A Party In Your Mouth

One of the great joys of travel is getting the chance to experience some of the great tastes in the foods from around the country or around the world. The great thing about America is that there are so many ethnic populations and the country is so big and diverse that you can travel for many years and still be surprised by wonderful new tastes and culinary delights in the restaurants from around the country.

In the movie My Cousin Vinnie, two New Yorkers find themselves encountering culture clash as they work to help a relative with legal problems in the American south. As the southern mechanic explains that they have some of the greatest mud collections in the world in South Carolina, the New Yorker responds, "How's your Chinese food?"

The Chinese food in New York has taken on certain fame and reputation of being the finest that can be had this side of China. While one can find good Chinese food in virtually any city or berg in the country, the small area of New York City called "Chinatown" boasts the best that can be found. And to be sure, that boast is not without merit. The chefs who prepare the Chinese food in these restaurants possess the recipes and perhaps age old talents that they can put a Chinese meal on your plate, whether its simple or very complex, that will have you off of Chinese food in any other part of the country or world because, to be frank, none other can compare to it.

New York boasts of being the home of some of the greatest food in the entire country. While it would take a gourmet chef months to test out that theory, there is no question that the city has some reason to stand behind its claim. From famous New York pizza to a gyros sandwich that melts in your mouth to the proverbial hot dog at Yankee stadium, eating in New York is as much an attraction as the museums and theater district.

But when it comes to seafood, there is plenty of competition for The Big Apple. In San Francisco on the other side of the country, some of greatest delicacies are harvested from the warm Pacific Ocean to be served in the great restaurants along the harbors. You can go back many times and try every delicacy from sea bass to swordfish before you can decide you truly have tasted it all of the San Francisco cuisine.

But for lobster, it might be yet another plane flight to Cape Cod, Boston or even northern Maine. In the pristine towns up and down route 1 on Maine's east coast, you don't need a suit and a tie to enjoy the finest lobster that can be had anywhere. In season, you can drive up to what they call a "lobster pound" where you can gaze down into an over packed cooler full of live lobsters and pick your own. You can watch as your future lunch or dinner is tied in a burlap sack and dropped into an outdoor pot of boiling seawater to be served to you to eat with your hands at picnic tables outside. It is both a fabulous taste treat and a truly unique dinning experience all at once.

Great foods abound all around this great nation of ours. From the finest steak money can buy in Kansas City to the exotic tastes of Cajun cuisine in southern Louisiana to a bratwurst that will make you German even you aren't in Chicago's busy pubs and restaurants to salmon that was leaping up the falls this morning in far west Washington state, the food that abounds in this rich country is truly a delight that is not to be missed.