Bloggers’ Bites: Best Travel Food
Bloggers’ Bites is a series of posts chronicling the foodie adventures of Penn Appétit’s blog staff. As our last summer bite, we posed the following question: What’s your favorite travel food (i.e. what do you take on a road trip, day trip, to the airport, etc.)?
Vera Kirillov I fly a lot to and from school, on family vacations, and to visit family and friends. Whenever I’m flying from my home, I usually have my backpack packed with my mom’s or my own baked goods. These aren’t just bags of cookies, however. My mom will make me Russian favorites like piroshky, which are meat and cabbage-stuffed bread rolls. Along with a cup of coffee, they keep me going when the inevitable flight delay extends my journey by an extra few hours.
Chelsea Goldinger: I like to refer to myself as an in-flight-snacker. Usually, whatever I bring with me, I eat, so I like to have a lot of smaller snacks with me. Unsalted pretzels, so I don’t dehydrate are a must, as are fruit leathers, which hold up well on flights. I almost always bring an apple cut it up into small pieces too so that it takes longer to eat (I do get pretty bored on planes). And I absolutely always opt for animal crackers from the flight attendant.
Nicole Woon: I take a road trip up the breathtaking California coast at least once a year. Whether we go camping on the beaches of Morro Bay or food-hopping around the city of San Francisco, there are always bites for the road. I love making and eating homemade Chex Mix, especially when it’s rife with crisp bagel chips (my favorite part of the snack medley). Cut-up strawberries–especially sweet during late spring and early summer–and hefty bunches of green and purple grapes are also perfect travel treats. Helpful tip: if you’re bringing along food that needs to stay chilled, freeze water bottles to use as ice packs; you can drink their contents once they’ve melted!
Throughout all of my travels–be it a car road trip up and dow the coast, a bus from New York returning to Penn’s campus, or an international plane ride home–I make sure to grab city-exclusive delicacies for the long ride back. From a meaty tri-tip sandwich at Firestone Grill in San Luis Obispo to monstrous dark chocolate chocolate chip cookies from Levain Bakery in New York, my companions are certainly envious of my food for the road. If I’m feeling especially nice, I’ll share. (;
Katie Behrman: Being frequent road trippers, my family quickly discovered that hungry drivers and riders don’t make for the best of companions. Not one famished person finds the Alphabet Game fun. Or Ghost. Or, brace yourselves, Concentration. But, with a little nourishment, the tedious task of finding a word that begins with “j” or “q” suddenly becomes an exciting competition. For that reason, the best car snacks for us are quick, easy, and satisfying. Pringles squash hunger pains, as do honey roasted cashews and peanuts. Bite sized chocolate chip cookies and brownies take care of the sweet craving, while Chex Mix gives you something to munch on for hours. And, of course, water and a variety of sodas (caffeine without the fear of burning yourself!) are a must!