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Tip #8
Share your Food
Don’t walk alone. Remember that you’re in a hostel full of other people dealing with the same issues you are! Overwhelmingly strange ingredients, lackluster conditions. Plus cooking for one isn’t easy.
Not only that, but you’re probably all here to get to know new people too!! [Tweet “What better way to make new friends than by sharing a meal?”]
Agree on a budget and share the expenses. Prepare the meal together and share your secrets! (make sure to ask about food allergies or other constraints)
Alternatively, have a group make the entree, one the main course, one the desert, and another get the wine. Cooperation spells 3-course-meal-on-a-budget.
You don’t need to go all out to share either.
Maybe if you’re going to slow-cook your onions you can prepare a large batch for everyone to use in their meals.
Maybe everyone can chip in for a new bottle of olive oil to split between the bunch.
Maybe you can trade a bit of your cumin for some curry.
Maybe you get the honey and they get the greek yogurt.
Maybe you can make a fruit juice smoothie if someone gets the ice…
There are loads of ways to share, find one that works for you. But don’t get taken advantage of either. Only agree to trades that benefit both sides. “You cut, I choose the slice” sort of deals.
I Pity the Fool
On that note. I don’t recommend preparing a meal today in exchange for one tomorrow, or even later today. Plans change fast when you’re on the road, you can’t hold it against someone if they pack up and have to leave immediately for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, leaving you short a meal on your budget. Well, yes you can, but I’ll have warned you.
The kitchen has been the nucleus that ties people together for eons, there’s no reason it would be any different on the road.
[Tweet “You’ll find that by sharing a meal you’ll be sharing a lot more than food.”]
Share More Than Food
You all have wonderful stories to bond over and might even find you’re going to the same place after you leave here. You’ll laugh at having made the same rookie mistakes, and exchange tips on how to keep your valuables safe.
There’s a sort of magic when sharing a meal, it’s like… [Tweet “Instead of filling each other’s bellies, it feels more like filling each others hearts.”]
You’ll find that some of your tightest bonds down the road will have come from sharing a meal with a fellow traveler.
Do you have food sharing horror stories? Or tips I’ve forgotten?
If you missed any, check them out right here:
