Remember when a duty-free chocolate haul was the greatest indulgence for every foreign-returned traveller to bring home? Think chocolates the size of your arm or shrunk down to bitesized miniatures, from places that seemed impossibly far away in shiny, festive packaging. But times have changed. The world’s most popular food brands are readily available across Indian airports and supermarkets, so today’s curious frequent flyer is packing more than just run-of-the-mill treats — they’re bringing back artisanal, locally crafted food as souvenirs that represent the culture of the place they’re from, and themselves.
So, what’s in people’s carry-ons? We spoke to six food industry insiders about the one-of-a-kind gourmet finds they’re proudly gifting (and keeping). From the crisp Mexican mezcal that locals bond over in neighbourhood bars, to posh French truffle brie from Paris’s most luxurious food hall, the new era of travel souvenirs is a real feast.
An Eye for Wonder
Traveller: Purva Mehra, Group Creative Director
Destination: Japan
Shopping list: Ponzu and miso from Akomeya, sake-flavoured KitKat, graters from Yanaka and MoMA, various matcha treats (mochi, wagashi, dumplings)
I’m drawn to things that are curious or are reinventing the wheel in terms of design and craft. And I think Japanese design is just peerless in its utility and perfection. While in Tokyo, I bought two beautifully constructed graters: One from the MoMA design store (which I always go to in any country that has it) which is shaped like a piece of paper curled in a corner and fits into your palm, and the other from small café in the historic neighbourhood of Yanaka that’s made of brass and is fish-shaped. In Japan, they use these for ginger, but I bought them for Parmesan cheese (which I like very fine).
It’s fair to say that I hoard beautiful things. When I was in Italy, I brought back a lot of chocolate packaging. Even though the chocolate itself was average, the packaging was so beautiful that I felt like it was money well spent. Many people go abroad to shop for luxury, and I go to shops for curiosities!
On Eating Like a Local
Traveller: Biraaj Dodiya, Visual artist
Destination: Mexico City
Shopping List: 400 Conejos mezcal, De La Rosa Mazapan candies, Tejocote Enchilado from Local Sncgks, Topo Chico soda
I love to discover what the locals eat, and why. I often find that most people recommend the same thing because it holds some significance to their lives or their culture — like Marie biscuit with chai, or samosa as a movie theatre snack for us — and I like to try these things because of the meaning behind them.
I was recently in Mexico City for a month for an artist residency. Luckily, the people living with me were from Mexico, so I got to try the food they’d bring. I also noticed a lot of parallels between Indian and Mexican food, and the shared culture of fancy restaurants and street food being equally beloved. I brought back mezcal because we’d drink it in little bars after work. I wanted to recreate the experience of sipping this strong, unusual alcohol for my family and friends. I also bought this little marzipan biscuit called De La Rosa which I spotted everywhere — in corner stores, outside the train station, at hawker stalls — which a Mexican friend told me was a big part of their childhood.
The Best the World has to Offer
Traveller: Rid Burman, Photographer
Destination: Paris
Shopping List: Dak Coffee from Café du Clown, Kielbasa sausages from a Russian place in the 16th arrondissement, caviar from Petrossian, goat’s cheese and truffle brie from La Grande Épicerie de Paris
Paris is home, and I’m always bringing stuff from there when I come to India. My wife is of Belarusian origin, so we shop at a Russian place in the 16th arrondissement for things like Polish sausages called Kielbasa. We are regulars at Café du Clown and always stop there to buy coffee and pet their St. Bernard. Gourmet cheeses from La Grande Épicerie de Paris — an iconic, ultrarefined food emporium — are big favourites, and we love bringing those with us.
I don’t look for particular brands in other parts of the world (we recently visited Japan). I just go by the taste, the design, and the experiences we have. We brought back a couple of bottles of this incredible smoky Japanese gin, homegrown by the bartenders at The Bellwood — a bar in Tokyo. They’ve been infusing it for three generations, and they made the most fantastic Negroni with it which I’ll never forget. And we bought an extra suitcase to stuff with these fluffy egg custard pancakes that we loved.
An Authentic Adventure
Traveller: Patricia Cosma, Founder of The Indian Cacao & Craft Chocolate Festival
Destination: Singapore
Shopping list: Fossa chocolate, Thai tea mix, calamansi, Le Gall Grand Cru unsalted butter, roasted soybean flour
You get to connect with a culture intimately through food because it’s such a core part of how people live. That’s why I find it more interesting to learn about a place through its authentic restaurants, supermarkets and small shops rather than from museums.
My last trip abroad was to Singapore with my partner, Ajay Joe. We’re very adventurous and like to find unusual things, especially teas. I tried and loved the osmanthus tea, which is basically a flower that you steep in water. My focus is on seasonal products, things that have clean ingredients or are made by small businesses, and on local fruits and vegetables that are not readily available in India, such as calamansi, which is a citrus from Singapore that my partner and I like. And because I work with craft chocolate, I’m always looking for chocolate brands that I’ve never tried before.
Living Out Childhood Dreams
Traveller: Ajay Joe, Pilot and Founder of Ulo Ice Cream
Destination: Singapore
Shopping List: Hainanese chicken rice, kaya jam, Cocoa Pebbles and KitKat cereal
I’m an airline pilot so I get to travel quite a bit. Supermarkets are one of my biggest obsessions wherever I travel — I wander through all the aisles, even though I’m never going to buy things like, say, detergent.
I like to understand the origins of food. I go to Singapore quite often, and I love discovering how Southeast Asian cuisine and culture has a lot of Tamil influence — from the parottas to curries. I’ve also introduced a lot of friends to the classic Singaporean dish called Hainanese chicken rice, which is just brilliant. I always bring back packaged sets of it. One of my most exciting finds was a cereal called Cocoa Pebbles, which I first saw in Archie Comics when I was probably 10 years old. But you couldn’t buy it in India when I was growing up so when I saw it in a supermarket abroad, I was thrilled! It had been playing on my mind for so many years, and finally, it was within my reach.
Food as Love Language
Traveller: Aysha Tanya, writer and founder of The Malabar Tea Room
Destination: Milan
Shopping List: Specialty coffee, marron glacé (candied chestnuts), pasta, and cheeses
I have been writing about food for over a decade and, as it happens, my friends and family are also all food people. It is what we bond over! Knowing how someone cooks and eats is deeply personal, and it is very special to me to understand people so intimately through food. So naturally, food is what I like to gift to the people I love. When I am shopping in supermarkets or small artisanal shops, I’ll often spot ingredients or items that remind me of a particular person, and I make sure to pick those up for them. For instance, I brought back specialty coffee for the coffee aficionados in the family from Milan.
Shopping for food when I am travelling is not so much about f inding inaccessible ingredients — almost everything is available in local supermarkets or on Amazon nowadays — but about the quality and the story behind its origins and the people who make it that matter most.
A souvenir is simply the desire to preserve the abstract within the tangible, and food does not shrink memory but rather concentrate it. As D. H. Lawrence once wrote, he tasted in an apple “the summer and the snows, the wild welter of earth and the insistence of the sun.”
Words by Sneha Mehta.
Illustrations by Dharini Gaur.
Feature Image courtesy Lulo.
