50% of my photos are probably of them. Many folks are willing to travel across time zones for it. Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite subject: food….and drink.

What country’s food did you enjoy the most?

My answer is probably not the one you’d expect. I’ve been to Italy, France, Thailand, Mexico…but those aren’t it. For me, it was Trinidad and Tobago.

Years ago, I worked in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and would frequently have to make trips to surrounding neighborhoods, like Crown Heights. Crown Heights was not the “trendy” (I hate that word to describe communities) place it is considered now. That part of Brooklyn was — and still is! — heavily West Indian. You’ve got Jamaicans, Haitians, Trinis, and so many others from the Eastern Caribbean. Naturally, there are take-out spots all over the place with each country’s cuisine.

We’d be on the run and I learned to pick up a doubles or aloo pie, or if I had time to sit and eat, a roti. Trinidad is really a cosmopolitan place when it comes to different cultures colliding, so you have a heavy East Indian influence, a West African influence, some Venezuelan/Indigenous influences, and of course, lots of fresh fruits and veggies. You want sweet, savory, spicy — sometimes all in one dish! — you’ll find what you’re looking for.

What country has the best beer?

Was just having this conversation yesterday with my neighborhood bartender. Is it Ireland? No, even though I’m of Irish heritage and have drunk many a Guinness in the motherland.

I’ve never been to Oktoberfest, but I have been to Munich and hefeweizens are among my favorite beer types. You might guess it’s Germany and you’d also be wrong!

It’s hand down Belgium. The beer is phenomenal. Pro tip: If you’re ever in Brussels, you must  go to Delirium Café. The beer is delicious and many Belgian bars serve them in special shaped glasses — like La Corne, which is horned-shaped and Kwak, which looks like a huge test tube — which make for an experience.

Ghent, another small city about an hour away, is also great. Go to Dulle Griet, which is renowned for its beer. You can get Kwak in a giant glass there and what they’ll do is take your shoes as collateral and hang it from up rope from the ceiling until you’re done drinking. It was hilarious to watch.

What’s a new fruit that you tried and loved while traveling?

Many years ago, I took a trip to Zipaquirá, a small city a few hours north of Bogotá, which is known for its Salt Cathedral, an underground church carved into a salt mine. I’ll never be able to remember where I ate it, but after exploring the cathedral, we had lunch nearby and dessert. The dessert was papayuela, a type of papaya that grows in parts of Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America. It was candied and very sweet. I’ve tried to find it in New York City and in eighteen years, have not succeeded.

On second thought, I wish I could say it was a durian. I saw it being sold in Bangkok, but chickened out. The closest I got was a durian candy, which tasted almost like a caramel. I did get to try mangosteens, which I wanted to like, but wasn’t crazy about. Colombia still takes the cake for diversity in fruits for me.

Which liquor is a must try when traveling abroad?

Some years ago, I had the pleasure of spending the day in Puebla, a day trip from Mexico City. Soaking up the atmosphere, I plopped myself down at a youthful cafe and plotted my next move. On the menu, I spotted a licor I’d never heard of, yolixpa. Apparently, it’s a very poblano-centric spirit, an aperitif. It was light greenish and had a very herbal, kind of bitter flavor. Not my favorite but an experience.

Aside from beer, rum is my alcoholic beverage, though I rarely take it straight. I love a balanced rum punch and one of the biggest pleasures is experiencing the uniqueness of it in every Caribbean island I visit, infused with their local rum. Wrap & Nephew Overproof is my favorite. Ten to One has also quickly become popular and has a great taste. There are so many different variations. Then there are aguardiente and cachaca, which are also sugarcane-based, yet totally different.

Have you ever gotten sick from what you ate abroad?

Yes, a few times. I think all of our numbers finally come up at a certain point if you travel frequently. At one point I was travelling in Quindío, Colombia, the heart of the coffee region. I’d been eating well for the past week: lots of rice, big, fat antioqueño beans (after you eat these, no other habichuela or kidney bean will do it), carne asada, and fresh fruit everyday.

We leave Circasia, where we’d been staying and head for Armenia, the capital city of the department. We took a few photos at Plaza Bolívar, the city’s main square, and headed to lunch. The meal must have been pretty unremarkable because I can’t remember what it even was. That night, my stomach explodes and next thing you know, I’m in the bathroom or in bed for the next 24 hours. Could barely move. If you don’t know by now, Pedialyte and white rice works miracles.

The second time was in Havana, Cuba, and I’m almost positive what it was that caused it: lobster. I had dinner al fresco and while the food was ok. Like other culinary experiences I’d later read about from other travelers to Cuba, it was just ok, if not pedestrian. I recall the waiter apologizing, as I’d ordered maduros (fried sweet plantains) and they’d run out for the night.

Like Colombia, the “eruption” happened in the middle of the night and went on until I swore I didn’t have an electrolyte left in me. Unfortunately, for me, after little sleep, I had an afternoon flight to catch home. Barely hungry, I forced myself to eat a very bland sandwich. Weak, I found myself in a balmy, humid airport covered in sweat. That short plane ride was punctuated by bouts of turbulence that made my stomach lurch and my already clammy palms sweatier.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

What do you consider weird? I’m a pretty adventurous eater, or at least I was. There are a few things I absolutely refuse: hákarl and casu marzu (I know you’re gonna Google these), to name a few. I grew up scarfing down calamari and scungilli, so escargot was a natural progression once I finally visited Paris. They are almost like a garlicky shellfish, so if you eat clams or mussels, you can eat escargots. I hate frog legs too, which actually do taste like a milder chicken, if that makes sense.

Back in Colombia (it’s something with that country!), a bunch of us took a weekend trip to a friend’s finca in Viotá, a gorgeous rural area about three hours from Bogotá. On Sunday, we took a ride to a nearby village, Tocaima, to have lunch and a few beers. We ordered huge picaderas – platters full of chicken, grilled meats, and plantain – to share.

While I could easily identify most of it, there was one I couldn’t: a chewy, unfamiliar meat. I asked another friend what it was, who shrugged, and replied, “Un animalito…no sé.” Another interjected that it might have been cuy, guinea pig native to the Andes. Either way, it tasted great, though I still wonder sometimes what it was.

What’s a food you love abroad that is difficult or impossible to get back home?

In New York City, you’ve got the best shot at finding a place that serves food from whatever country you can dream of…almost. Like, I’ve never seen a Costa Rican restaurant or an Antiguan take-out spot (though we have a community here in the Bronx.) People from the Southwest and California complain that Mexican regional food here is limited — I’ll admit that.

Let’s go with the issue of regional food…most Colombians in the New York metro area are from the Andes: Bogotá, Medellín and the coffee region, Cali. You really don’t find too many from the Caribbean coast. I’d love an arepa de huevo, a pargo rojo, and some coconut rice Cartagena style. Even in Queens, that’d be difficult to find.

With fluctuations of immigration from different countries, it would have been easier to find Bavarian German cuisine, for example, thirty years ago or when my parents were young. Now? One restaurant in Glendale, Queens recently closed its adjoining butcher shop and there are probably a half dozen or fewer left in the city, if you also count Austrian food. As a result, I haven’t eaten the schweinebraten I enjoyed in Germany and Austria since I visited, nearly a decade ago.