Local Food While Travelling in India: The Best Food Memories

Local food memories from travelling in India, including paratha, bhutta and samosa

What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?

What’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while traveling?

Local food while travelling is one of my favourite parts of any trip. And this is such a difficult question for an Indian. 😄

Because honestly, the list is way too long. If I start writing about everything delicious I’ve eaten while travelling, one blog post definitely won’t be enough. I might have to start a separate food blog! 😂

We don’t just travel to see places.
We travel with one eye on the view and the other on “Yahan kya famous hai?” (What’s famous here?) 😂

Local Food While Travelling in India

I’ve had those huge, buttery aloo parathas in Murthal, with pickle on the side and a steaming cup of chai. If you ever go there, pakke se try karna! (You absolutely must try them!) You may plan to eat just one. Good luck with that. 😄

Then there’s Lonavala in the rain.

The wet roads, the clouds passing almost at eye level, the thick mist, the little waterfalls appearing all along the way, the beautiful ghats…

Lonavala in the rain. 🌧️

And then, after all that, reaching Lonavala and having a hot bhutta (roasted corn).

Honestly, the bhutta probably tasted better because of everything that came before it. ❤️

Clouds, mist and monsoon magic. ☁️

If you ever plan a trip to Lonavala, go during the rains. That whole journey is an experience in itself.

And then there were the chole bhature near the Golden Temple in Amritsar—because apparently visiting a holy place and then immediately looking for good food can peacefully coexist. 😂

A little memory from Attari. 🇮🇳

But if I absolutely had to choose one…

I would probably pick that samosa I ate in Varanasi.

Nothing fancy. No beautiful restaurant. No elaborate presentation.

Just a simple, hot, perfectly crisp samosa.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi. 🙏

But that first bite did something unexpected.

It reminded me of my hometown.

Of the samosas I had been eating since childhood. The kind of food you grow up with, without ever realising that one day, a simple bite of it might bring back so many memories.

Maybe that’s why it tasted so special.

It wasn’t just a samosa.

For a moment, it felt like home. ❤️

And maybe that’s the magic of food.

You can travel miles away from home, discover new places, try unfamiliar flavours—and then, suddenly, one familiar taste can take you right back to where you started.

We remember the places we visited, the photographs we took and the things we saw.

But sometimes, it’s a smell, a flavour or that first bite that stays with us the longest.

Maybe that’s what I love about travelling.

You go looking for beautiful places, monuments and new experiences…

and sometimes, years later, what you remember most clearly is that one thing you ate somewhere. ❤️

And yes, I do have a picture of one of our thali meals in Varanasi. 😄

One of our meals in Varanasi. 😋

But honestly, I’m usually so busy eating that I completely forget to take pictures of the food. 😂

Maybe that’s why my travel gallery has plenty of roads, rain, clouds, temples and places…

and surprisingly few pictures of the food that I remember so well!

Now tell me—what’s the best local dish you’ve ever eaten while travelling?

Or better yet, what’s that one dish you’d happily travel all over again just to eat? 😄❤️

.

Until the next whisper,
—Rajeshwari 
🧿💕

© Nihshabd by Rajeshwari

.

If you enjoy little stories about travel, food and the memories we bring back home, you might also like this one:

This Is Not Hunger. This Is a Samosa Situation.

A Tradition Woven With Love: Our Tirupati Story

Coffee Is Not My Favorite Drink. It’s My Quiet Beginning.

I Don’t Have a Favorite Restaurant… But This One Wins Every Time!

It Was Never About the Place

🦋 A Little Something to Keep

Some food memories deserve a little more than a place in our camera roll.

I made a little printable quote from today’s story for you. 🦋


Comments

49 responses to “Local Food While Travelling in India: The Best Food Memories”

  1. winningsetbacks Avatar

    So yummy and nicely presented. Thanks

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Aww, thank you so much! 🤍So happy you liked it. Sometimes good food just deserves a little appreciation, doesn’t it? 🦋✨

  2. Aptivi Avatar

    Good morning, Rajeshwari ☀️

    The dish you’ve shared sounds really delicious! We do samosa at home, and it’s really so tasty. Travelling is not just visiting another place, it’s also exploring what’s famous there and heritage. Beautifully written! 👍

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Good afternoon! ☀️ Thank you so much for your lovely words.🤍 And yes, absolutely travelling becomes so much more special when we explore the local food, traditions, and heritage of a place. And homemade samosas? Now that sounds delicious! 😄🦋✨

      1. Aptivi Avatar

        You’re most welcome, Rajeshwari! 💜 You’re absolutely right. Those homemade samosas are really so delicious! 😄🌟

  3. Kanishka Pathak Avatar

    Oh dear rajeshwari , varanasi has great flavours…i absolutely agree 💯🤣

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Hahaha, absolutely Kanishka! 😂 Varanasi knows how to spoil you with its flavours! 🤍And once you start exploring the food there, good luck stopping at just one! 😄🦋✨

      1. Kanishka Pathak Avatar

        Soo trueeeee 😁🤣

  4. moragnoffke Avatar

    I absolutely love samosas! 😁💟

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Haha, same here! 😄🤍 Samosas have a special talent for making us forget all about calories and self-control! 😂🦋✨

      1. moragnoffke Avatar

        Ohhhh yes 😂 one year in my twenties, every lunchtime at work, I went down to the local store where they sold them. I bought two… Every time… And later watched my weight climb. 😂🫢 . That was a hard lesson. Now I just look at them with fond memories 😁😁

      2. nihshabdblog Avatar

        Hahaha 😂 🤍those samosas clearly had a special place in your lunchtime routine! Some food memories are simply too delicious to forget. 😄🦋✨

      3. moragnoffke Avatar

        😂👍

  5. Goin' the extra...aaamile Avatar

    Naughty Naughty – Rajeshri. I bet those are a lot of calories taken in… but aloo parathas are good. I’ve never really eaten one loaded with butter and all, but I will give it a try if I come across it. If you’ve mastered the recipe, I could come over for 1 or 2 (that is shameless me asking for an invite)
    Food in India is tempting; I will have to admit… I just don’t know how foreigners fall sick eating it; we so like enjoy it 🙂 And yes, exploring places is one thing; we wanna try the food too: “Yahan kya famous hai?” 😂😂😂😂

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Hahaha, shameless request accepted! 😂😂 And just a tiny correction—it’s Rajeshwari.🦋 As for the aloo parathas, “one or two” sounds suspiciously innocent… I have a feeling once that first butter-loaded paratha arrives, the count may mysteriously change! 😜😂

      And yes, “Yahan kya famous hai?” is practically the first question on every Indian travel itinerary! 🦋🤣

      1. Goin' the extra...aaamile Avatar

        Omg, that’s a big booboo on my part, not sure how i got your name wrong. Rajeshwari it is, maybe I was thinking about someone else 😉 sorry about that.

      2. nihshabdblog Avatar

        No worries at all 😊 These little mix-ups happen. 🤍🦋✨

  6. sriwrites Avatar

    This is such a comprehensive and nostalgic post! The photography is beautiful, and that Varanasi thali looks absolutely mouthwatering. Sometimes the best travel memories are the ones that taste like home. Cheers.

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Thank you so much! 🤍I completely agree food has a beautiful way of turning a place into a memory and a meal into a little piece of home. 😊🦋✨

  7. Hazel Avatar

    I like that misty road and the food looks delicious. India is just beautiful.

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Absolutely! 🤍There’s something magical about misty roads, beautiful landscapes, and good food coming together. India has so many little moments that quietly steal your heart. 🦋✨

  8. Vijay Srivastava Avatar

    Rajeshwari ji, reading this post made me feel that travel is not really about covering distances or visiting places; sometimes, a particular flavour, a familiar aroma, or a single bite can take us years back and bring us straight to the doorstep of our childhood and home. ❤️

    The parathas of Murthal, bhutta in the rain at Lonavala, chole bhature in Amritsar, and that simple samosa in Varanasi you have beautifully woven a scene, an atmosphere, and a memory into each of these flavours. While reading, one almost feels as though one is travelling alongside you.

    But the Varanasi samosa stayed with me the most. Perhaps because I am a Banarasi myself, and Varanasi is my birthplace. The flavours of Banaras carry more than just spices; they carry the warmth of its lanes, the memories of childhood, and that quiet sense of belonging that is difficult to put into words. So when a familiar taste unexpectedly finds us in a distant place, it does more than satisfy hunger it touches something much deeper within us.

    I also loved your thought that when we return from our journeys, it is not always the photographs that remain most vividly in our memory. Sometimes it is the aroma of a place, the taste of bhutta eaten in the rain, or the first bite of an ordinary samosa that stays with us for years. Perhaps memory has its own camera it does not preserve photographs; it preserves experiences. 😊

    So after reading your post, the question no longer seems to be, “What was the best local dish you ate while travelling?” Perhaps the more meaningful question is which flavour can take us back from a journey to the home we carry within us? ❤️

    A beautiful coming together of travel, food, and memories. Some journeys are completed on foot; others, it seems, can be completed with a single bite. 🌹🙏

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Vijay ji, we explored almost every corner of Varanasi, and I truly feel that if I ever write about that journey in detail, I might run out of words but never of feelings. 🤍There was just so much to see, taste and experience that one post could never do justice to it.✨

      What surprised me most was that it was my first visit, yet Banaras never felt like a new or unfamiliar city. Its lanes, its people, its food, that unique warmth in the air somehow, everything felt strangely familiar, as if I had been there before. 🤍✨

      And now, knowing that you are a Banarasi and that Varanasi is your birthplace, I can understand your special connection with its flavours and memories even better. Perhaps that is what makes food and travel so beautiful sometimes a simple bite can bring back an entire city, a childhood, and a lifetime of memories. 😊🦋✨

  9. SRIKANTH Avatar

    Hey Rajeshwari! What a beautiful read—you really know how to make us feel like we’re right there with you, getting caught in the rain on those Lonavala ghats or biting into that crispy samosa in Varanasi.

    I totally agree with you: the best meals are rarely about fancy plating. They’re about the moment, the atmosphere, and often, the feeling of home. You perfectly captured why travel food hits differently.

    To answer your question—for me, it was a simple plate of veg momos and steaming thukpa I had in a tiny, mist-covered eatery near Sikkim. It wasn’t fancy at all, but after walking through those chilly, winding mountain roads in the drizzle, it was the warmest, most soul-comforting bowl I’ve ever had.

    And yes, I would absolutely travel all the way back just for those momos!

    Thank you for sharing your story. It made me smile and crave a hot bhutta! Wishing you many more unforgettable food journeys ahead. ❤️😄

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Srikanth ji, your Sikkim memory brought back one of my most memorable food experiences from a trip there. 🤍 We had checked into our hotel quite late, by which time everything was closed even the hotel kitchen. We honestly thought we might have to go to bed hungry.

      But the manager was incredibly kind. He actually reopened the kitchen and specially had dal, rice and curd prepared for us. It was such a simple meal, but after a long journey and at that hour, it felt like the most comforting feast in the world. 🤍✨

      I still remember that gesture more than the food itself. This is perhaps what makes travelling in India so special—Atithi Devo Bhava is not just a phrase; sometimes you actually experience it through the kindness of a stranger.♥️✨

      Thank you for reminding me of this beautiful memory. 😊♥️🦋

  10. Nusrat Khan Avatar

    Dear Rajeshwari
    कौन करता हे ऐसा,कौन लिखता हे यह सब,आलू पराठा,समोसा,बुटा, छोले बटोरे और रंगीन थाली
    कौन करता हे पड़ने वालों पर इतना ज़ुल्म😂
    ,

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      मुझे माफ़ कर दीजिए, जहाँपनाह! 😂 अगली बार से ऐसा ज़ुल्म नहीं होगा… न आलू पराठे की याद दिलाऊँगी, न समोसे की, न भुट्टे और छोले-भटूरे की! 😜🦋✨

      1. Nusrat Khan Avatar

        यह अच्छी बात हे
        याद नहीं दिलाना,खिला देना

      2. nihshabdblog Avatar

        😂😂 बिल्कुल! याद दिलाने का क्या फायदा… सीधे खिला ही देंगे! 😋❤️

  11. bradenmikael Avatar

    Looks and sounds delicious!!

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Thank you so much! 😊🤍I’m glad it looked as delicious as it tasted! 😄🦋✨

  12. Girish Mani Avatar

    That’s great. Visit God and eat food, I never saw this angle before……I’ll try that too…😀

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Haha, absolutely Girish ji! 😄 That’s the beauty of travelling in India—you go to seek blessings and somehow end up discovering the best food too! 😂🤍Now you know the secret, so do try it next time. And don’t forget to tell me what delicious discovery you make! 😜🦋✨

  13. samaysakshi Avatar

    Very tasty post with mouth watering collection of food items.

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Haha, thank you so much! 😄🤍 Looks like the post has done its job if it managed to make you hungry! Now I’m sure you’ll be craving at least one of those dishes today. 😋🦋✨

  14. iamfoolz Avatar
    iamfoolz

    That Varanasi samosa must have carried more than just flavour. One bite, and childhood came along with it.

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Absolutely! 🤍 Some flavours don’t just remind us of a place they take us straight back to a moment in time. That’s the magic of food and memories. 🥹🦋✨

  15. thetravelingtaylorsofficial Avatar
    thetravelingtaylorsofficial

    ‘One eye on the view and the other on Yahan kya famous hai?’ — that’s exactly how we travel too, and honestly the best way to actually get to know a place. Those buttery aloo parathas in Murthal with pickle and chai sound worth the trip on their own. And planning to eat ‘just one’? That has never once worked in our family either.

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Hahaha, absolutely! 😂 One eye on the sights and the other on the food that’s the perfect way to travel! And yes, “just one” aloo paratha is clearly impossible when they’re that delicious! 😄🤍

  16. Shweta✨ Avatar

    You are right. I can’t choose my favourite food too. There are so many cuisines in india. According to me, we have the best vegetarian food in the world as per varieties and taste. Have a great week ahead!🩷☺️✨

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Absolutely Shweta! 😄 India’s vegetarian food is so diverse that choosing just one favourite is nearly impossible. So many flavours, regions, and traditions to explore! 🤍Have a wonderful week ahead too! 🦋✨

  17. nihshabdblog Avatar

    🤍🤍✨

  18. Kalpana Iyer Avatar

    That thali looks so damn good! I love everything you have mentioned there – not from those specific places, of course, but I love them nonetheless. When I visit those places, will definitely give them a try.

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Haha, yes! 😄 It’s such a tempting spread, isn’t it? I hope you get to visit these places someday and enjoy the food right where it belongs! 🦋✨

  19. Klausbernd Avatar

    We never ever photographed the meals before we eat.
    Once I worked with a photographer for a book of mine. At the same time another team did cookbook photography in the same studio. I was absolutely amazed how elaborate and time consuming that was. Now I know why most food photography by layman don’t really look exiting.
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      I can totally relate! 😄 There’s something wonderfully simple about eating a meal while it’s still hot instead of waiting for the perfect photograph. 🦋✨

    1. nihshabdblog Avatar

      Thank you so much 🤍🦋

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