A Travel Tip for Foodies

If you're seeking memorable (and not necessarily expensive) dining experiences on your upcoming travels, I highly recommend looking beyond the traditional guidebooks for restaurant recommendations. Here's my tip: Go to a used bookstore that carries old magazines and flip through back issues of Gourmet, Saveur, and Bon Appetit. They'll often feature roundups of good eats in cities both stateside and abroad. Before we left for Greece I spent about 45 minutes at Half Price Books here in Columbus, and I dug up food-related articles on Athens in a couple of magazines that cost me only 50 cents each. An article in a 2001 issue of Gourmet authored by Greek cuisine expert Diane Kochilas was especially helpful. Even if you don't end up visiting any of the recommended eateries, you'll get an excellent introduction to the names of local specialties, which is especially fun when traveling abroad. Plus, torn-out magazine pages weigh a lot less than guidebooks, which is a bonus when you're pounding the pavement all day!