It had been about three weeks since I left home to study abroad on a cruise boat to ten different countries across the globe. I missed home, my family and friends, and everything that reminded me of home - food especially. I remember how every meal on the boat my new friends and I had grown accustomed to talking about foods from home. Salads, burgers, paninis, pasta’s and especially restaurants we missed like Cheesecake Factory, CPK, In-n-Out, and even just the simple Subway… you name it and literally while we were eating the bland cafeteria food we would talk and talk about it. A club, a powwow of stories, or just a group of homesick (or rather hungry-sick) people grown close by this discussion and collaboration of food and its stories.
The Bahamas passed and so did the hopes of decent food. Then was Puerto Rico with flies digging into our would-be meals that already didn’t look so appetizing. Things were not looking good for us or for the hopes of good food. Even in the beginning of our days in Salvador, Brazil there were just restaurants after restaurants with undercooked meat and vegetables we couldn’t even identify. My two friends, both named Anna, and I would always travel together within the countries. If we would have known wait awaited us in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at a little restaurant called Calvados, I don’t think we would have been as hesitant to by our plane tickets.
It was always an adventure to find a restaurant that wouldn’t get us sick and tasted okay, something that over the course of three and a half months had drawn us very close together. One can only eat so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before they go crazy. We decided on Calvados, it looked clean and the owner spoke English, always a good sign. However, it was next two restaurants that had dead pigs and other animals on display, kind of freaking us out. You know when you haven’t eaten a good meal in so long that any decent meal will taste like the best food you have ever had? This wasn’t the case, it literally was the best food we have ever had. In the time it took us to eat our steak and potatoes, we didn’t say one word to each other, but our smiling faces spoke loud enough. It was in this journey and more importantly this silence of appreciation and happiness that we created a strong social connection.
We still talk about this meal all the time when we see each other, something all our other friends on the boat will never know. It is something that as silly as it sounds, holds such a special place. After we left the restaurant to today, we leave talking about it in perfect harmony
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