After decades of traveling abroad, my trips can run together. It’s hard to remember the exact year I was in Egypt or every town we saw in Vietnam or even names of ruins we visited. But there are ways to trigger those memories and one of the best is food.

Ethnic food used to mean Italian or Mexican or even Chinese. But those categories have long entered the mainstream and are a part of most American kitchens. Today’s ethnic offerings in the United States cover the world. At a country’s authentic restaurant abroad will be found recent and not so recent immigrants longing for a taste of home – just as many Americans do when they look for a McDonald’s in France. What I’ve found in frequenting ethnic restaurants is an opportunity to revisit my experiences in those countries as well as reasonable prices.