Hi, it's Mark Bitman. Welcome to Food. As always, you can email us at

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Okay, I'll be right back. 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 it 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 cruise.

I was able to do that on our recent all-inclusive tour of Asia. I had a hankering for seafood. that you don't get

...