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EXPAND YOUR CULINARY HORIZONS THROUGH TRAVEL
Traveling can be seen as an opportunity to enhance and expand
your cooking skills even though you're not in the kitchen.
While eating out, be adventurous! The best way to learn how
an unfamiliar dish is supposed to taste is to let a professional
prepare it for you. This way you can see how it's supposed to
taste before you try a new recipe at home.
Every state and region in the United States, or country in the
world, for that matter, has it's own regional cooking and food
specialty. Don't order a hamburger when you could choose to
have authentic Tex-Mex, fresh-caught Chinook Salmon or Cajun Gumbo.
Take advantage of regional food shopping. In many cases,
ingredients are less expensive in the places they're grown or
produced than they are where you live. You can transport it
back home yourself or have it shipped. A visit to the local
supermarket or gourmet food store of your travel destination can
yield great results and new ideas.
Cooking classes that range from a few hours to a week or longer
in length are offered in many cities. Learn to prepare
Southwestern dishes in Albuquerque or how to decorate a cake in
Chicago. Classes offered by local supermarkets are often held
in the evenings if you're on a business trip and are unavailable
during the day.
Fun food-related activities for yourself or a family group can be
found at factory tours or by visiting local museums. If you
live in the desert or a coastal area, learning about the flour mills
in Minnesota can give you a new appreciation for that staple of
life, wheat. Likewise, if you're land-locked in Kansas, a trip
to a maritime museum in Virginia can show you what an important part
the fishing industry has played in our country.
To a cook, the best remembrance of a placed visited is a regional
cookbook. Forget about the T-shirts! More titles of
community and regional cookbooks are found at their points of origin
than your own local bookstore chain. Savor the chance to
actually thumb through and examine the cookbooks. Jot down the
titles, you can always order a copy later when you arrive back home.
Traveling either short or long distances can expand your culinary
horizons. Don't miss out on the opportunities that are
available if you take the time to look.
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