Are You On A TEFL Diet?

On Pigs In The Toilet, the latest installment is about – as Jeff put it – regressing to eating western food while traveling in Tibet. I have to admit, my mouth started watering when he described a homemade hash brown that outsized his plate.

It struck me that this topic is relevant to EFL teachers as well: how much do you adapt to local food and how much of your “own” food do you eat?

My own answer is a bit of a cop out, as day to day food people eat in Eastern Europe is not all that different from day to day food in the US – maybe a bit healthier. While cevapcici and burek, bryndzove halusky, and chicken paprikas are works of culinary art for sure, eating them every day, or even more than once a week I suspect, would not be good for your arteries. In my experience, locals know this and while they appreciate (and cook) their own excellent food, they don’t eat it every day.

I think I do eat more fruit, and I have certainly learned to cook a few things more or less from scratch, but I have to say overall, my eating habits abroad are not terribly different from my eating habits at home. When I live in a city with a McDonald’s or – watch out –a Little Caeser’s or Pizza Hut, I do on occasion indulge, albeit with a twinge of guilt. I also wear a trench coat, hat and sunglasses so no one recognizes me.

How much have you adapted – are you a total convert to the local way of eating or do you still enjoy your own “national” food?