Hellobee Boards

For me it's not about reputable, it's about the actual food safety. If I'm traveling to a country with a contaminated water source, regardless of the kind of place, I'll always ask 1) is your water filtered 2) do you wash veggies and other raw foods in that filtered water. Important to know WHY you're worried, not just paint with a broad brush!

Yes. I have an extremely sensitive stomach. We were in Egypt a few months ago, only ate hotel food, and I still got pretty sick. My DH and 2 LOs did not though and we were all eating the same things. I also always get sick when I go to Asia.

I would if I'm not familiar with the country and I don't have locals guiding me. But if I'm in let's say China or most parts of Asia where I am familiar, I'd be okay to probably eat a lot more things that other tourists would be advised against.

@Mrs D: it's funny in india one the best meals I had was on the overnight train. but my friend got sick from a cheese sandwich at a nice hotel. Sometimes sticking to local cuisine is the better choice!

Totally depends on where the guidelines are coming from and the reason for the guidelines. If the "guidelines" are coming from an organization funded by say, resorts and hotels, and it advises people to stick to only food sold by the organizational members, then lol, no, GTFO. Sometimes it can be tricky to determine the reasoning for some website's recommendations/guidelines.

If there are legitimate concerns about water treatment, then yeah, I don't drink the water.

I don't go on vacation to a foreign country to eat at chain restaurants, Americanized restaurants or only at Americanized/westernized resorts. That kind of sounds like my worst nightmare, to be honest.

I don't stick to a restricted list, but I try and eat at places where lots of locals eat. My favourite thing to do is try off the beaten path places.
Super Rueda was one of my favs in Lima, Peru.
Mama Lilys in Antigua.
Shipwreck Grill in St Kitts.

I spent an entire summer in SE Asia in college and I ate whatever I wanted! Some of the street food/street vendors was the best food that I ate the entire trip.

@yoursilverlining: "I don't go on vacation to a foreign country to eat at chain restaurants, Americanized restaurants or only at Americanized/westernized resorts. That kind of sounds like my worst nightmare, to be honest." <--- Exactly. I don't see the point of traveling and immersing myself in another country's culture if I'm only going to stick with what I think is "Westernized."

Also, I find the concept that "Western" is best/cleanest/whatever to be offensive.

@Mrs D: Yes it depends on the country too! In Costa Rica, I stopped asking what was filtered because EVERYTHING was. I lived in Brazil for a year and same thing - ate *everywhere* - only time I got sick in a year was eating chicken kabobs from a street vendor. India I was a lot more careful. I lived in Bangladesh for a summer (almost 3 months) and just trusted other people, if they said it was fine to eat there, I believed them. Somehow that method worked out, ha ha. Panama EVERYTHING was safe... same with Ecuador and Peru.