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Our Guide to Eating Etiquette Abroad

DO try local dishes and be adventurous is for many the favourite part of travelling. Don't worry, here's a guide to eating etiquette around the world.

DO try local dishes and be adventurous is for many the favourite part of travelling. Don’t worry, here’s a guide to eating etiquette around the world.

 

A big part of travelling is trying out the local dishes. Although, sometimes it’s not as straight forward as it may seem and we’re often faced with the dilemma of how to tackle the dish. What’s the proper way to eat it?

Luckily The Co-operative Travel has prepared a quick handy guide to avoid all the confusion that comes with trying local delicacies from around the world.

eatingguide

 

1. Italy – Spaghetti

italy

Spaghetti seems pretty straight forward right? Cool, but there may be some mistakes that you’ve unknowingly committed. For example, it’s a one-handed affair, you only need a fork and you twist a bundle of spaghetti clockwise against the side of your dish.

Never ever cut pasta with the side of your fork and please, don’t make slurping noises while you suck the pasta into your mouth – your mum was right to scold you as a child.

Italians may consume 26kg per year but we’re  pretty sure many of us came close to rivalling that during our university years. Pasta was the go to easy meal to make as a poor student.

 

2. Greece – Lobster

greece

Sometimes when I eat, I like to consider whether the effort is worth the food. Lobster is one that makes my ‘definitely worth it’ list.

When you eat lobster now, it may be an almost barbarous sight to the Greeks.

Whilst it’s appropriate to use your hands to take the claws apart, you must use a knife and fork to pull the flesh out from inside, they also have handy tools on the table like lobster picks to get into less accessible areas.

 

3. France – Escargot

france

Before you say no to trying out escargot, they’re not your average garden snail, they’re a very specific variety.

Every time I ordered escargot in Australia, snail tongs weren’t provided. Imagine my surprise whilst in France when my order arrived with what seemed like a tool kit. I wasn’t sure what to do with the snail tongs, but figured it out – the tongs are simply used to grip the shell and you remove the meat with the tiny fork they provide.

I didn’t need instructions for the last part though, the juices with the bread is just heavenly.

 

4. Spain – Tapas

tapasThis has got to be my favourite thing about Spain. Order a drink and get free tapas, a privilege we often have to pay for here, but let’s be honest, it’s often worth paying for.

It just makes the prospect of drinking a few bottles of wine seem more celebratory.

 

5. Carribbean – Fufu

caribbean

This is where it gets a little tricky. Made from flour and cassava (although plantains or yams are often involved in the Caribbean), fufu is pretty much a staple.

Don’t be fussy, use your fingers – food is more enjoyable when using your hands, it becomes a whole other experience.

 

6. Latin America – Asado

latinamerica

Closely associated with the Argentinian version of the cowboy, the Gaucho, Asado is considered to be Argentina’s national dish.

This bbq is not like your average Australian affair, here you don’t stand around the bbq interfering and telling the asador what to do. At the end you simply applaud the asador, once everything is cooked.

 

7. The Netherlands – Haring

netherlands

This seems counter intuitive with good manners, but the best way to eat raw herring from The Netherlands is to grab the fish by the tail and lower it into your mouth and bite off a large chunk.

I would recommend having a mint handy afterwards, that is if you still want to have face to face conversations without offending that person’s sense of smell.

 

8. Mexico – Tamalemexico

Don’t eat the corn husk. Pretty straight forward –  that’s really all we need to say about this dish.

Mexican eating is less about manners but more about sharing a meal with family and friends, it’s the conversation and coming together that really makes a meal special.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten?