When u arrive in a foreign country.....

Hi jaysuvarana05,

There are so many things much healthier than McDonalds or KFC, gosh a regular diet of that stuff could end you up in the hospital.

As an expat and someone who also loves to cook I would recommend just going to the local supermarket or marketplace and buy some of the foods you already are familiar with and cook them at home.

If you're going to eat out it's far better just to jump right in with both feet and try the local cuisine. The local cuisine is certainly going to be far healthier than fast food. Sure, you may not like every dish you ever try, but the cuisine is one part of the culture that you should never miss out on when you travel.

Check out two of my postings and you'll see exactly what I mean.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=230521https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=212709

Part of the beauty of travel is that we get to see, experience, try and taste NEW things. If you just want the same-old-same-old better to stay at home and save the money in my opinion.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

I love grocery stores in new countries. One of the most interesting things is exploring and finding out what kinds of things people eat. Granted, I've not been in Asia yet but I have found that elsewhere I can usually find some familiar brands if I'm wary about trying the really local stuff.

of course, mishaps can happen with this approach! They started putting a special label in the grocery store near all the tourist hotels because so many people were buying the soured buttermilk to use in their coffee.

I've been in Jordan, Amman for the past 8 months, and I crave and dream for the day that I can go home and have some good ol american, Italan ,and mexican food, to tell ya the truth I dont even know what will be the first thing I wil eat, it will prob. be a variety of things I just want to munch out big time..MMM can't wait:D!!!!

The first thing I ate in Hong Kong was rice.  I've never been to a McDonalds here.  If I wanted that I could have saved a lot of money on plane tickets and stayed home.

Our grocery stores have a lot of English imports so there are plenty of easy to read labels.  The problem is that English food is terrible.

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

I've never been to a McDonalds here.  If I wanted that I could have saved a lot of money on plane tickets and stayed home.

You said it Hailey!!!

Don't know about McDonalds in Hong Kong, but if you saw the prices they charge here in Brazil you'd faint. Not eating at the golden arches a few times could save you enough to pay your airfare back home every now and then.

Cheers,
James

wjwoodward wrote:

Don't know about McDonalds in Hong Kong, but if you saw the prices they charge here in Brazil you'd faint. Not eating at the golden arches a few times could save you enough to pay your airfare back home every now and then.

I admit I do sometimes to go McD's in other countries just to see what strange things they're offering to please local palates though. The menu isn't 100% identical in every country.

There hasn't been McDonalds in Iceland since 09, so at this point it also kind of counts as foreign & exotic.

Hong Kong McDonalds prices are astronomical.  People pay it because it's McDonalds - they think it's supposed to be expensive.  When I tell them that McDonalds is cheap fast food in America they don't believe me.

ECS wrote:

I admit I do sometimes to go McD's in other countries just to see what strange things they're offering to please local palates though. The menu isn't 100% identical in every country.

There hasn't been McDonalds in Iceland since 09, so at this point it also kind of counts as foreign & exotic.

Ours has corn soup and rice cake buns.

Hi JAMES.. Thanks for the suggestion. At Macau, HK and shanghai i went to try local cuisine, struggled with chop sticks and had many delicious dishes. McD's was when i just landed and wanted to have a start up. Thanks

wjwoodward wrote:

Hi jaysuvarana05,

There are so many things much healthier than McDonalds or KFC, gosh a regular diet of that stuff could end you up in the hospital.

As an expat and someone who also loves to cook I would recommend just going to the local supermarket or marketplace and buy some of the foods you already are familiar with and cook them at home.

If you're going to eat out it's far better just to jump right in with both feet and try the local cuisine. The local cuisine is certainly going to be far healthier than fast food. Sure, you may not like every dish you ever try, but the cuisine is one part of the culture that you should never miss out on when you travel.

Check out two of my postings and you'll see exactly what I mean.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=230521https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=212709

Part of the beauty of travel is that we get to see, experience, try and taste NEW things. If you just want the same-old-same-old better to stay at home and save the money in my opinion.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

ECS wrote:

I love grocery stores in new countries. One of the most interesting things is exploring and finding out what kinds of things people eat. Granted, I've not been in Asia yet but I have found that elsewhere I can usually find some familiar brands if I'm wary about trying the really local stuff.

of course, mishaps can happen with this approach! They started putting a special label in the grocery store near all the tourist hotels because so many people were buying the soured buttermilk to use in their coffee.

Thanks for your view ECS. Yes.. Grocery is the good place to explore real local stuff

HaileyinHongKong wrote:

ECS wrote:

I admit I do sometimes to go McD's in other countries just to see what strange things they're offering to please local palates though. The menu isn't 100% identical in every country.

There hasn't been McDonalds in Iceland since 09, so at this point it also kind of counts as foreign & exotic.

Ours has corn soup and rice cake buns.

Thanks Hailey

Julie_miles wrote:

I've been in Jordan, Amman for the past 8 months, and I crave and dream for the day that I can go home and have some good ol american, Italan ,and mexican food, to tell ya the truth I dont even know what will be the first thing I wil eat, it will prob. be a variety of things I just want to munch out big time..MMM can't wait:D!!!!

Hmmn Guess Dubai is better in this case, here we have almost everything. Thanks Julie