Hi and welcome to Food I'm Mark bitman.

As always you could reach us at food at markbitman.com feel free to email us with any

questions any suggestions any feedback at all.

Remember to subscribe to the podcast and leave comments for us wherever you get your

podcasts. Yes. We'll get back to that conversation in a minute, but first I want to talk about

something that lots of people ask me about when it comes to global cuisines. There is something magical about eating a

cuisine in the place where it originated. One of the reasons for that is that the

dishes that define a cuisine are built around the produce that's native to a place.

It's why the feta and tomato and a Greek salad tastes so perfect in Athens,

or the artichokes and olive oil in Rome are to die for.

They have a certain sweetness and tang that you can get close to but

not easily replicate. And not surprisingly, one of the best ways to get a sense for how

something should taste is to visit a region of the world and

sample a dish in several forms from lots of different neighboring areas.

Then you can appreciate the local variations as well.

And the most efficient way to do that, for me at least,

is the first class experience of a Regent Cruz.

I was able to do that on our recent all-inclusive tour of Asia.

I had a hankering for seafood.

Well, I always do.

Seafood that you don't get easily in the US.

And I had just an incredible experience

...