Fork in the road

Travel should broaden the mind. Let it broaden your waistline too. Try new foods on your next vacation - it doesn't matter if you don't speak the language. The fun is in the unfamiliar

- By Vir Sanghvi

Doesn't everything taste better when you are on the road? Every time I come back from a trip, I spend a few days caressing my memories. Because I eat for a living, many of the memories are about food.

I remember sitting on a small island in the middle of the Nile, watching the sun go down, a plate of Egyptian savouries in my hand. I will never forget the view of the sea at Monopoli, in Italy's Puglia region, as I clutched my gelato. And nothing can beat a plate of noodles eaten by the largest Hindu temple in the world; not in India, in Cambodia at Angkor Wat.

When the excitement has faded somewhat, I start to think a little more dispassionately. Was the gelato that good or was I just enraptured by Puglia? Would I enjoy those Egyptian savouries without the sunset or the Nile?