As with many types of cuisine, you can try home recipes and various restuarants that claim to offer the genuine dishes… But without actually being there, in the local zone, there’s nothing quite like the real McCoy.

This is particularly true of the marisco from the Galician coast. Sea-food lovers will know that to get the full sensation of mouth-watering, juicy fresh plates of sea-food, you really need to go to the local area. Galician marisco has such a world-wide reputation that it’s almost a cliche to mention it.

Octupus, seasoned in paprika and sprinkled with olive oil can truly make your mouth think that it’s died and gone to heaven. Or, try the shrimp and squid, fried and served in its natural ink, alongside a whole wealth of shell-fish dishes.

Of course, there are also the fresh-water fish like salmon, baby eels, trout and sea-trout. All of which can be complemented by one of the many delicious Galician cheeses. To be washed down, of course, with one of the velvety Galician made wines, for example on of the three most famous kinds of Rias Baixas, Ribeiro or Valdeorras. Why not propose a home exchange with a home on the Galician coast and decide for yourself?

One of the fine things about going on holiday is the nouveau gourmet. Trying out the new restaurants, bars, cuisine, the different variety of dishes available.

But one of the advantages of doing a home exchange is that you can actually learn to cook the new dishes yourself, with the fresh and correct ingredients from that region!

If you stay in a hotel your certainly don’t have the facilities to practise the new culinary tasks that the new location or culture have set you. Even if you take some vacations by staying with a friend, you don’t reeeeally have the freedom to put your Quiche Lorraine to the test.

But if you do a home exchange, you’ll have every kitchen utensil you need at your disposal, and you’ll have the space and time to try new things out. For example, fresh shrimps from the Galician coast in Spain. Learning how to cook them and trying them out with the real McCoy ingredients. Real Italian tomatoes as you learn to weave a real thin, crispy, home-made pizza base.

This gives you the opportunity to take what you see and experience on holiday right into your heart. It gives you the chance to learn new cooking skills, and to walk like a native for that one day as you plod the route to the open market, in the sunshine, watching the people go, listening to the strange words in the music of a foreign language… Then to go home, and really live as someone within that culture, going through the same motions as them, preparing the local tradition foods.

It’s something that is a particular treat for the Brits of the North Americans, as our food markets are already so globalised that the notion of a national dish is pretty much forgotten.

It’s also a great thing to do with your partner or family, and it makes a wonderful memory that you can take back with you into your own home and keep hold of forever.