The World's Best Local Food

When people talk about travelling for" the food", this is what they're referring to. ​

Nasi Kander - Malaysia

Nasi Kander is a northern Malaysian dish that combines a variety of elements – meat, rice, vegetables – and smothers it with various types of sweet-spicy curry sauces.  Served in buffet-type street stalls,  the result is a gift to 
your taste buds.   Eggplant, beef, chicken, squid, peppers, and okra are all flooded with flavour, soaked up by coconut rice and scooped with the right hand.   

Ceviche - Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica

You can get ceviche around the world, but not the way they make it here.   Raw fish, shrimp and calamari are drowned in limejuice, herbs and spices. The acidity of the lime cooks the fish, creating a mouthwatering delicacy that is served in the finest restaurants, all the way to roadside shacks.   In Peru, it is often served with giant corn, and people sometimes order the leftover juice on its own, called Tiger Juice.  In Ecuador, and other parts of the continent, ceviche is served with crackers.  My favourite ceviche of all time is served out of a big tub in a tiny ice-cream store in Santa Theresa, Costa Rica.
Photo: Sam@flickr

Borscht - Russia

I struggled with the food in the Russia, easily reaching my limit of boiled meat and potato.  One thing I never got tired of however was the borscht – a soup made of beetroot, with meats, dill and sour cream.   Considering how bland Russian cuisine can be, the complexity of taste in well-prepared borscht is staggering.   Sweet, sour, tangy, and always ready to warm you up on a cold day.   My favourite borscht was served in Irkutsk, Siberia, where a vegetarian friend and I ordered borscht without the mystery meat, and it still knocked our socks off. 
Photo: appaIoosa

Biltong - South Africa

The easiest way to describe biltong is to compare it to beef jerky, but that’s like comparing a Prius to a Porsche.    South Africans have been making biltong for hundreds of years, spicing, salting and hanging strips of raw meat until it dries out, but not too much.   No sugar, no preservatives, no neat wafer thin slices.  Biltong is served in chunks, sometimes wet (rarer) and sometimes dry (tough).   It can be salty, spicy, fatty or lean.  Choosing the right piece is part of the fun.  It makes the perfect accompaniment to any sports game or road trip.  
Photo:  rubalo

Farofa - Brazil

If you visit a Brazilian churrascaria, where a never-ending stream of meat is served until you’re ready to explode, you might notice a bowl on the table of something that looks like breadcrumbs.   Brazilians eat it with everything – meat, fish, stews, roasts.  It’s not breadcrumbs, but rather manioc flour, fried with butter.   Somehow it adds something to the dish – more substance, certainly, but also a way to carry the taste a few yards further.   It took me a while to get used to it, but these days, when the BBQ is firing, there’s always a bowl of farofa on my dinner table.  
Photo beckstei

Ika Mata - Cook Islands

Cook Islanders have created their own little slice of culinary heaven, using a resource that surrounds them in abundance - fish and coconuts.   Similar to ceviche, raw fish is marinated in limejuice and spices, with the addition of coconut milk.  It’s not quite as tangy as ceviche, but just as fresh.  The coconut milk softens the spices and also tenderizes the fish.   It goes down smooth on a hot island day, a rich treat available just about everywhere you go on the islands.   ​

Awaze Tibs and Injera - Ethiopia

Awaze tibs is a lamb or beef stew, cooked with onions, peppers and spiced with awazare, also known as berbere.   Berbere, which features in many Ethiopian dishes, is a ground spice made of garlic, chili, ginger, basil, pepper, and fenugreek.  The stew is slow cooked and served with injera, a spongy pancake-like flat bread made with teff flour, the taste almost sour.  Using your hands, you scoop up the meat and sauce with the injera, creating a perfect blend of flavour. ​

Pide - Turkey

Kebab shops around the world now serve pide and for good reason.   A thin oval bread is covered with ground lamb, and seasoned with tomato paste, red peppers, garlic and spices.  It might be topped with eggs, fresh mint, and lemon juice.  The pide is baked much like a pizza until the crust is crispy, and cut into strips.  It’s so good it’s hard to order only one. Meat, bread and tasty vegetables in every bite. 
Photos:  roboppy

Roo Burgers - Australia

It’s sometimes difficult for tourists to understand, but kangaroos can be quite a problem for Australians.  They breed like rabbits, destroy the countryside, and are often referred to as pests.  No surprise then that kangaroo features on the menu, meat that has become increasingly popular in recent years.  It tastes gamey, kind of like venison with a touch of rabbit mixed in there as well.   Much like ostrich meat, kangaroo meat is healthy and lean.  If only they didn’t look so damn cute. 
Photo: Renee S

Meat Pies - New Zealand

In New Zealand, every garage station, bakery or corner store sells savory meat pies.  They’re cheap, they’re tasty, and they come in surprising varieties:  Tandoori Chicken, Bacon and Egg, Thai Beef.  With flaky crusts and thick filling, pies are a sense of pride across New Zealand.  There are various competitions for the Best Pie, and intense customer loyalty for bakeries and brands. All for under a fiver.  
Photos:  Robbi Baba