hands down, the one food i loved on vacation that i can't find back here is Koshari (from Egypt). It was a vegetarian bowl-of-goodness, and I filled up on it for lunch repeatedly, and for about $1. If anyone knows where to get Koshari in the DC area, please please share!

Its kind of mundane, but I fell in love with Salsa Lisano when I was in Costa Rica. Its on the table at almost every meal, kind of like ketchup is here. We brought 2 or 3 bottles home with us, but they are all gone. I haven't really looked, but I'm not even sure you can find it here.

My husband couldn't get enough sopes on the streets of Mexico City. Fried masa with beans, queso fresco, chicken and plenty of spicy green salsa... it was all I could do to get him to eat in a real restaurant!

Fresh buffalo mozzarella from Italy, prepared with tomatoes and local olive oil from Campania. I've been carefully rationing the two bottles of olive oil I brought home, but I've yet to find any buffalo moz that compares to the stuff you can buy from the local farms in Italy.

Cypriot halloumi cheese - I can't get enough of that salty goodness. I can find it here at Whole Foods and specialty shops and have it in a pita, with homemade tzatziki, about once a month. Takes me right back.

M Street: Don't ration that olive oil for too long! It can go rancid before you finish using it.

Chaat. No good chaat shops here -- and don't tell me Heritage India has it -- their few choices are overpriced, tarted up, and not worth it! We need real chaat shops, like they have in New Jersey.

I'll never forget my first taste of Thrasher's French Fries in Ocean City. Sea salt and vinegar! yum!

Foodies don't have to be gourmet's and a special dish doesn't have to be "exotic" to be loved. Just saying, is all.

Visitors to Sweden are told to try the cloudberries, but we found the local plums to be beyond compare. Ripe in the late summer, they are much bigger than our plums and much more juicy and flavorful.

I lugged a tajine back from Morocco. Carried it on to three flights: Marrakech to Casablanca, Casa-JFK, and JFK to Boston. Yes, the saffron-lemon chicken was THAT mind-blowing!

OMG my mouth is watering! Jamaican beef patties! Salsa Lizano (and yes, I have found it locally - can't remember where but in more than one mercado latino in the greater Arlington area). Costa Rican coffee, too - Cafe Rey (the Tarrazu - and Target carries one now that is close enough for me, especially at the price). My food obsession from Morocco was a tagine, too, but one with lamb and prunes (and I was never partial to either of those things prior to that trip). Conch fritters anywhere in the Bahamas. Chilaquiles for breakfast on the Yucatan penninsula. I think I have to stop now before I short out my PC.

on our trip to Greece, our first dinner, we were introduced to saganaki - sounds asian - but its fried cheese served piping hot with a squirt of lemon! YUMMY!! Each meal there after included a comparison of saganaki - the winner - the taverna in the plaka - the best. We now evaluate greek restaurants on their ability to recreate this fantastic appetizer. We have successfully made this at home, but requires a certain greek cheese that is not easy to find.

Treacle tart in England, Bistecca Fiorentina in Italy, carbonnade de boeuf in Belgium, bouillabaisse in France. Further afield, nasi goreng, brik, palak paneer, Beggar's chicken...