For the chowhound, food souvenirs might be one of the most pleasurable aspects of travel. I used to pore obsessively over Japanese guidebooks for their painstakingly detailed guidance on the representative specialties of each prefecture and the oldest purveyors still practicing the most ancient, time-tested methods. Under globalization, it’s charming, and ever so slightly delusional, to believe that there still are local goods that can only be found in their place of production. And even if they can be bought millions of miles away, few things feel as authentic to a transient as participating in the local economy by buying something as simple, common, and necessary as food.
