I just took my fourth trip to Asia (India this time) and discovered something about culture shock related to food. I love a lot of Asian food, and when I went to India, food was the least of my concerns. I love curry, rice and dal, chicken tikka masala, etc. I’m right there with the best of them sopping it all up with naan. I surprised the nationals with how well I handled spice.
But what happened on my three previous Asian trips happened on this one. After about a week of it, one day my stomach spoke to me. It really did. It said “Stop it!”
My body rejected even the thought of another bite of heavy sauce.
So here’s my wisdom about culture shock with food. It goes past the mind. My mind was willing. But my body rejected it and craved donuts instead.
Now, in my past two blog posts, I’ve come down hard on donuts. But it turns out they are what my body defaults to when it’s done with foreign food.
I remember the first time it happened in Malaysia. The culprit was the national breakfast dish nasi lemak. It is made up of rice cooked in coconut milk and topped with cucumber slices, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, a hard boiled egg and a spicy sauce. It is sold cheaply in stalls along the street. No need to make your own breakfast—just walk outside and find some nasi lemak. Since my husband is from there, I went along with this and enjoyed it. For a week. And then, I’ll be darned if my stomach didn’t talk to me one morning. And you know what it said? “Stop it!” It was not going to accept one more bite of nasi lemak, which I have lovingly renamed nasi peanut. And I bowed my head and prayed for a donut. (And a donut appeared.) All was right with the world again, and I never ate nasi peanut again on that trip.
Usually it’s the mind that rebels, but the body can rebel completely independently of the mind. My third trip to Asia the uprising happened a week in when we went for breakfast, and there facing me was fish head and frog soup. Up to that point, I was the female Andrew Zimmern of Bazaar Foods. I was a champ to try anything. But that morning, guess what my stomach said. This time, instead of donuts, we determined KFC might be the best thing for me.
My advice to others traveling to foreign countries, willing to brave any food… bring some Imodium. It’s a must.
Tell me what you think.
Jody
