Hi there. It's Mark Bitman and welcome to food. As always, you can reach out to us at

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Back 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 in a Greek salad tastes so perfect in Athens,

where 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,

...