North of the 49th | Amway

Tomorrow morning I hit the road, heading to the Mothership in Ada, to spend a couple of days with Cindy, the Queen of All Social Media (and to genuflect before Doug – The Benign Guru of Infinite Patience for Moronic Computer Questions). Our goal? Working on a "how-to" for IBOs to get the most out of blogs, Facebook, etc… without breaking any rules!

Pretty exciting stuff, eh? True. But it's secondary to the most important aspect of the trip for me… I've kept this secret from most people, not liking to showcase my weaknesses or addictions. But in the interest in keeping this blog honest, I'll share with you the thing I love most about travel to the States:

Yoo-Hoo and Wild Cherry Pepsi.

Yes, I realize how that sounds, but I can't help it. I'm a creature of habit when I travel and I've discovered that I like to compartmentalize my experiences by region. The fact is, I can't get either of the aforementioned product here in the Great White North… so when I head to the States, they're on my list.

When I head back to Montreal on our regular family pilgrimages it's poutine, steamies, smoked meat, spruce beer, a couple of special local restaurants, and good Lebanese food (amongst others). And this is not a new phenomenon. Years ago, back in my university newspaper days, we had a pair of summer conferences in Washington and New York — so in between we sandwiched a trip to Boston. One of my travel companions, being techie and all, had to go to MacWorld and the third member of our trio went with him. I spent my two days at Fenway Park (well, also getting lost and finding some of the, uhm, more lovely areas of Boston) where I had to experience the Fenway Brat.

Chicago? Pizza. San Francisco? Chinese food. Mexico and Cuba? Local cuisine. Southern U.S.? Chicken Fried Steak (thankfully, for my waistline, that's a once-in-a-blue-moon experience…) Toronto… well, that's really the Olive Garden of cities isn't it? (Just kidding Torontonians! Take a joke. Good Chinatown, excellent rotis…)

In fact, there's little I dislike more than travelling to a new city and sticking with the familiar. I firmly believe you can learn about a place's identity in the flavours of the local cuisine. The most disappointing aspect of my trip to Mexico last May was coming out of the airport, in the middle of nowhere, and the first sign I saw was McDonald's. Fortunately, I was able to avoid North American chains for the duration of the trip.

I worry we're losing that local flavour. Last spring we went to a cabane au sucre a couple hours north of Montreal. Google Maps let us down, so we navigated our way through some small towns to find our way to the place, but en route I was saddened to see that many of the local casse-croutes and restaurants were failing, while mass chains were popping up.

I guess you have to respect the will of the people. If they want standardized fare, then that's their choice and who am I to criticize. But I certainly would find the world a boring place if everything tasted the same from Nunavut to Australia. 

That said, I know Yoo-Hoo and Wild Cherry Pepsi aren't exactly haute cuisine. But to me they're unique to the States and something I can only experience once in a while. That makes them special. If they were readily available I probably wouldn't enjoy them as much — which I've experienced first-hand with smoked meat, steamies, etc. When I was living in Montreal, they weren't that big of a deal. Now that I can't get a half-decent smoked meat sandwich (and no one seems to know how to cook a hot dog) they've become the Holy Grail of comfort foods. I guess it's true that you don't know what you've got until it's gone.

I've been promised an experience of local cuisine while I'm down in the U.S. — and I'm looking forward to it. After all, it'll be a change from the standard chains that I can get anywhere — even at home. And hopefully it will give me a greater appreciation and understanding of where I'll be.

What about you? Are there certain foods or products that you must have when you travel to certain places? Are there signature meals that remind you of a particular region? Are you one of those Americans who smuggle copious amounts of Smarties and Coffee Crisps with you when you leave our fine nation?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

All the best,

Jay