Supersized Meals Along Cycling Trips : Gulping Surprises

Ate the whole Mexican meal. Bothell, Washington 2005. Photo byHJEH Becker.

I’m not sure why it is, but the  most memorable super-sized meals have been during our cycling trips.  Why does this happen out of town?  Maybe I don’t eat out often enough in local restaurants in my home city. I spend more restaurant dollars and sample more culinary variety  when we’re travelling and touring.

After a 100 km. or only a 40 km. cycle to a strange place, somehow it’s easier to justify eating a super-sized meal.  It must the tourist idiot-factor.   We may sometimes do crazier things, away from home.

At times, what dumbfounded us was the size of food portions in various U.S. restaurants

Tower of ice cream for 1 person. Avignon, France 2008. Photo by R. Campbell

that  we  dropped  by. A common experience across the international border.  While in the U.S.,  Stone Creamery, the  ice cream chain, there were noticeably  larger ice cream sizes  for the same price in Vancouver.  It’s more  of a novelty for us to dig into huge ice cream globes each time we visit Seattle.  It’s a supersize snack fun time.  Stone Creamery’s ice cream flavours and  bland smoothness appeals to mainstream taste: nothing too wierd nor strong.  Prime for eating lots of  nice, safe ice cream.  We’re more accustomed to playful, stronger flavours of gelatos from various gelatari in Vancouver which range from soy,

Massive tortellini for Jack. Mount Vernon, Washington 2010. Photo by J. Chong.

with  flavours more Italian,  Asian or tropical —smaller portions but same price.

I have had some eye-popping sized meals in some Mexican restaurants –on the U.S. northwest coast area, an area supposedly where the general population may be more physically active in various activities than other parts of America. Or maybe I only know northwest coasters who like their cycling, jogging, hiking or skiing.

Maegret of duck in port sauce with generous bowl of spaetzle. Strasbourg, France 2010. Photo by J. Chong. Meal a la carte for 1 person.

Hefty Portions in Some European Eateries
What was amazing to us, when we travelled in Europe last year, were supersized meals  at some restaurants in touristy areas in large and small European cities.  Maybe serving larger meals of any common local food, kept the North American tourists happy.

For instance, earlier I wrote a blog post about Czech dumplings which I sampled several times in different places. In one of the photos, the dumplings were mini cake-like, carbohydrate towers.  Well, they really were hulking but fluffy and airy dumplings to soak up the dark brown beef gravy puddle.

Apple strudel for 1 person but split for 2 cyclists. Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic 2010. Photo by J. Chong

In Strasbourg, France, our first dinner was the traditional baekoff which appeared to be a duo of dumplings or potatoes with a meat dish served in a baking dish.  Each of us ordered a different dinner combination a la carte.  The duck meat portions were generous:  was it because we were in a touristy area or was duck more common in France?

Of course, at times we’re surprised by a local restaurant. Recently we shared a huge appetizer that was deemed a polenta base with an enjoyable tomato-basil sauce, a prelude to our 10” thin pizzas that we each had later on.  The polenta was surprisingly light which led Jack to believe there was some tapioca used to lighten the polenta  volume.

Polenta Lasagna –featured appetizer at Pulcinella’s, Calgary 2011. With layers of sausage (not obvious to us), tomato and cheese. Photo by J. Chong. Shared by 2 walkers. Consumed before 10″ thin gourmet pizzas per person.

And do I need to say anything further on the traditional Ukranian local fare of a large cabbage roll, 6 cheese-potato perogies, sauerkraut and sausage?

My apologies for not including any photos of an  Asian banquet array of dishes: I’m used this –but only for special occasions.  Maybe I indulge in supersized meals off-side because it’s memory of those rare Chinese banquets of 8, 10  or 12 courses with friends or for special meals.  Meals to remember.