Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2024 i National Geographic Traveller Food

Editorial Director: Maria Pieri Editor: Glen Mutel Deputy Editor: Nicola Trup Senior Editor: Sarah Barrell Assistant Editor: Farida Zeynalova Content Strategist: Berkok Yüksel Deputy Digital Editor: Karlina Valeiko Art Director: Becky Redman Deputy Art Director: Lauren Atkinson-Smith Art Editor: Lauren Gamp Lead Designer: Kelly McKenna Senior Designer: Dean Reynolds Designers: Rosie Klein, Tully D’Souza Junior Designer: Natalie Cornelius Picture Editors: Olly Puglisi, Ben Rowe Picture Researcher: Aisha Nazar Contributing Editors: Pat Riddell, Amanda Canning, Sam Kemp, Angela Locatelli, Lorna Parkes, Georgia Stephens Managing Editor: Amelia Duggan Branded Content Manager: Flora Neighbour Deputy Branded Content Editor: Megan Hughes Senior Editor, Branded Content: Sara Crossley, Project Editors: Zane Henry, Emma Monk Assistant Project Editor: Sacha Scoging Head of Sub Editors: Olivia McLearon Senior Sub Editor: Hannah Doherty Sub Editors: Chris Horton, Ben…

Find Zuza Zak’s pierogi recipe online. nationalgeographic. com/travel BACKGROUND Pierogi are the quintessential Polish filled dumplings. Origin stories vary, but one theory is they came from the Far East, and they certainly started out as peasant food. There’s even a prayer to Saint Jacek (considered the patron saint of pierogi) to make sure the dumplings are always on the table and stave away hunger. DOUGH The most traditional pierogi dough is made simply with flour, rapeseed oil, a little bit of salt and warm water. Nowadays, every Polish household has its own favourite recipe, and many people use eggs in theirs — an addition thought to have come to Poland from Italy, like many other culinary influences. KNEADING Once the dough has been brought together, it must be kneaded for…

I didn’t see a banana until I was six. Growing up, there was rationing after the Second World War until 1954, so, we ate only whatever was accessible and what was seasonal —mostly potatoes and sausages. The banana was black, and I said to my mum, “Woah!” Coca-Cola is the best fizzy drink ever. I first experienced it when I was shipped off to Germany in 1947 with my father, who was in the army of occupation. We moved into the American zone and it was the first time I experienced the American way of life —there were soda fountains, hamburgers and raspberry milkshakes. I drink it now when I can get the real Coke in a glass bottle. I used to eat Indian food three times a week. It…

Vanika Choudhary is surrounded by a mindbending array of salts, pickles and ferments. There are yuzu-fermented cherries, achars (pickles) made from swede-like tamyung from Ladakh and herby Himalayan salt. “It’s my way of spotlighting and preserving recipes and foraged ingredients that are precious to our country but never make it to the mainstream dining scene,” she says. The founder of Mumbai’s fine-dining restaurant Noon is in London for a two-day residency at restaurant 180 Corner. It’s part of an international tour, during which she’s been gilding her reputation for creating innovative dishes that offer a taste of India’s regions. Last night, her 10-course tasting menu revealed her flair for marrying flavour and texture, with dishes including charcoal-grilled lamb in a fermented pumpkin marinade, foraged mushroom with fava bean miso and…

PICHAYA ‘PAM’ SOONTORNYANAKIJ Potong Potong has wasted no time in scooping up accolades since opening in 2021, having earned not only a Michelin star but the guide’s inaugural Opening of the Year Award (2023), as well as a spot on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Driving this success is Pichaya ‘Pam’ Soontornyanakij, whose ‘progressive Thai-Chinese’ cuisine, as she calls it, combines traditional and modern techniques. “I was born into a Thai-Chinese family but my culinary training was in New York and very Western-style,” she says. “When it came to Potong, I wanted to make something more personal.” The result is a reimagining of Thai-Chinese dishes, such as five-spiced duck, aged for 14 days and roasted for 10 minutes to create a crispy bird with “intense duck flavour”, and…

How has your heritage influenced your food? My mum was born in Zanzibar to Omani Zanzibari and Iranian Zanzibari parents. They came from Swahili tribes, so they cooked a lot of Zanzibari and Swahili coastal food; there’s always a lot of coconut and the food is really spicy, with lots of citrus flavours. My dad’s family are Omani — from the capital, Muscat — with Bahraini and Iraqi tribal heritage, so they use a lot of dried limes. They also use a lot of dates. That comes from being in the north, where there are date palms everywhere. How would you describe Oman? Although Oman is a Middle Eastern country that borders other Arab nations, it’s also close to Somalia, Iran and India. And 200 years ago, it had an…

BYLAND, NORTH YORKSHIRE • ABBEYINNBYLAND.CO.UK A mouthful that tastes like a summer’s walk in a country meadow is surprising. But at Tommy Banks’ latest venture, the flavours of the bread and butter transport me to the North York Moors, which are just outside. Generous hunks of seed and mead country loaf come with mounds of leaf-green butter, laced with foraged nettle, parsley and wild garlic, and a tangy pounded cheese — a putty-soft blend of sharp raw-milk St Andrews and Berkswell. When the chef announced in 2023 that he’d be taking over the Abbey Inn, where he started his career, there was palpable excitement. Not least because his nearby restaurant with rooms, The Black Swan at Oldstead, has a Michelin star and a stellar reputation. But the location is also…

Chawadee Nualkhair While in Bangkok, interviewing local chefs, not only did I gain about two kilos, but I also gained a huge appreciation for the depth and variety of the restaurants I visited, which illustrate the different philosophies and talents underpinning modern Thai cooking. I’m so excited for the future of Thai food. COVER STORY, P 46 Catherine Tansey Mole is a national dish, a sauce, a meal, a celebration. It’s one of Mexico’s most emblematic foods and serves as a testament to its past and present. I’ve lived in Oaxaca for five years, and it was a great pleasure to learn more about mole’s history and the role it plays in Mexican culture. OAXACA, P 78 Farida Zeynalova Spending the day eating in the leafy hinterland of northern Jordan…

Saffron is a spice that’s long been revered across the globe, captivating hearts and palates with its deepred hue and complex flavour. Originating from the delicate stigma of the saffron crocus flower, it transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary, infusing dishes with a subtle, earthy sweetness and floral notes that dance on the palate. My own relationship with saffron began in childhood, when my grandmother would lovingly prepare me a special hot milk drink she’d created with the spice. I’ll never forget the feeling of privilege whenever she made it just for me — and, even then, I was struck by its remarkable colour and aroma. At Farzi, we incorporate saffron into dishes such as our goat shawarma biryani, which comes with saffron rice, and shahi tukda, in which fried…

It’s been four decades since we learned that Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche. The tongue-incheek book mockingly rebranded a hearty peasant dish as rabbit food, and in the words of the author, humourist Bruce Feirstein, ‘Could John Wayne ever have taken Normandy, Iwo Jima, Korea, the Gulf of Tonkin, and the entire Wild West on a diet of quiche and salad?’ Dated gender stereotypes aside, it’s also an unfair characterisation of the dish — Wayne would have been well fuelled by quiche lorraine, as the genuine article is anything but delicate. In fact, though in Britain it’s often regarded as a light lunch — ‘a must for any summer party, picnic or gathering’, according to Mary Berry — in its eastern French homeland it’s more often served as a warm…

“Figs! You must try some Jordanian figs!” says Eisa, slapping his hands on his thighs. “Yalla, yalla!” His son, Yaman, appears from around the corner with a wicker basket, gesturing for me to follow him. We leave the courtyard of their family home, walking under a cloud of crimson pomegranates hanging above the front gate. In the garden, I’m greeted with a sweeping view of the 2.5-acre estate where figs, pomegranates, olives, plums, apricots and lemons grow against a backdrop of seemingly endless valleys and woodland. All my senses are singing: golden sunlight dapples the ground under the vast canopy; dried leaves crackle beneath our feet with every step; and the heady scent of fig hangs in the air, which rings with the sound of birdsong and the afternoon’s adhan…

Twenty years ago, Prague’s Holešovice neighbourhood was a suburb with not much going on. Today, you’ll find small boutiques, minimalist new restaurants and cafes serving speciality coffee. To the east, Holešovice Farmers’ Market remains a permanent fixture with fresh pastries and local produce. Start with breakfast at Café Letka, on the border of Holešovice and Letná, for seasonal dishes from across Europe; don’t skip the pastries or espresso, as they’re some of the best this side of the city. Prefer a quick bite? Try Format Coffee for coffee and cake. Wander over to the National Technical Museum, a tribute to Czech Republic’s littleknown yet groundbreaking automotive, train and plane inventions over the last 100 years. Next door, the National Museum of Agriculture is a fun stop, with interactive exhibits on…

VENERABLE VINES DOMAINE SAPARALE There can’t be many vineyards with their own police station — but Domaine Saparale, in southwest Corsica, has an unusual history. The estate’s original owner, Philippe de Rocca Serra, had big ideas when he established it in 1850. “He was a lawyer whose grand ambition was to create Corsican wines that would rival the great wines of Bordeaux,” explains current owner Julie Farinelli. “Everyone thought he was a madman because, back then, the wine was just for the locals.” Funding his project by practicing law in North Africa, Philippe eventually brought his grand plan to fruition, establishing a sprawling estate that evolved into a selfsufficient hamlet, complete with its own police station. “There were lodgings for 20 gendarmes — they protected the site and the surrounding…

OUR PICK COCINA DE ANDALUCIA María José Sevilla Madrid-born María José Sevilla has built a career on sharing the recipes, techniques and traditions of her homeland with Brits and the wider world. Her latest book explores Spain’s southernmost region, Andalucia — home to many of the country’s best-loved ingredients. Sevilla conjures up visions of kitchen gardens bathed in summer sunshine, ripe with sweet tomatoes and plummy aubergines, while also exploring the preserves and precious produce that can be found in the cooler months. Chapters are interspersed with anecdotes from her life, as well as notes on subjects such as olive oil production, age-old fishing techniques, the origins of tapas bars and a handful of the most memorable meals she’s enjoyed in the region. The 75 recipes encompass vegetables, fish, meat…

SEAFOOD Whether it’s salt cod or calamari, sardines or snapper, so many of the world’s most popular coastal destinations have a defining seafood speciality. For our Summer issue, we’ve scoured the shores of the UK, Europe and beyond, seeking out some of the most beloved fish and shellfish dishes and meeting the people who make them PLUS CYPRUS, BUTTER CHICKEN, SKYE, NAPLES, HANOI, FRENCH CHEESE, SPARKLING ROSÉ & MORE SUMMER ISSUE ON SALE 6 JUNE FOR INFORMATION ON OUR SUBSCRIPTION OFFER, SEE PAGE 128…

When I first visited Thailand, nearly two decades ago, Thai cuisine wasn’t quite as well-represented in the UK as it is today. But, even back then, there was enough of it around for me to know I was in for a real treat. And so it proved. In fact, I ate so well that my memories of that five-week stay are mostly of food: the simple salad flavoured with lemongrass I ate at 3am, shortly after landing; the unforgettable jungle curry I consumed during a rainstorm in Chiang Mai; my first massaman curry —the beginning of a culinary love affair —by the side of the road in Bangkok. But while I enjoyed many fine dishes during that trip, I’m equally mindful of the things I missed. I didn’t make it…

While grapes have been grown in Brazil for centuries, wine production is a comparatively recent phenomenon. In fact, only a small percentage of the adult population drink wine — and most of that is sweet ‘jug’ wine made from table grapes. Yet, for all this, the country’s producers are making some interesting wines well worth discovering. While much of Brazil is tropical in climate, so unsuitable for growing grapes, it’s a vast country with many terroirs. Most wine is produced down in the cooler south, although there are some examples of winter wines — those that are tricked by the application of phytohormones into bearing fruit in July and August when it’s drier and cooler than in the Southern Hemisphere summer of January and February. Guaspari’s Vale de Pedro Shiraz…

Huge fans stutter on once-white walls. A lady wearing red lipstick and a silk dress settles into a plastic chair and points at tiny saucers on the marble table in front of her. There are two or three pork dim sum on each; she jabs one with a small fork, swipes it through a sauce that matches her outfit and pops it into her mouth. It’s 6.30am. In the southern Thai town of Trang, breakfast has been underway for several hours. And here at Sin Jiew, one of the city’s most popular dim sum joints, school children, newborns, dogs and office workers gather before dispersing to continue their day. It’s still dark outside, where roadside stalls smoke with tiny pancakes and large chunks of dough bob in pots of scalding-hot…

With gothic, Renaissance and baroque architecture, Prague’s historic city centre draws tourists from near and far. Nové Město and Staré Město — New Town and Old Town — have traditionally offered visitors some of Prague’s least impressive cuisine. Nowadays, though, a growing number of upscale restaurants and cosy cafes make it a destination that food-lovers should seek out. Start at EMA Espresso Bar, a hip, minimalist affair known for its killer coffee and simple baked goods. The real gem here is the koláče, a sweet pastry made by beloved local bakery Alf & Bet, which tastes like the sort of traditional home-bake a Czech grandma might make. Walking is the best way to experience central Prague. From Prašná brána (one of the city’s gates) head down the winding streets to…

For a small town, Hebden Bridge has long punched above its weight. Situated in the Pennines, halfway between Manchester and Leeds, it was a centre for fabric production and trade in the 19th century. More recently, though, it’s become a haven for artists and designers, who have leant the place a creative spirit and scene of its own. Among the independent shops and galleries are a number of food and drink spots that are sure to keep hunger at bay as you explore. Start the day Moi Outside (moi-outside.com), on Albert Street. Run by two cycling and outdoor enthusiasts, the cafe was set up as a space for like-minded locals. Leeds-roasted North Star coffee is served from behind the plywood counter, along with croissants and cakes, and there’s a selection…