#2 Adapt yourself to the local habits (or try to convince your friends to try it your way).
In France, people are used to eating all together around a dining table, you eat first a cold starter, than the main plate, and then cheese and/or a dessert. You drink some wine according to what’s on your plate, and no one would wonder if the cook’s gone crazy if he serves a slice of apple along the meat.
In other countries, things may be different, and you haven’t traveled a hundred miles to be in a place that looks just like your home town, have you? So whatever you cook for your friends, try to compromise.
I love chicken with honey, but I know it’s surprising for people in Eastern Europe, so I don’t put honey in the pan but on the table, for people to add to their meat or not. If I can find some, I buy chutney, and I explain to people that, yes, it’s sweet, but it can be eaten for the rest of it. They try it, just to be polite, and, even if some of them don’t like it, they’re always happy to discover something new.
Also, consider preparing something more “classical” in case your guests don’t really appreciate what you’ve served, and to bring it from the kitchen if you feel that they’re not really enjoying you’re pancakes, your Wiener schnitzel, your Italian gnocchi or your Bulgarian banitsa.
You can learn from my mistakes: in Sarajevo, I prepared chicken (a small portion in every plate) and half a tone of vegetables, and after diner, the oldest son of my hosts was sitting in the kitchen eating fried eggs. They’re accustomed to consuming a hundred times more calories than I do. But don’t worry if it happens to you, it’s the thought that counts…
*******************************************************************
About The Author: Digital Nomad, Vincent has been traveling for two years around Central & Eastern Europe, stopping in a different city for each time two months on average. He's now located in Novi Sad, Serbia. As a food lover, he intends to master the art of the “cooking the perfect djuvetch the Serbian way” within the next five years. After that, he’ll try something much easier, like crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a paddle boat or read the original text of the Ramayana in Sanskrit.
Click To Read More...