If you’re a foodie – go to Chile.
The recommendation comes from Chris Joondeph, a TikTok traveler with the handle @authentic_traveling. With 166 countries under his belt, Joondeph’s culinary expertise is not to be ignored. In a recent discussion with MailOnline Travel, he expressed his belief that Chilean cuisine is severely undervalued globally.
He also reveals his thoughts on Kenya’s goat head soup, why he’s especially fond of Nigeria – and not just because you can get meals there for a dollar – and other countries worth going to for their cuisine.
But first – just what is it about Chile’s food that’s so alluring?
He says: ‘Nobody really knows about Chilean cuisine and it’s so good! They love to eat these massive sandwiches with freshly cooked meat, sauerkraut and covered in homemade mayonnaise. They’re so delicious and comforting. Chile has a lot of unique foods but you’d likely never see a Chilean restaurant outside of Chile. It is definitely worth visiting for the food.’
Where else makes the foodie destination hotlist?
Argentina does. In the capital, Buenos Aires, Chris recommends getting a ‘bife de chorizo (sirloin steak) with a glass of Malbec from one of the many steakhouses’.
Mexico is also on the list. Here, try ‘tacos al pastor (pork tacos)’, says Chris, who adds that they’re ‘most popular in Mexico City but can be found around the country’.
Chris Joondeph has visited 166 countries and shares his favourite spots with MailOnline. He says Chile, where he’s pictured above, has the most ‘underrated’ cuisine
LEFT:Â Chris says Chilean cuisine is ‘so delicious and comforting’. RIGHT:Â Chris enjoyed Chile’s ‘massive sandwiches’, which contain freshly cooked meat and sauerkraut and are ‘covered in homemade mayonnaise’
Chris gives Hawaii the thumbs up, too. Here, try the ‘Loco Moco’, which he describes as a ‘hamburger patty on top of white rice topped with a sunny-side-up egg and covered in gravy’.
Thailand is the only Asian country to make the hotlist. Chris says: ‘Can’t go wrong with a pad Thai from a street kitchen or my favourite from the north, Khao Soi, a kind of curry soup with noodles.’
In Peru, Chris loves the ‘ceviche – fresh raw fish marinated in lime juice, onions, chilli peppers and spices’, along with the pisco sour (a Peruvian cocktail made from pisco, lime juice, angostura bitters and egg white).
Lebanon and Syria also gain a spot on the hotlist for the ‘best shawarma (thinly sliced meat) in the world’, but Chris also recommends trying ‘muhammara – a flavourful dip made from roasted red peppers, walnuts and pomegranate molasses’.
He regards Nigeria, meanwhile, as something of an unsung tourism hero.
He reveals: ‘It’s one of the most populous countries in the world, but it’s rarely featured in travel content. I enjoyed exploring the country and seeing places that get almost no foreign tourists.’
It’s also a bargain. In a TikTok video, Chris shows viewers everything he can eat in Nigeria for just $1/79p/900 naira. Chris explains: ‘I consult with a local on this and they take me around to find the absolute cheapest food possible to get the most out of my one dollar.’
In the video, Chris enjoys a Nigerian sausage roll, puff puff doughnuts, rice, spaghetti and beans with an egg and cow skin, corn on the cob with African pear, a bottle of Coke, and pork cooked in a spicy palm oil stew – all for the low price of less than $1. The best of his bargain treats? The puff puff, which Chris describes as ‘a simple street food made from fried dough, which is so sweet and delicious’.
LEFT: Chris in Argentina, which he says has some of the world’s best food. RIGHT: Chris in Nigeria, which he describes as one of his favourite destinations
LEFT: In one video Chris shares how much food he can eat for $1 in Lagos, Nigeria. RIGHT: Chris buys puff puff doughnuts as part of his Nigerian meal and says they are ‘sweet and delicious’
Chris, who’s from Denver, adds to MailOnline: ‘Compare this to a country like Switzerland or Scandinavian countries where you can barely buy a meal for $20 (£15.82). Even the grocery stores in these countries are prohibitively expensive. My whole travel philosophy is about finding local experiences where regular people might eat, so I don’t necessarily go for very expensive meals.’
Chris’s travels have led to him tasting some of the world’s more unusual delicacies, such as Kenya’s goat head soup.
The intrepid traveller explains: ‘It’s a popular Kenyan drink made by boiling goat head and other parts of the animal in large drums. The soup is then poured into plastic canisters, shaken to incorporate air and served in cups.
‘It can be drunk straight or with hot pepper. It looks like a milkshake and tastes like every part of an animal was just put in a blender and combined together. I call it the Kenyan protein shake. I probably wouldn’t try it again but it was an interesting experience.’
Chris, 34, reveals that his foodie experiences, from the mouthwatering to the bizarre, don’t necessarily happen by accident. He rolls up his sleeves on Google beforehand, explaining: ‘I do a lot of research before a trip to try and find the places that locals like to visit. This is typically somewhere cheap with a lot of foot traffic. It is easy to identify these on Google because they have a high number of ratings compared to others. This means they’re generally more popular.
‘I try and go to these places, with large numbers of reviews, since they have been around the longest and form the institutional eateries of certain cities. I will also determine a list of top dishes I need to try and identify restaurants that serve those dishes so I can be sure to tick everything off my list.’
Chris reveals that there’s very little he’s turned his nose up at on his travels. ‘I really like food, so there isn’t much I don’t like,’ he comments. However, he has been struck down with food poisoning, despite being mindful of what he’s eating and where.
The traveller explains that to keep stomach bugs at bay, he obeys the ‘boil it, peel it, cook it, or forget it’ mantra, adding: ‘You want stuff that is cooked and still warm as the heat is going to kill the harmful bacteria. If not cooked, you want something that is freshly peeled or you can peel yourself.
Chris sampled ‘goat head soup’, a popular local drink in Kenya. He says it ‘tastes like every part of an animal was just put in a blender and combined together’
‘Another tip is to go to crowded places. If a street food vendor has no people patronising them it might be for a reason. If another one is busy, I am much more likely to go there.’
Despite the perceived risks of eating street food abroad, Chris says he’s found that ‘nice restaurants or home-cooked meals’ tend to ‘pose the biggest risk’.
Assuming he’s stomach-bug free, what’s next on the travel menu for Chris?
To keep the passport stamps coming.
He adds: ‘I have always had a desire to see more of the world starting from a young age. I’ve set my sights on trying to visit [every country] and I am nearly there, with roughly 30 to go.’
