Get your bread at the ready and some ketchup to pile on – it’s barbecue time! This simple and classic meal is often the dinner and lunch solution to all your summer problems. When you want something to cook that’s simple, quick, easy, and guaranteed to pull a crowd of happy campers, you can’t look past the good old barbecue.
The great thing about the barbecue is that there is really something for everyone. Form sausages to hamburgers to vegetarian burgers and salads on the side; even the bread can cater for those who are gluten free. While the barbecue goes all right in the backyard at your home, its time to consider getting out and about with the barbie and take a trip to the top 5 barbecue experiences around the world. Take the culinary delight of the barbecue to the next level with a travel guide to these top destinations.
Babi Guling in Indonesia
Bali is a rather popular holiday destination in South East Asia, known for its pristine beaches, culture and mouth watering local fare. For a once in a lifetime gastronomic experience, head to Ibu Oka in Ubud for their extremely popular barbeque dish Babi Guling. Typically, whole pigs are roasted rotisserie-style over a barbecue pit flavoured with assorted traditional herbs and spices. The meat is then carved and served with rice and fried vegetables, a fabulous meal endorsed by locals and even the likes of Anthony Bourdain.
New Zealand Hangi
This is a traditional Maori way of barbecue that uses volcanic rocks and a charcoal fire under the ground to slow cook meat to the perfect consistency. A recipe passed down in time, locals and visitors to the island nation can partake in this barbequed delight by signing up for a local Maori experience. Consult your New Zealand travel guide to choose from the numerous Maori shows available around the middle of the North Island in places such as Wellington and Rotorua for a real taste of the Maori way of life along the way.
Along the Great Ocean Road, Australia
The legend of Christmas Day being celebrated in the land down under by having a barbecue on the beach is very much true. There is nothing that celebrates an Aussie summer quite like a quintessential barbie on the beach, with the rolling blue waves and crisp sand as the perfect dining setting. Should you find yourself in Australia’s best city of Melbourne, a trip down the Great Ocean Road is just about compulsory. You won’t be hard pressed to find a decent spot for a barbecue along here. Form Lorne to Apollo Bay, the Great Ocean Road is dotted with barbecue grounds on the grassy hills overlooking the ocean beyond. It doesn’t get more picture-perfect than this, with a sausage in hand of course.
In outback Texas
Barbecue ribs dripping in sauce are hot on the menu here. If you’re not sitting in a steakhouse with a mechanic bull in it, then you’re not doing it right. You might not be able to meet all the clichés of a tumbleweed and cacti fields, but a Texan barbecue is certainly something you’ve got to tick off the list. Don’t forget to order some sweet chilli fries on the side for that extra flavour hit.
The Bedouin Zarb
It’s amazing how some food practices can be so strikingly similar across lands that are separated by thousands of miles. Very similar to the Maori Hangi, the Bedouin Zarb is a combination of meat and vegetables cooked under ground, this time by the hot sands of the dessert. The minerals from the sand end up giving the dish a fantastic earthy flavour, that are well accompanied by pita and a variety of middle eastern food dips.
A Middle Eastern kebab
Still hot on the Middle East, you might not find a freestanding barbecue like you’d see in your own backyard, but you will recognise the word kebab. Middle Eastern culture has perfected the idea of a barbecued kebab and they are celebrated at just about every turn in places from Turkey to Jordan and Iran.
A South African “Braai”
Afrikaans for the word Barbeque, Braai is a barbeque with a twist. For one it is a social event that typically involves friends and family for a casual cookout. Also, meats were traditionally cooked over wood at a braai, although charcoal is more popular as the fuel used in present times. The assortment of meats is then eaten to the accompaniment of pap, a kind of porridge and sauces such as a tomato and onion sauce.
A Traveller, Food Lover & Tour Guide by profession. She has an extensive experience of local places which she has gained while travelling across the globe.
Babi Guling in Indonesia
Bali is a rather popular holiday destination in South East Asia, known for its pristine beaches, culture and mouth watering local fare. For a once in a lifetime gastronomic experience, head to Ibu Oka in Ubud for their extremely popular barbeque dish Babi Guling. Typically, whole pigs are roasted rotisserie-style over a barbecue pit flavoured with assorted traditional herbs and spices. The meat is then carved and served with rice and fried vegetables, a fabulous meal endorsed by locals and even the likes of Anthony Bourdain.
New Zealand Hangi
This is a traditional Maori way of barbecue that uses volcanic rocks and a charcoal fire under the ground to slow cook meat to the perfect consistency. A recipe passed down in time, locals and visitors to the island nation can partake in this barbequed delight by signing up for a local Maori experience. Consult your New Zealand travel guide to choose from the numerous Maori shows available around the middle of the North Island in places such as Wellington and Rotorua for a real taste of the Maori way of life along the way.
Along the Great Ocean Road, Australia
The legend of Christmas Day being celebrated in the land down under by having a barbecue on the beach is very much true. There is nothing that celebrates an Aussie summer quite like a quintessential barbie on the beach, with the rolling blue waves and crisp sand as the perfect dining setting. Should you find yourself in Australia’s best city of Melbourne, a trip down the Great Ocean Road is just about compulsory. You won’t be hard pressed to find a decent spot for a barbecue along here. Form Lorne to Apollo Bay, the Great Ocean Road is dotted with barbecue grounds on the grassy hills overlooking the ocean beyond. It doesn’t get more picture-perfect than this, with a sausage in hand of course.
In outback Texas
Barbecue ribs dripping in sauce are hot on the menu here. If you’re not sitting in a steakhouse with a mechanic bull in it, then you’re not doing it right. You might not be able to meet all the clichés of a tumbleweed and cacti fields, but a Texan barbecue is certainly something you’ve got to tick off the list. Don’t forget to order some sweet chilli fries on the side for that extra flavour hit.
The Bedouin Zarb
It’s amazing how some food practices can be so strikingly similar across lands that are separated by thousands of miles. Very similar to the Maori Hangi, the Bedouin Zarb is a combination of meat and vegetables cooked under ground, this time by the hot sands of the dessert. The minerals from the sand end up giving the dish a fantastic earthy flavour, that are well accompanied by pita and a variety of middle eastern food dips.
A Middle Eastern kebab
Still hot on the Middle East, you might not find a freestanding barbecue like you’d see in your own backyard, but you will recognise the word kebab. Middle Eastern culture has perfected the idea of a barbecued kebab and they are celebrated at just about every turn in places from Turkey to Jordan and Iran.
A South African “Braai”
Afrikaans for the word Barbeque, Braai is a barbeque with a twist. For one it is a social event that typically involves friends and family for a casual cookout. Also, meats were traditionally cooked over wood at a braai, although charcoal is more popular as the fuel used in present times. The assortment of meats is then eaten to the accompaniment of pap, a kind of porridge and sauces such as a tomato and onion sauce.
A Traveller, Food Lover & Tour Guide by profession. She has an extensive experience of local places which she has gained while travelling across the globe.
Comments