Marching Orders, continued: Eat as though you're far from home, even when you're not

What does a traveling foodie do for a restaurant when visiting a place that's just like home? Here I am in LA for the weekend. One solution to the quandary of new food experiences is to find an ethnic eatery that's at least new to you.

Victims of odd flight schedules and time changes, we were starving when we finally got away from the airport in a rental car. We stopped at a Persian restaurant in a strip mall. The decor was ordinary, but the service was attentive, as it probably is in Persia/Iran today (at least I've found this to be true in Turkey and Syria). A lunch plate the size of dinner was under $10.

Check out how Tajrish Persian Kabob House presented our $4 soup appetizer.

Marching Orders

This is the place for tips that make the travel eating experience what it should be. For example, the rule "if it grows together, it goes together" especially applies when you've changed latitudes. If you're in New England, eat a salad that contains apples and cranberries. When you're in the Mediterranean and all around you are hedges of rosemary, make sure that some of it lands on your plate.

This isn't just a way to eat while you're on the road. Eat the way the local people do, and you'll feel as though you're one of them.