 💆🏼

Bolivia: actually just fruits🇧🇴🧨🍉🫐🍑

Unfortunately, Bolivia wasn't able to completely convince us in terms of cuisine and so we give it a thumbs up for cheap and juicy, delicious fruits and very good quinoa in all sorts of variations. We may have to give it another chance at some point. If we are no longer so afraid of getting parasites from everything...🦠

Peru: Ceviche, chaufa, seafood and more CEVICHE🇵🇪🍣🐟🦪🐳

A highlight of our food tour through Peru! As soon as you get towards the coast, the cuisine gets better and better🌅, with rural cuisine also able to delight the palate. Organic and sustainable vegetable cultivation is increasingly being practiced in the countryside🌿, resulting in an extremely tasty end product. There is also a cuisine containing meat and eggs, especially chicken and of course guinea pigs 🌊🐷. The latter is one of the most widely consumed meat dishes, and almost every family keeps the little rascals in an enclosure.

Not to forget, there is a wide range of trout in Peru and Bolivia that can be found almost everywhere. The closer you get to the coast, the more fish dishes are served. A dish that is known across all national borders: Ceviche!🍋🧅🥔 Finely sliced, cold-cooked fish in lime juice with chili, red (hot) onions, crispy corn, sweet potato and coriander. A dream that every sushi lover will enjoy. In addition, the food is generally extremely inexpensive, and there are many "Menú del Día" for 3 euros.👍🏼 This usually includes a soup as a starter, a meat and/or vegetable-heavy main course and a dish that is always a little too sweet, small dessert.

A real culinary delight in Lima, the restaurant is known for its presence in the Netflix series "Al toke Pez".👍🏼💯 For every fish and seafood lover, a visit here is an absolute must. By the way: The price wasn't raised by the Netflix series, the chef and owner just wants to offer good food at a fair price. Treat yourself, friends.🤩

Ecuador: Deep frying what goes with it a little seafood and fruits without the sea 🇪🇨🦪🍍🍇

Ecuador, what can you say? Even despite what happened during our stay there, we enjoyed the food. What we learned to love there was pineapple. There really is a world of difference between a German and an Ecuadorian pineapple. Actually, once you get back, you don't want to buy any pineapples or mangoes. Both are rarely or never as tasty as they are here. 🎉

In addition, the fruits are shipped or even flown halfway around the planet.✈️ Otherwise, Ecuador had delicious fish soups and also salsa de camarón. 🎣These are also often found in Brazil; This is a piece of fish fillet with a shrimp sauce. Extremely delicious. The “beefstews” were also excellent. Imagine a piece of meat cooked for a long time in a dark, spicy sauce, which is then pulled into fine strips.

It's a classic Ecuadorian breakfast, usually accompanied by egg and avocado. The roast pork sandwiches, which are well known there, are also tasty: simple, but well seasoned and very tasty. Also very meaty as you can see. 🐽

In the Galapagos🎇 there was one thing that really blew our socks off... yuca rolls! Damn delicious root vegetables made into flour, refined with cheese and baked into balls. So simple, so delicious.😋

Colombia: Chicharon Chicharon Chicharon and beans 🇨🇴🐽🫘

Oh Colombia, you have changed a lot since Leo's last visit in 2018. Prices and tourism have skyrocketed. Colombian cuisine is meat-heavy, but actually offers vegetarian and vegan options everywhere - for example rice with beans and plantains.🍌 Very tasty at first, but relatively monotonous after a while.😞 In larger cities you can usually find vegetarian restaurants where... you can feast for a moderately expensive price of around 5-7 euros (if you take the "Menú del Día").

Otherwise, Colombia is known for its hearty breakfasts and especially for chicharrón, an extremely crunchy version of roast pork that, when prepared correctly, is also very tasty. Like all of South America, Colombia also offers a rich repertoire of fruits.

At least in the northern areas there are fewer vegetables and they are a bit more expensive and monotonous.⬛️⬜️ On the coasts you can find solid fish dishes and fish soups. A must is the fish fried in one piece - very, very good!

Mexico: Tacos, Burritos, Churros, Tlayudas, Enmoladas, Flautas, Quesadillas, Mole, Tamales 🌯🌮🫔🌶🌵🌽❤️‍🔥

Now to our “Grand Finale”: Mexico.❤️‍🔥 A bubbling pool of delicacies, sweet, salty – UMAMIIIIII.🧚🏼 The variety and simplicity of Mexican cuisine are impressive. Very simple foods such as corn tortillas are transformed into a flavor explosion through a variety of sauces, like the one Remi experiences in Ratatouille.🐀 First of all, the tacos, which in Germany are probably priced at 9 euros and up, cost just 80 cents to 1,000 cents here. $50. When it comes to taste, there are worlds in between.🌎🌍🪐

To be honest, churros are also delicious, but there's not much difference, except perhaps for the price. Tlayundas, unknown in Germany, are a traditional dish of Oaxacan cuisine here. Crispy tortillas with bean paste, the well-known pulled cheese from Oaxaca and vegetables or different types of meat - get tastier with every Tlayuda! Enmoladas, one of my favorites, are corn or flour tortillas (the small ones) filled with chicken, which are then topped with the famous mole sauce (there are three types: negro, rojo & verde).🔴⚫️🟢

My favorite mole is definitely Negro. An absolute must and unfortunately not to be found in Germany, except perhaps in Berlin and then at horrendous prices.🫰🏼 Flautas are small, crispy cigar-shaped tortillas with or without filling (usually chicken or beans) and with salsa verde or rojo, consisting of various Types of chili, not necessarily hot, with coriander, garlic and lime.🌶🥵

Quesadillas, a classic that originally consists of dark corn tortillas and is filled. Last but not least, of course, tamales, a dish based on corn porridge (imagine a huge semolina dumpling), steam-cooked and filled with all sorts of things.♨️🧖🏼‍♀️ There is usually one of the mole variations as well, which makes them so special and delicious. In the other Latin American countries there were often tamales, but none were as good as the Mexican ones.🥇

To conclude, each of the countries we visited has its own specialties, but Mexico, Peru & Argentina offered us the best food experience.

Anyone who has read this far probably loves good food just as much as we do. Bottom up!

Your golden heads 👩‍🦳👱🏼‍♂️