Italy

Italian food is the most consoling and satisfying of the world’s cuisines.

Sometimes its simplicity is the chief attraction.

The ingredients are so wonderful - all you need is pasta, rosemary and

olive oil and you have a gastronomic triumph.

But the pleasure of dining in Italy is always greatly enhanced by the

joyful enthusiasm of the staff.

Nowhere else will you receive such a warm welcome and

such instinctive hospitality.

Mexico

If you were allowed to eat only the food of one country the rest of your life, it would be smart to make it Mexican food.

The cuisine has a little bit of everything. You’ll never get bored.

Among the enchiladas and the tacos and the helados and the quesadillas, you’ll find the zestiness of Greek salads and the richness of an Indian curry; the heat of Thai food and the use-your-hands snackiness of tapas.

It is also central station for nutritional superfoods. All that avocado, tomato, lime and garlic, with beans and chocolates and chilies to boot, is rich with antioxidants and good healthful things.

It doesn’t taste healthy, though. It tastes like a fiesta in your mouth.

France

Nestled in between Burgundy and Provence, Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France — and the French would argue the entire world.

This is where the top chefs train, attending culinary schools or gaining prestigious work under any of the city’s renowned rock star chefs.

Food here is taken to another level and people see eating well, eating

delicious dishes, not just as a pleasure but a way of life.

Choosing from nearly 2,000 restaurants in Lyon, including over 90 with

 Michelin stars, will be tough, but oh so much fun.

Thailand

The fundamental balance of sweet-sour-salty-hot that is at the heart of every Thai dish makes for food that is always distinctive, from a simple dish of

Pad Thai to startlingly complex curries.

Bangkok is a city where the street food, in the dazzlingly colorful markets,

takes these concepts up a tasty notch. You can eat memorably well

at little stalls, surrounded by 1,000 pink orchids and

kaleidoscopic piles of vegetables.

Japan

The chefs of Tokyo have dazzled the food world with their creativity.

The Michelin Guide has decreed that Tokyo is one of the

premier cities in the world for food.

The exquisite aesthetics of Japanese food is endlessly appealing, and even though every corner store now sells sushi, there is still nowhere like Tokyo. Somehow, there invariably seems to be a qualitative difference in the fish:

there is sushi and then there is Japanese sushi.

India

When a cuisine uses spices in such abundance that the meat and vegetables seem like an afterthought, you know you’re dealing with

chefs dedicated to flavor.

In Indian cuisine, there are no rules for spice usage as long as it results in something delicious. The same spice can add zest to savory and sweet dishes or can sometimes be eaten on its own. For example, fennel seed is enjoyed as a breath-freshening digestive aid at the end of meals.

And any country that manages to make vegetarian food taste

consistently great certainly deserves some kind of Nobel prize.

The regional varieties are vast. There’s Goa’s seafood, the wazwan of Kashmir and the coconut richness of Kerala.

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