Hi, I'm Mark Bittman. Welcome to Food, with me and Kate Bittman.

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the Bitman Project at bitman Project.com, or visit Mark

bitman.com for all things related to what we do. 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 in

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

...