By Julie Trescott ’08

More than half of Pomona students opt to study abroad. These globetrotters tantalize their taste buds with foreign foods and experience new dining customs. Some students find new favorite cuisine, while others gain bragging rights for sampling outrageous concoctions.


“Everywhere you look, you find restaurants and hole in the wall vendors and peddlers selling food on the street. I’ve eaten chicken’s feet, dog meat, spices that are illegal in the U.S.
because they numb your mouth, all kinds of animal fat, ridiculous spicy hot pot, bowl after bowl of spicy instant noodles, various animals’ intestines, pig’s foot, fish cheek and eye and scorpions.”
-- Ambrose Gano ’08
Beijing, China


“The best food I’ve tried is Späetzle and schnitzel with a weird sauce. It’s basically noodles and breaded pork.”
-- David McCormick ’08
Freiburg, Germany


“The English are obsessed with mayonnaise. Whenever you’re getting a sandwich made, they ask, “butter and mayo?” And if you say, no, they look at you in disbelief.”
--Jenn Wilcox ’08
Oxford, England

“It’s funny because our host families here judge how happy you are based on how much food you’re eating. While I was in the intag Cloud Forest in the Andes, I was staying with a family, and they prepared me a special meal of guinea pig! This was after I explained to them that
I used to have guinea pigs as pets. It was pretty good actually, but a little tough.”
-- Kira Donnelly ’08
Ecuador

“Don’t even think about not using a knife and a fork here, or you’ll be banished somewhere scary. No elbows on the table. Drinking glass right in front of the plate. I have a designated
place setting—on the right of Monsieur, who’s my host dad. I like living in this formal setting
sometimes because it’s nothing like what I’m used to but I don’t think I could do it permanently.”
-- Olga Klinger ’08
Paris, France


“Food is huge here in that lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and everyone gathers together to eat. Parents come home from work, and they watch the news during most meals.”
-- Meredith Pressfield ’08
Salamanca, Spain

“Chilean food is notoriously boring and heavy, but surprisingly enough, I haven’t had too bad of an experience, even though I am a vegetarian and red meat is very important here. There are about five restaurants in all of Santiago that are vegetarian. But one of them, a Hare Krishna one, actually, is on the same block as where I have my classes twice a week, so Sam Baldwin ’08 and I go there after class. The menu is fixed, and the food is delicious—they have beans, tofu, fake meat, spaghetti, stellar juice and this amazing stuff for wheat bread that they call ‘vegetarian mayonnaise,’ which is actually made from carrots and potatoes.”
-- Sara Goldstein ’08
Santiago, Chile

“The French are obsessed with dinner etiquette, and my host family straight out tells me how I should be eating. It’s kind of crazy actually. Don’t even think about not using a knife and a fork here, or you’ll be banished somewhere scary. No elbows on the table. Drinking glass right in front of the plate. I have a designated place setting, as in I always have to sit on the right of Monsieur, who’s my host dad but whose name I don’t actually know. I guess that goes to show you, I like living in this formal setting sometimes because it’s nothing like what I’m used to but I don’t think I could do it permanently.”
-- Olga Klinger ’08
Paris, France