Philippines food in pictures

One of Asia's lesser known cuisine's, the Philippines', is captured by the BBC in this beautiful gallery of food images. Click here to view the gallery. To read about Philippines attempts to bring more spotlight to its cuisine click here. To experience first-hand the food and culture of the Philippines on our Taste of the Philippines tour click here. 

Top 10 foods to try before you die!

Sampling the local cuisine can help you make friends, understand the history, politics or religion of the place you're visiting and provide a lasting memory of your trip. Food and travel go hand in hand, and there's no better way to delve deep into a destination than to try its most famous dishes.

No matter where you go around the world, every culture puts its own spin on food, whether they're serving a slightly different version of a familiar favorite or a strange (to you) dish sure to challenge even the most adventurous eater.

From China's famous Peking duck to good old US barbecue, here are ten iconic dishes from around the world that every traveler should try at least once!

Check them all out here.

And to taste some of the best check out our Malaysia food tour (seafood curry laksa), our South India food tour (masala dosa), our China food tour (Peking duck) and our Thailand food tours (Som tam/green papaya salad). Enjoy!

Turkish Airlines Food Named No. 1

A panel of international travelers has spoken and named Turkish Airlines' cuisine the best in-flight food, beating out 18 other airlines around the world. The survey, coordinated by flight comparison site Skyscanner, asked passengers to judge airline food based on presentation and taste. Turkish Airlines menu, which includes such dishes as Turkish meatballs, stuffed eggplant, caprese salad, and walnut pear tart, took first place with a score of 86%. Read more

Colombia Coffee Region

Day 1: Coffee Region - Pereira

It was a morning flight from Bogota to Pereira, one of the three major towns in Colombia's verdant coffee region. As the plane approached Pereira all I could see was mile-upon-mile of lush green mountains. We were greeted at the airport and whisked away to our hacienda where we were served the freshest Colombian fruit juice (passionfruit is widespread here and with good reason extremely popular).

After a filling lunch and some energetic dancing from some Colombian dancers, we moved on to the wonderful Hacienda Venecia, where the owner, Juan, gave us an extremely informative and interesting tour of his vast coffee plantation. There is a real science to coffee cultivation and he explained the challenges of unpredictable climate and trading in the international market. Starting from seedlings and the careful nurturing of the coffee plant, once the first leaves start to appear, the plant is shifted to the main plantation where it is nurtured until the coffee beans bear fruit. Only once the beans turn from green to red are they picked by hand.

Colombia is known the world over for the finest washed Arabica coffee, and the soil and climate lends the bean a sweet flavour. Juan then went on to show us the complex machinery used to 'wash' the beans. After washing, the beans have a green tinge and are then stored in large coffee sacks ready to be sold in the international market. Due to the ever-growing demand for coffee and the prices that can be fetched for raw beans, Colombia exports its best beans, which are then roasted abroad and sold in supermarkets and drank in huge volumes in coffee shops around the world.

Juan also showed us how the roasting process is carried out using a small roasting machine. In just 7 minutes, these green beans took on a deep brown colour, expanded in size, giving off the most delightful aroma. He then served us cafe tinto (black coffee) which tasted sublime. It was easily the smoothest cup of coffee I remember having in a long time. and the slightly sweet undertones also came through.

Just spending a few hours in Juan's company, I felt humbled by the hard work and dedication these coffee farmers put into cultivating the finest coffee beans. There is no doubt coffee is vital for Colombia and is one of its major exports. Numerous livelihoods depend on coffee production and all those involved take great pride in it. Having tasted real Colombian coffee, I can't see myself drinking coffee from anywhere else!

Serbia: a foodie heaven?

With a unique culinary heritage, Serbia has quite a lot to offer the discerning foodie. From a thriving boutique wine culture to a rich and varied culinary heritage, there's more to Serbia than meets the eye.

Watch an online video about Serbia's food.

Or why not sign up to receive updates on our upcoming Serbia food tour.

Northern Thailand Red Curry (local style) ... it's a little different!

MasterChef finalist Andy Oliver visited Chiang Mai and discovered a very different type of Thai red curry

In Northern Thailand, they do red curries a little differently from the rest of the country. They are red curries in that the paste is deep-red due to the dried long red chillies pounded into it. But it's not like the red curry most people will be familiar with.

Why? Well mainly because a) there's no coconut cream used, and b) the paste has much fewer ingredients in and is boiled, not fried.

So if you're craving that classic ubiquitous style of Thai red curry then this isn't it.

But if you want to try something different, a slightly spicy, pork and vegetable curry with clean flavours and a richness of good dried chilli, then give this one a go. To me, it's a great introduction to the style of some Northern Thai dishes. Read more.

See our Thailand food tours here.

A Taste of Kilkenny

After a couple of days around Dublin catching up with family and friends it was time for another day of food touring, and this time my destination was Kilkenny. Kilkenny is a rising star of the Irish food scene and Ann Phelan had been charged with promoting some of the brightest lights of the scene in the guise of Trail Kilkenny. After a coffee and a chat about what I was hoping to do in terms of a food tour in the region we set off towards Stoneyford and our first stop was at Knockdrinna Farm shop and Artisan café.

Here I sampled a number of cheeses including a semi-firm goat's milk cheese in the classic French Tomme style that had been served to the queen on her recent state visit. Well I was impressed by it! And apparently I was not alone as Mary explained that people had been driving in from all over the country to sample it. The farm has a number of animals – pigs, goats, turkeys, massive rabbits etc that children love to come out and play with. Mary also produces very well regarded free range rare breed pork.

Our next stop was Jerpoint Glass, a maker of beautiful handmade glass. There is a small shop showcasing the works of glass including some stunning pieces but the highlight was watching the glass blowers at work. From Jerpoint we stopped off at Goatsbridge Trout farm where Margaret explained the process of trout farming and why trout farming was no longer a dirty word. She was clearly very passionate about what she did, and had a lot of plans for the future.  We stopped briefly into Jerpoint House, a stunning housewith very gracious hosts, on whose grounds are some very ancient ruins. I was given a quick “goose dog” (you’ve heard of sheep dogs?!) show. See here for what this means!

From here we headed down to Thomastown where we stopped into the beautiful Blackberry café run by the energetic owner Jackie. Here I had a delicious lunch of Knockdrinna quiche and a side salad while watching one of the village’s oddballs wandering around with a tame fox on his head. I swear I had had nothing to drink at this point!

We dropped in to the Truffle Fairy, an award-winning chocolatier where I was shown around and Mary explained the process of making chocolate and agreed that she would be happy to do a chocolate demo for our clients. We stopped briefly into a quirky craft shop called clay creations where Brid gave us a short demo on how she makes her most famous pieces.

As time was now running short we headed back to Kilkenny, and after a quick visit of the beautiful Kilkenny castle it was time for me to catch the train back to Dublin, tired but excited about the prospects for an excellent food tour in Ireland if we can tie all the pieces together.