Go Green Travel Green

I love trying new restaurants, but this can get expensive, especially in the U.S. Luckily there are ways to save a huge amount of money, while supporting local businesses…. If you’re going to be visiting a new city (or even want to try a new restaurant in your own town), it’s worth choosing a few restaurants before you go and purchasing the gift cards through Restaurants.com.

There are plenty of travelers who visit a country or region specifically to sample local cuisine — pasta in Italy, wine in France, or steak in Argentina …. The following foods are known to be high in antioxidants, lower cholesterol, reduce your risk of heart disease, control blood sugar, and/or prevent cancer. The worlds healthiest foods.

For vegan or vegetarian travelers, maintaining a strict diet while traveling can be extremely challenging. Luckily there are plenty of places where vegetarianism is commonplace and even encouraged (specifically in Buddhist countries). Here are 10 countries where vegetarian travelers should have an easier time finding vegetarian restaurants (listed alphabetically):

Have you ever walked into a pharmacy in a foreign country and wondered what exactly you were buying? While common pharmaceuticals are available in most countries, sometimes you’re better off trying an at-home remedy before you experiment with an unknown medicine.Here are 11 everyday foods and the common traveler’s illness they are known to help cure. I’ve posted this two ways, first by food and what it treats, and secondly by the illness and what will alleviate it.

The worst fresh mango in Belize is going to be better than the best grocery store mango in the U.S. 99% of the time. Even if it’s a food that you may not normally eat (like grasshoppers) it’s probably going to be better tasting than the hamburger from the McDonald’s up the road.

Here are some of our favorites: Taste of India We heard about this restaurant from my parents, who told us that Taste of India was only open on weekends and you had to buy drinks at the bar down the beach because they didn’t’ have an alcohol permit….   Hudutu Beaches and Dreams Barracuda Bar The only place in Hopkins worth spending a lot of money on (there are a few other “nice” restaurants at resorts, but the ones we tried weren’t worth the money).

And other than Rum and Coke, Belikin is about all there is to drink in Belize. Considering the exorbitant amounts of Belikin that towns must go through (it’s only sold in 12 ounce bottles), I always wondered how it was exactly that Belikin got delivered.

One of my favorite ways to get to know a destination is by sampling its foods. Argentina is a huge country and it has remarkably good steak, stellar ice cream, mouth-watering pastas, and dozens of other savory items I’d never tried before. It’s been a delicious, belt-busting ride. Here’s what I’ve found.

Walk down any street in any town in Argentina at about 3:00 in the afternoon and you’ll see someone pouring hot water from a thermos into a gourd, drinking it through a straw, then passing it to a friend who repeats the process…. You drink it through a metal straw-like utensil (called a bombillo ) that has a filter on the end so the mate leaves can’t get through.

However, walking down just a few blocks of the city revealed that with the sheer number of shops I would become either sick or broke (probably both) if sampling from each shop. We conducted our own taste testing of chocolate shops in Bariloche, Argentina.

Alas, to my disappointment, a typical breakfast in Argentina is a cup of coffee with milk ( cafe con leche ), a few croissants ( medialunas ), and a shot glass of carbonated water…. After two months in Argentina, I’ve gotten used to supplementing my hostel breakfast with fruit or yogurt to satiate my American desire for something more substantial.

Sweet Potatoes or Yams Butter Brown Sugar (white sugar or honey could also work) Orange Juice (we used juice fresh from an orange) Bake sweet potatoes in oven until very tender…. For 2 large sweet potatoes we used 3-4 tablespoons of butter, 1-2 tablespoons of “black sugar” (which happens to be just white sugar with coloring, but we didn’t know this until after we came home from the market), and juice from 1 orange.

We split a “mixed grill for 2″– an entire grill full of steaks, sausages, blood sausages, intestines, and sweetbreads for about $14 US. Once he had cooked the meat on the large parrilla, the owner brought a small grill table side to keep the food warm…. This meal cost a whopping $36 US. Because this parrilla was so amazing we went back a second time; this time limiting ourselves to a half portion of bife de lomo, a beef empanada and some delicious thin cut french fries.

Sure, the empanadas are 10x better and 4x cheaper than Julia’s empanadas in D.C., the steaks are so fantastic it’s hard to believe meat this good is possible, and the helado /ice cream, while not as inexpensive I’d like, is quite good…. Having no clue what “alcayota” is she explained that it’s like spaghetti squash inside only it’s the size, shape, and color of a green baseball.

The single origin idea fascinates me because as a traveling locavore I could taste these chocolates At Trader Joe’s I found a sample pack of Choctal…. The Choctal box claims “Choctal’s quest is to bring our consumers the most delicious, robst chocalte and vanilla flavor profiles the world has to offer — and we choose to do it in the most earth friendly way we possibly can.

I went to two this weekend and you just can’t trade the experience of chatting with the people who grow your food - especially when the alternative is the bored teenage checker at the local Safeway. My favorite part of my weekend farmers market excursions was at the H Street Farmers Market when, upon seeing my reusable bag, a lettuce vendor told me how happy she is that everyone is bringing their own bags these days.

But I did manage to get away with some real winners: homemade vodka sauce, couscous, white clam sauce, pesto, two bottles of wine, and two cheeses…. It’s a bit crowded, but the people are friendly and there’s a real sense of community, which is hard to come by in this wonky, career-obsessed city.

It’s 8:30am as I step off the Metro.  Walking 1 block toward my office I smell them - the satisfying sinful food native to DC.  Half-smokes with a delicious smell that I appreciate even at 8:30 in the morning.  Every single day.
Not quite a hot dog, not quite a sausage, the half smoke is [...]

Don’t worry - I’m not going to get all PETA on you and condemn you for torturing baby cows by eating meat. I’ve been an on-again off-again vegan/vegetarian (currently in an on-again phase) for the past 8 years, so I’m obviously not one to talk about permanently committing to being meat and dairy-free.
That said, with [...]

Bottled water destroys the earth, but I might be drinking someone else’s leftover Viagra in my tap water? If recent news of hormone disrupting BPA in water bottles, pharmaceuticals in U.S. tap water, and the environmental impact of bottled water has got you down, you’re not alone.
In the U.S., drinking filtered tap water is the [...]

We’ve concluded the Before You Go section of 25 Days to Green Travel so now we can get into the really fun stuff: When You’re There. Whether you’re currently traveling, planning a trip, or just day-dreaming at your desk, the rest posts in the series will be about how to be a green traveler once [...]

If you already make efforts to be a “green” traveler, what does it take to be even greener? This Shades of Green Series explores various ways to step up your green travel efforts using our shades of green travel spectrum. If you’re not familiar with the spectrum, it ranges from “pea green” travelers [...]

If you already make efforts to be a “green” traveler, what does it take to be even greener? This Shades of Green Series explores various ways to step up your green travel efforts using our shades of green travel spectrum. If you’re not familiar with the spectrum, it ranges from “pea green” travelers [...]

You don’t have to travel to Ireland to find good beer on St. Patrick’s Day. No matter where you are, just head to a local grocery store or favorite bar and look for an organic brew. I love beer, so I don’t hesitate to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by sipping on a few quality brews. [...]

Travelers, it’s 10 am. Do you know where your organic food is?
Possibly on its way to your local grocery store from a corporate food processor.
You might have been concerned when Clorox acquired Burt’s Bees last October. I know I was - somehow bleach and personal care products just don’t mix in my mind. But did [...]

The locavore movement, defined as trying to eat only food grown or harvested within a 100-mile radius of your home, started in San Francisco in 2005 as a challenge for people in the Bay Area. The movement grew quickly and in November of last year, Oxford University Press named “locavore” its word of the year.
I’ve [...]

Even in the city with an reputation for being obsessed with politics and more than a bit uptight, you can find quality organic food in eco-conscious restaurants. You just have to know where to look.
Here are our top picks for green restaurants in the U.S. capital.
Coppi’s Organic Restaurant (U Street)
How it’s green: The Green Pledge [...]