Five Dishes From Around the World You Should Try With Culture Trip

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Gethin Morgan

Content and CRM Executive

All of our trips give you the chance to sample cuisines from around the world, be it hearty national dishes, street food staples or ancient recipes. We’ve flicked through the menu for you to pick out the five must-try meals you should try on your travels with Culture Trip.

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A person adding accompaniments to a bowl of bibimbap, with julienne vegetables, rice and an egg yolk

Bibimbap, South Korea

We’re gonna go out on a limb and say that this Korean staple is the most aesthetically pleasing dish on the planet. ‘Bap’ is cooked rice, and that’s the centrepiece of the dish. The bowl is then embellished with seasonal vegetables (sauteed), gochujang chilli paste, sliced meat and an egg. That’s when we get to the ‘Bibim’, which means mixing, so while the dish comes out all pretty and perfectly placed, your job is to mush it all together into one big delicious combination of punchy, fresh flavour. Variations of the dish date as far back as 1590 and in the centuries since Bibimbap has established itself as one of the most iconic meals in South Korean cuisine. You will find tasty variations of it all over the country but, on our Soulful South Korea trip, you’ll get to sample it in the city it was first invented, Jeonju.

From US$2414

Next available from 8th Oct 2023

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Trip highlights and details

STARTS AT

Seoul, South Korea

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ENDS AT

Seoul, South Korea

DURATION

10

GROUP SIZE

16

PHYSICAL RATING

Moderate

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STYLE

Discovery

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Person cutting into khachapuri cheese bread in Georgia

Khachapuri, Georgia

Cheese and bread. It’s a combination that hasn’t failed us for centuries, a perfect example of the delicious creations that have spawned from basic, working class cooking practices from an age when you made-do with the ingredients you had. Most countries have some kind of variation of the bread-cheese combo – pizza, enchiladas, the humble cheese toasty – but few countries have hit the sweet spot quite like Georgia, who mastered the art with khachapuri sometime in the 12th century (probably). Since then it has embedded itself deeply into the heart of Georgian culture, so much so that the khachapuri index is used as a measure of domestic inflation – as if making it the national dish wasn’t enough. We’ll take you for an incredible khachapuri on the first full day of our Georgia and the Caucasus itinerary. We suspect that won’t be your last across the nine-day getaway…

From US$1167

Next available from 24th Sep 2023

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Trip highlights and details

STARTS AT

Tbilisi, Georgia

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ENDS AT

Tbilisi, Georgia

DURATION

9

GROUP SIZE

16

PHYSICAL RATING

Moderate

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STYLE

Discovery

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Chef preparing schnitzel at a famous restaurant in Vienna

Schnitzel, Austria

Central Europe is famed for its hearty cuisine, usually revolving around bread and meat, perhaps served with a side of meaty bread. The schnitzel is undoubtedly king, and there’s nowhere better to try it than in Austria. Relative to the concept this dish doesn’t actually feel too indulgent. It’s a slice of meat – most commonly pork or veal – pounded into a thin fillet with a meat tenderiser, breaded using a light breadcrumb mixture and fried in shallow oil. There is some debate about its place of origin but we’re nailing our colours to the mast and saying Vienna is the ultimate place to try it. Our Berlin to Budapest Rail Trip stops off in the Austrian capital and on night one there we’ll be tucking into an authentic schnitzel dinner.

From US$2473

Next available from 13th Apr 2024

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STARTS AT

Berlin, Germany

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ENDS AT

Budapest, Hungary

DURATION

10

GROUP SIZE

18

PHYSICAL RATING

Light

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STYLE

Discovery

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The famous traditional dish of the Azores is Cozido das Furnas

Cozido stew, Azores

A cozido is a classic hearty stew eaten in Spain, Portugal and Brazil, combining a multitude of regional vegetables (beans, potatoes, cabbage carrots, turnips etc) with a meat (chicken, pork, bacon, beef) in one big boiled batch. It’s food for the soul and worth a try whenever in Portugal, but in the Azores it’s worth sampling not just for the dish itself, but also how it’s made. There’s a technique on São Miguel Island which takes advantage of the archipelago’s rich geothermal powers to cook the stew underground, using only the natural heat and steam coming from the volcanic landscape. That’s exactly the kind of cozido stew you’ll tuck into on day five of our Atlantic Azores adventure. The stew will be bubbling away for six hours underground as we hike around the Furnas crater lake. We’ll mark our return in the classic Azorean way with a reinvigorating bowl of geothermal cozido.

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Next available from 29th Mar 2024

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STARTS AT

Ponta Delgada, Portugal

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ENDS AT

Ponta Delgada, Portugal

DURATION

6

GROUP SIZE

8

PHYSICAL RATING

Moderate

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STYLE

Discovery

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Thai Northern style pork and tomato chili relish (nam phrik aawng ; nam prik ong)

Nam phrik ong, Thailand

Any trip to Thailand is sure to be filled with lots of great Thai dishes, many of which will be consumed in buzzy night markets. Nam phrik ong is one of the classics, found in pretty much any street food market in Northern Thailand. It’s a thick, saucy ground pork concoction made with sugar, tomato, shrimp paste and ground chilli paste. It’s a pretty simple concept but the flavours are incredible. You’ll usually find them served with seasonal vegetables and sticky rice. On day eight of our Tropical Northern Thailand trip we’ll mark our arrival in Doi Inthanon with a tasting lunch consisting of a banquet of Thai delicacies, including a tasty portion of this hearty pork delight.

From US$1189

Next available from 12th Nov 2023

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Trip highlights and details

STARTS AT

Chiang Mai, Thailand

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ENDS AT

Chiang Mai, Thailand

DURATION

10

GROUP SIZE

16

PHYSICAL RATING

Moderate

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STYLE

Discovery

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