AN APPETITE for adventure
One of my fondest memories as a student back in 1980s England was our occasional pilgrimages to a pub in the wilds of West Yorkshire, a solitary outpost famed for its pie and mushy peas. Mushy peas get a bad press, but properly soaked overnight (you had to phone the bar in advance to place your order) with a steak and ale pie and a beer or three, they were what the doctor ordered on a blustery winter’s night.
It was a 92km round trip in the borrowed student union van, and we’d return pie-sated and pie-eyed (we had a sober driver). I didn’t know it at the time, but we were early adapters – albeit unsophisticated ones – of a now burgeoning trend: gastro tourism.
Yes, it seems the world is increasingly hopping aboard not battered minivans but trains, boats and planes in search of its ultimate foodie experience. Today’s traveller is going to inordinate lengths to taste authenticity, to chomp on exclusivity, to savour the acquisition of new culinary skills. On our romps around the globe we modern food pilgrims want to see everything the kitchen sink. We don’t just covet the linen tablecloths
