Here we are again, at the end of another year, and the time when I get to look back on a year of adventures and try to compile my BEST-OF lists. I really love to do this: relive adventures, bring back memories, and tell some stories that haven’t yet made it to this blog or my YouTube channel. And we’re going to start with the most delicious: my top food experiences of 2021!
Let’s face it – food is one of the best reasons to travel. Not only do you satisfy one of the most basic of human needs, but you get a chance to glimpse into a local culture and try new things. Food that you wouldn’t have accessible back home, or wouldn’t have even bothered trying.
Believe it or not, every time you open your mouth to new food experiences, it’s a ready-made adventure. If it’s not delicious, it’s at least a good story. Fortunately I haven’t had too many of the “good story” variety to date.
I thought it might be fun to talk about some of my favorite food experiences of 2021. These experiences include eating something new for the first time, a whole meal, or something that made the experience memorable.
These are in no particular order, except for the order that I remembered them in.
Trying Exotic Fruits on St. Thomas
I’m going to cheat a little bit and start with a trip that I took in November 2020, right as domestic travel restrictions were starting to lift and I was itching for a trip.
I bought a last-minute ticket to the island of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands for a week-long trip. This was my second time to the island and I wanted to change up my experience a little bit. I decided that I wanted to find a local grocery store/market to frequent and hope to fall in love with.
St. Thomas didn’t disappoint. I found the local market called the Fruit Bowl and visited almost daily. I discovered that it’s one of the best places on the island to purchase fresh local produce…and I was in heaven.
There was a wide selection of fruit that I had either never seen in real life before, or were only accessible in specialty stores back home, making them super expensive and impractical to purchase.
After seeing the wide variety of exotic-to-me fruits, I thought it would be fun to try and film myself tasting a bunch of new products. I’m definitely not a food critic, so I thought that being able to watch my facial reaction to the fruits would be more effective than trying to describe what I was tasting.
(I tried filming myself, but I didn’t realize how dark it was and had to abandon the idea.)
I ended up purchasing a handful of new fruits that I had never eaten before, plus some that I’d already tried (but not in an exotic location) and headed back to my AirBnB to set up my “studio.” I told my sweet AirBnB hosts what I was doing (and had to ask for a sharp knife and cutting board), and they contributed a soursop that they received from a friend’s tree.
Equipped with a bunch of produce, a not-so-sharp knife and cutting board, I set to work.
Starting in the upper left corner, going clockwise:
- Soursop
- Horned melon
- Rambutan
- Papaya
- Starfruit
- Avocado
- Jackfruit
Out of all of these items I purchased, I’d eaten rambutans multiple times before and the smaller varieties of avocados that you get from Mexico or my uncle’s backyard.
I mean, who hasn’t had an avocado before? If that’s you – I’m sorry. Send me your mailing address and I’ll ship you an avocado. It’ll change your life.
I’d seen the others on travel shows and was keen to give them a taste.
Now, to be fair, there were a lot of options for purchase, but I was still on a budget and didn’t want to go crazy. I chose the ones that I was the most excited to taste, knowing that I was a solo traveler and didn’t have someone that could help me eat the fruit. Plus, I didn’t want to be wasteful and take from the island that which I didn’t need.
I still giggle at this spread. There were a few items that I had no idea how to eat, let alone cut into. I spent a little bit of prep time on YouTube, trying to figure out how to cut a soursop, how to eat a horned melon, and which parts of a jackfruit were edible vs. the parts that would have me sitting on the pot for the rest of my trip.
The results were quite delicious…once I finally got into everything.
Rambutan – juicy as ever and fun to eat. They are a favorite of mine and I will always buy them when I can. This experience solidified that opinion.
Avocado – simply amazing. The larger ones are creamier than any other variety I’d eaten before and I ended up saving half of it for breakfast the next day. The one I ate was almost the size of my head, with the stone bigger than a golf ball. I was simply amazed by the sheer size of it, and at $5/each, it was so worth it!
Papaya – definitely the most surprising to me. I didn’t love it at first, but after a few bites it started to grow on me. It has a slightly honey flavor, similar to a really ripe persimmon. I’d heard that a lot of people who go on those fast cleanse retreat things eat papaya as their first food after they complete their program. I’m sure there are medical reasons for it, but I’d have to say it would be a delicious welcome back to the whole eating thing.
Starfruit – sweet, fruity and everything you’d expect a star-shaped anything to be. The skin wasn’t as pleasant to eat, similar to a really thick English cucumber peel. This would be an awesome addition to a tropical fruit/cheese board.
Soursop – sweet and slimy flesh, but not at all unpleasant. Similar to an avocado, the soursop is going to be better as it ripens and gets softer. The interior is fibrous and almost custard-y, and tasted like a cross between a cherry and apple. When I first cut into it, I almost freaked out because it looks like a cherimoya (surprise – it’s in the same family), which has poisonous seeds. Needless to say, I tried to cut it as carefully as possible.
Horned melon – definitely exotic. The interior is bright green, slimy, and has a TON of seeds. The mouth-feel wasn’t particularly pleasant – think jell-o with seeds – but the flavor was akin to a cucumber. It had a refreshing flavor and would make anyone’s Instagram feed pop with color, but that’s about it. I won’t be purchasing one again, but I’m so glad I tried it.
Jackfruit – pleasantly surprised by this one. The flesh that you eat isn’t exactly sweet and has a unique texture. The fruit has a lot of texture, and I learned that a lot of vegetarian and vegan recipes use jackfruit as a meat-substitute. I’d buy that. Aside from avocados and rambutan, this is another one that I continue to purchase at home when I can. You can buy it by the slice and they’re pretty affordable.
Salmon Berries in Alaska
This next entry for my top food experiences in 2021 earns a spot on the list for the experience itself – not the food. But it’s definitely something that has stayed in my happy memory ever since it happened.
Let’s journey together to a glacial beach close to Anchorage, Alaska, in Blackstone Bay. My friend Ashley and I were on a glacier sea kayaking tour and towards the end of the adventure, we pulled up to a beach to have a late lunch.
While our group was eating, our courageous guide traipsed off into the bush to gather some salmon berries for us to try. Safely returning, he held out a small tupperware container, full of plump, oversized-raspberry-looking berries.
I gently grabbed one and popped it into my mouth. It popped like salmon roe, having almost no particular taste. Kind of like when you eat a raspberry that isn’t quite ripe, but not super tart.
I grabbed another and stuck it on my pinkie finger, as you do.
So although they weren’t the best tasting things I’d ever put in my mouth, it was definitely a surreal experience. It’s such a romantic notion to eat exotic local berries that someone picked for you in Alaska. While dodging a bear. But that’s another story you can find here.
Coconut Out of a Trunk on Puerto Rico
Yup, this top food experience of 2021 is exactly what it sounds like. But let me set the stage.
Let’s hop back over to the Caribbean and the island of Puerto Rico. This was a redemption trip for me, and you can read about why here.
After road tripping along the west coast of the island, staying on the south coast, and exploring the tropical rainforest in the north east, I finally made it to Old San Juan and took a city tour.
Towards the end of the tour, our small group found ourselves at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which hugs the rugged coastline. We had a few minutes to explore the coast, and while I was walking around, I came upon an old local standing alongside his beat up car. As I got closer, I realized that his trunk was popped open and had a makeshift cooler inside the boot, filled to the brim with coconuts. For a couple of bucks, he grabbed one, expertly wielded his machete (a skill I want to master someday) and popped it open for me.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to drink water from a ripe, ice cold coconut on a tropical island, you’re missing out, my friend. Add in the historical fort and Caribbean sunshine and you’ve got the perfect end of a remarkable trip.
A Peruvian Feast in Utah
During the month of July, I created a 30 adventures in 30 days challenge for myself. It was such a great experience (you can read about it here) and in addition to exploring adventures, I made sure that I also had some culinary adventures.
Towards the end of the month, I signed up for a cooking class at a local grocery store and invited my roommate to join. The title was A Peruvian Celebration, but I didn’t realize that it also coincided with Peru’s Independence Day. Cue the party!
Our chef instructor was born and raised in Cusco, Peru, and taught us like we were in her home kitchen. We created several dishes that wouldn’t be out of place at a celebration in Peru, learned the history of the dishes, and ate so many delicious things.
The whole experience was magical, delicious, informative, eye-opening, and so much more. The highlight had to be making and eating grilled scallops on the shell. I mean, what??
North Shore Fruit Stand, Oahu, Hawaii
Let’s jet over to the Hawaiian islands, particularly the island of Oahu. This was my second time to this archipelago and my third island (Maui and Molokai were my first). On this trip, I decided to rent a car to have some flexibility, but also because I had a secret desire.
Culinary desire.
I had this daydream that I wanted to find a roadside stand to get lunch at. Doesn’t that sound dreamy? Well, it did to me. I had this idea that Hawaii was the paradise where you could get lost without actually getting lost, find good food around every corner, and the sun would shine the entire time.
Cue my last full day on the island. I found myself driving along the North Shore and turned a corner to find a wonderfully random fruit shack on the side of the road. I don’t think I actually realized that I had pulled into the parking lot until I was actually parked. My body was ready…but my mind had to catch up. Haha.
As I visually devoured as much as I could without drooling, I picked up a papaya, pineapple, another coconut, some rambutan, and a fried banana. Lunch was served on the side of the road and I was in heaven.
Salmon Bake, Fairbanks, Alaska
I had no idea that I’d have so many top food experiences in 2021 in Alaska. Honestly, Alaska didn’t seem like a culinary destination, but I’m happy to have been proven wrong. I went to my first salmon bake in Alaska, and what a place to experience it for the first time.
My friend Ashley and I my have the best luck in the world, because we showed up on the LAST DAY of the salmon bake season at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Imagine showing up at a park, with a section dedicated to smoking salmon, steaming crab, frying fish…all smelling like foodie heaven. Being able to eat local gifts from the sea in a park, so far away from home…it was magical.
I barely had enough self control to grab a few pictures before we started to devour the best salmon I’d ever eaten.
Pizza Tour in Chicago
Finishing off this top food experiences in 2021 strong is the pizza tour I took during a recent trip to Chicago. And to be honest, one of the main reasons I was so excited to visit Chicago was because I wanted to do some kind of pizza tour.
You see, I’d heard mixed reviews about deep-dish pizza, and was eager to try it myself. And when I was planning my trip, my pizza tour was the first activity that I purchased a ticket for. It did not disappoint.
We stopped by 4 local pizza parlors, learned about the history of pizza, how Chicagoans usually only eat deep dish pizza for special occasions, and geeked out with our guide about tomatoes. The best part was ending up at a place called Exchequer, which is an old pre-prohibition speakeasy that was controlled by Al Capone. Queue the history-nerd freak out.
On top of all of that, the pizza at each location was delicious. Every slice was different – and not just the toppings. The cooking method, the ingredients, the crust, sauce, everything. And in a good way.
Woohoo, what a fun year! So many fun experiences, and it was definitely difficult to narrow down my top food experiences in 2021, which isn’t exactly a bad thing! Here’s to more exciting food experiences in 2022!
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