No, I am not referring to the color of my crispy deep fired beach skin...
Today I left the "Land of Smiles" for the "Land of Durians". I have to admit that after being in Thailand almost 3 months I was not that excited to move to another country and start over on language and culture. However, after spending only a short bit of time here it seems an interesting place.
Fortunate for Malaysia I judge a country mostly on how good and cheap the food is, and if Malaysia is half as good as my Indian inspired lunch, I think it should be a good country to travel in.
Now, back to the subject. Deep fried travel.
Anyone who has read a few traveling books or been on the road for a while as heard of different "methods" to make travel interesting and fun. Immersion, threading etc. I however propose a new method that I have personally developed (without intending to) on travel philosophy.
I have inadvertently discovered that what a country decides to deep fry for food, is enormously linked to larger the culture. I believe that you can completely judge a country by its fried food.
Case in point America. Which foods do we export to the rest of the world and are considered the height of American culture? Fired foods of course, all in the guise of Micky D's and a surprising number of KFCs and other fast food chains.
I propose that we travel to places that have the best deep fried food, and that from this we can learn more about the culture then doing ridiculous things like... i don't know.. visiting temples and cultural sites, or trying to read about the history.
These might be helpful to some, but only one who has not sampled the local deep fried food! Other wise the are in my experience a complete waste of time.
Who are the winners so far on my trip? China's deep fired bananas in the south are diffidently a winner. along with Thailand's hard boiled quail eggs wrapped in wanton like dough put on a stick and fried sereved with sweet chili sauce. ummmmm. I miss it already. I don't think there is a better food for the Atkins diet. I have not been in Malay long, but the fresh fried Samosa like triangle I ate off the street was pretty damn good. The best thing about these foods is that you can eat as much as you like with out worrying. Since as far as i can tell they have absolutely no nutritional benefits!
So get out there and really travel! Not by visiting the Eiffel tower stupid, but by having some French Fries! (for those of you not familiar with these name, some know them as Freedom Fries in the US)
For all of those back in the US, please let me know what a deep fried Twinkies taste like.
I tired the deep fried crickets, and there not bad, alot like Beef Jerky.
