The One Question We Ask Before Every Vacation Meal
One simple family travel rule has introduced us to local specialties, hidden gem restaurants, and some of our most memorable travel stories. Here’s how we make it work and how we turn local food into a fun challenge the whole family can enjoy.
Travel has always been my favorite excuse to try something new.
Whether it’s afternoon tea in London, shrimp and grits in Charleston, or key lime pie on a beach vacation, I love discovering the foods that help tell the story of a place.
Over the years, one simple family rule has helped push us all out of our comfort zone and led to some of our favorite vacation memories.
It isn’t complicated, but it has completely changed the way we think about food while traveling and how I prep for any trip my family takes.
Our Family Travel Food Rule
Short, easy to remember, but not always as easy to follow. This is one of my firmest travel rules and while I budge on plenty of things when we’re on vacation, I very rarely budge on this one.
Before we choose a restaurant, I always ask my family one question:
Could we eat this at home?
If it is the same restaurant we can visit on a regular Tuesday, it is not a good pick for a meal on vacation.
This generally means no chains, no national franchises, though I’ll happily make exceptions for regional favorites or fast food restaurants we don’t have back home.
Our rule applies specifically to the restaurant itself but I personally love to challenge myself to order actual food items I can’t get at home, too. It has lead me to discover amazingly delicious regional dishes I’d never have had the chance to try.
Why We Made This Rule
We are definitely not food snobs but as a cookbook author and food blogger I really love and appreciate delicious dishes. If I always eat the same things, where would I get my inspiration?
We’re also a family on a budget. We generally can’t (or don’t want to) afford Michelin restaurants when dining for 4. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to benefit from this rule.
Travel is our way to break out of our rut, to experience an alternative to our everyday life back home.
Local food creates memories. We discover what the locals love, taste the locally grown food, explore new flavors and textures, and learn about the culture of our destination.
What Happens When You Follow This Rule
When you learn to seek out unique dining locations that are different from your experiences at home, you end up having more delightful meals and you open yourselves up to simple adventures.
Once we made this rule a core family travel habit, we discovered:
- What it’s like to try a totally new-to-us food (gator bites in Florida)
- Local customs and traditions (Afternoon tea in London)
- New favorites we can’t wait to try again (rainbow cookies in NYC)
Rare Exceptions
This rule wasn’t always easy to enforce, especially when my girls were little.
We’ve had our share of picky eating preferences. There were days where we just needed to eat and something familiar was a much-needed break from the stress of traveling with tiny kids.
This is meant to help our family expand our horizons, not make us miserable. When I could sense the kids (or my husband and I!) were nearing melt-down mode, the rule went out the window if a quick fix was right in front of us.
As my girls grew, the rule got significantly easier to apply to each trip.
How We Actually Do It
To use this rule effectively without causing stress on your vacation, it does require a little bit of planning.
When you’re starving and a well-known restaurant is right there, good intentions can fly out the window.
So before you leave home, it’s a good idea to scout out a few options to keep on your itinerary.
I like to tag my favorite restaurant options in the Wanderlog app for easy reference no matter where we are at our destination. I can open the map and see the nearest restaurant suggestions at any given time.
How to Get Kids Excited About Local Food
Our family doesn’t just travel, we play Travel Tag.
Exploring local food is one of my personal favorite ways to enjoy the trip.
Picky-eating kids can be the hardest to convince to try new things so here’s how I taught my kids to enjoy it, too.
Step 1: Identify the destination’s signature food
Some places make this easier than others, but most cities or regions have something unique they like to call their own or claim that their version is the best.
Here are a few examples:
- Charleston: shrimp and grits
- Key West: key lime pie
- New York: pizza, bagels, cheesecake
- Maine: lobster rolls
- London: afternoon tea, fish and chips, Sunday roast
- Dublin: Irish breakfast, Irish stew, Guinness
- Paris: croissants, baguettes, crepes, croque-monsier, steak-frites
- Rome: pasta, pizza, gelato, ALL the foods
If you were coming to visit me in Charlotte, NC, I’d be sure you drank a Cheerwine while we tried out the local barbecue at Mac’s Speed Shop or got a chicken biscuit at Bojangles.
Turn it into a challenge
Last year during our annual multi-generation family vacation in Hilton Head, my dad invented the Key lime pie challenge.
Key lime pie is his favorite dessert and he declared that he was embarking on the hunt to find the Best Key Lime Pie on the island.
Every night at dinner, if key lime pie was on the menu we got it. We rated them, debated them, and kept score. A winner was declared at the end of the week.
This made the end of each meal especially entertaining and memorable.
Over the years we’ve rated local ice cream shops, pizza places, biscuits, and more.
It doesn’t always have to be the same singular food, it could even be Best Coffee Shop, Best Restaurant, or Best Bakery.
Make a food bucket list
Often there will be more than one signature food you’d like to try. If you don’t want to do a challenge with just one food, make a Treasure Hunt List for the foods you’d like to sample on vacation.
This is a great way to get the kids involved, too. Let them add the treats or snacks they want to seek out even if it is as simple as an ice cream cone on the beach pier or a hot pretzel from a sidewalk cart.
Have your own rating scale
During our visit to Amelia Island, my daughter ordered a blackened shrimp Caesar salad and declared it was the best she’d ever had.
From there on, for the rest of the trip she was ordering shrimp every chance she got because we rarely cook shrimp at home. She rated each shrimp dish on what she dubbed her “Shrimpy Shrimp Scale.”
5 Shrimpy Shrimps was peak achievement.
The whole family was incredibly entertained by her nightly ratings. To date, I’m not sure she’s ever found a shrimp dish that competes with that first 5-Shrimpy Shrimp salad.
Before Your Next Trip
By just taking a few minutes before you leave on your vacation to answer the following questions, you’re ensuring that each of your meals is a memory-making opportunity.
- What food is this destination known for?
- Where can I try it?
- How can I turn it into a challenge?
My Recommendations
If you’re traveling to London, Paris, or Ireland, I’ve already got some easy family-friendly food guides for you. More cities are coming soon!
