My favorite travel souvenirs are always edible

Remembering vacations through flavors

Have you ever found yourself craving a flavor from your trip that’s unavailable where you live? Maybe you keep recalling a magical evening at a local restaurant or the experience of eating street food while enjoying the sights of a new city. Among all the recollections you bring home, food may be one of the most poignant.

Food holds memory in ways that physical souvenirs cannot. Tastes and smells can activate vivid memories due to the Proust effect. A familiar scent or taste — which are the two main components of flavor — can bring back intense memories of sampling that food for the first time.

Straits Research reports travelers will spend an estimated $19.40 billion on souvenirs by 2033. And while others leave room in their suitcases for tchotchkes, mine consists of spice blends, bottles of condiments, fine olive oils, unique snacks and recipes for dishes my post-travel self won’t be able to live without. Savoring my treats at home and trying to recreate the dishes I discovered abroad reimmerse me in my travel experiences like nothing else.

Bringing new cultural flavors into your daily menu

When I lived in Ecuador, pan de yuca was a staple. These are small, nearly bite-sized breads often filled with cheese and made from yuca starch. This starch — also known as tapioca flour — gives pan de yuca its crisp exterior with a soft, chewy inside. Back in the United States, pan de yuca is still a weekly staple in my home. It transports me back to my time abroad and satisfies a craving for this Ecuadorian snack.

Locally available ingredients have historically defined cuisine around the world. Eating these ingredients daily while traveling can leave you craving them back home. Fortunately, many can find their way into your usual cooking or serve as a starting point for exploring new flavors and dishes.

Ingredients like yuca starch in Ecuador, preserved lemons in Morocco, gochujang in Korea or za’atar from Lebanon are delicious reminders of the foods you ate abroad. Whether you remake those foods or fuse the ingredients into your weekly menu rotation, you can honor your experiences and keep them fresh.

Take home an essential ingredient for a favorite meal

During a three-month stay in Costa Rica, I discovered gallo pinto — a dish of rice and beans commonly eaten for breakfast. The secret ingredient is Salsa Lizano, a brown sauce similar to Worcestershire. I brought back a bottle of it and immediately recreated gallo pinto at home. Serving the dish on the table instantly takes me back to mornings in Costa Rica as I prepared to head out on my daily adventures.

Many dishes around the world have a key local ingredient. Think of the harissa that gives Tunisian and Israeli food their heat or the fish sauce that deepens Vietnamese pho. A German mustard perfects a bratwurst while smoky, dried chiles define a proper Oaxacan mole.

Even if you can find that ingredient at home, the quality will often be better — and the cost lower — if you buy it where it’s made. A bottle of sauce, a spice blend, an oil or a condiment for your favorite meal abroad can also be a physical souvenir. Every time you see it on your pantry shelf, you’ll remember tasting it during your travels — and hopefully be inspired to start cooking.

Relive travel moments through food

Recreating a meal at home doesn’t just feed a craving. It brings back a moment in time. Cooking a dish from a trip lets you relive the conversations you had, the scenery you watched and the sounds you listened to.

After traveling in Colombia, remaking those recipes lets me remember the festivals I attended, the vibrancy of eating arepas from a street food vendor and the quiet moments with friends over dulce de leche or cholado for dessert. Since then, I’ve learned to make authentic Colombian food at home. While the ingredients may slightly differ, the dishes still remind me who I was in Colombia — and why that past is worth revisiting.

Choosing travel destinations as a foodie

Beaches, landmarks, adventures, history — there are dozens of factors when choosing where to go on your next vacation. I plan my trips around food. Wherever my travels take me, I want to know what grows there and the history of the cuisine. I want to know what people eat when they’re home, when they celebrate and when they feel too lazy to cook. It’s not only about the taste of the food — it’s also about the story behind it.

Culinary tourism is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the travel industry — expected to reach $1.8 trillion over the next two years. People increasingly explore through their senses — eating and drinking as the locals do. Foodie destinations, food tours and cooking classes can help you connect with cuisine abroad and find those perfect souvenirs to take home.

When bringing back food, it is important to remember that many agricultural products — including fruits, vegetables, seeds, uncured meats and soft cheeses — have restrictions at customs. Be sure to check your country’s guidelines before your return trip. If a food you want is not permitted, bring home the recipe instead and try local or online ethnic grocers to source your ingredients.

Want to hold onto a trip? Start with food

The best travel souvenirs aren’t the ones you can put on a shelf. Rather, they’re the ones that become part of who you are. They’re the meals that remind you of the friends you made, the dishes you were nervous to try — and now can’t live without — and the first time you experienced something new.

As you embark on your summer travels, keep some room in your suitcase for culinary souvenirs. Take photos of every unforgettable meal and scribble down notes of the flavors you enjoyed. When the memories of your vacation start to fade, head to your kitchen and make the meals that will take you back to those once-in-a-lifetime moments.