Seven European Food Experiences

We love food.  Trying new foods, cooking new foods, talking about food, I even love pictures of food.  In fact, there's probably not a whole lot of time throughout my day when food is not in the back of my mind.  I count myself very lucky to have married a guy that actually loves to cook.  Though I am doing most of the cooking since Zack started his job, he tells me I am his greatest and worst critic...  I tell him it's just "constructive critisism" :p.  But really, I do love his cooking!  He introduced me to a whole new world of vegetarianism that I never knew was possible.  This summer however, we decided there were no limits.  We wanted to embrace the food of everywhere we went.  We were really excited to "eat our way" through Europe.

Let me clear one thing up before I get into this post.  We were travelling for 2 months, not making any money, just using what we had saved up for the summer.  So as you can imagine, we were forced to be quite frugal in the way we spent.  So how could we afford to eat our way through Europe, rather than just eating beans and rice? (haha, though those were two of our staple foods at times...). We made up a few simple guidelines:

1)  We rarely went to restaurants for a proper sit-down meal.  We all know how quickly your bill can add up once you add in a proper tip and a couple drinks.  Rather, we'd find small outdoor vendors or food trucks, pick up a couple beers from the local market (in most European cities, beer is pretty much the same price as buying a juice!), and find a nice park to sit and eat.  Bam.  Great food, drinks, and location- without the steep prices.

2)  Check out the local food markets!  See what the locals are buying!  We tried not to get caught in the tourist trap of sky-rocket prices at restaurants.  For example, in Prague, we checked out the massive food market with loads of fresh fruits, veggies, meats, pastries, etc.  We found a small stand that was selling dried peppered sausages that were extremely tasty and cheap!  

3)  When booking hostels or Air bnb's, look for places that include a guest kitchen.  This will save you BIG dollars (or Euro's, pounds, whatever currency you're using, lol).  To prepare for travel days, we'd often cook up a massive salad with beans and veggies and pack it with us (for the first little while we used zip lock bags, until we invested in a tupperware container).  Not buying that 5 dollar sandwich on travel days really helps save.  We also had a huge bag of trail mix with us for the first three weeks, that really saved us.  It helps to have snacks packed in your bag at all times.

Oh, and just a quick tip:

In Italy, if you order a coffee or espresso and drink it at the bar, it will most always be cheaper than if you take a seat.  

That is roughly what we did while travelling.  Yes, we did at times treat ourselves to a night out at a nice sit down restaurant (which is totally fine!) but we made sure to not make it a habit.  In the end, we were still able to eat our way through Europe, trying tons of local foods.  Here are our top 7 food experiences:

1) Smorrebrod (Traditional Danish open faced sandwich)  

Though in the photo, all you see is toppings, there is a fresh slice of rye bread under there!  Usually topped with the latest fresh catch of the day, and some other herbs and spices, and often a tasty sauce.  We found these at the covered market downtown, which I would go back to in an instant.

2) The doner kebab in Berlin!  

**Disclaimer: the photo above is actually in Prague.  The one in Berlin surpassed this one by far, but I ate it so fast that I didn't give myself time to take a photo.  This one was good too, though. :) **

Our love for kebab started in Berlin and only grew throughout the summer.  By the time we were in Venice, we had kebab ON pizza. yum. (of course the Italians would put it on pizza).

3) Prague's street food.  

You can find some of the best food in the local beer gardens!  There's no way of resisting the smell of the grill.  In Prague... everything was grilled.  Just delicious.

4) Swiss Fondue

Who doesn't like dunking fresh bread and warm potatos into melted cheese?!  I think this one also has to do with the company we were with.  We were being hosted by our friends, Claudia and Heiner, and they had invited a couple over (around our age) who literally showed us step by step how to make authentic Swiss fondue.  There is a specific cheese, a specific wine, a specific way of stirring, AND a specific spoon that you must use in order for it to be truly Swiss.  It was such a fun evening in general, that this night just has to be remembered :)

5) Home made pizza in Lucca, Italy

Speaking of authentic...It doesn't get any more authentic than this!  We stayed at an Air bnb while we were in Lucca, and our host family invited us for dinner.  Perhaps it was also the environment we were in... surrounded by a pizza-loving Italian family.  I'll never forget when their 5 year old daughter turned to her dad and said, "Mmm...Eccellente, Papa!".

6)  Dark Chocolate gelato in Venice

And when I say dark chocolate, I mean DARK chocolate.  Need I say more?

7) Pastries, croissants and espressos!  All throughout Europe.  I've acquired a sweet tooth (gasp!!) all because of these darn pastries all over Europe.  Just too good.

Okay, so I hope I didn't make you too hungry with this post.  These are only a few of our favourite food experiences throughout the summer... there are so many more!  But I'll leave it at this.  Now we're back to cooking vegetarian.... and maybe (just maybe) I'll post soon about all the delicious veggie meals we like to cook.  We'll see :)