Sorry to interrupt your cereal...

No one eats bacon, waffles and sausages every day. Naturally, hotel spreads get boring after a while. Bring on the idlis!

- SEEMA GOSWAMI

One of the things I enjoy most about travelling abroad is the opportunity to try new cuisines, enjoy exotic flavours, and immerse myself in an unfamiliar food culture. There is something magical about eating sushi sitting at a small counter in a Kyoto restaurant, slurping up a gelato in a tiny Italian town, gorging on bangers and mash in a British pub, or even having my sinuses opened up by a fiery Thai curry in a Bangkok food court.

I say all this to establish that I am not one of those unadventurous eaters who arrives in a foreign city only to search for the nearest Indian restaurant so that I have some dal makhani and butter chicken for dinner. I am happy to eat the local cuisine, wherever I may find myself, for both lunch and dinner. It's only first thing in the morning, when I head down to the hotel breakfast buffet, that I miss the food of India.