What new food or products did you learn about on a HAL cruise?

Bringing back edible cruse memories.

For us, just a few have been:

1. Jasmine Tea - Indonesia

2. Lizano Brown Sauce - Costa Rica

4. ANZAC biscuits and Pavlova - AUSNZ

5. Argovia coffee - Mexico

6. Dokka peaberry coffee - Costa Rica

On another thread we were talking about tea and I offered a brand we learned about on a Rotterdam cruise to Indonesia Tong Tji Jasmine Tea - have to special order this one.

Then when I was making lunch I was using Costa Rican Lizano "Brown Sauce" we learned about on the Veendam Panama cruise.

And the grand kids love the ANZAC biscuits I now make that we were introduced to on the Oosterdam Solar Eclipse cruise, where I also found an easy Pavlova recipe for an always special company dessert.

Another Mexican cruise to Puerto Chiapas introduced us to Argovia Coffee which we now order directly from them for special delivery, and it still is cheaper than US available premium brands. Though I also like the "peaberry" coffee at Dokka plantation in Costa Rica too.

On our cruise earlier this month on the Zuiderdam, I had Panama buns for the first time. We also tasted tamarind and rambutan when one of our tablemates brought some to dinner.

On recent Rotterdam cruise - pork belly for dinner. Ah, never again.

Another treat is the "green" grapefruit in Tahiti - we passed it up too many times in slices on buffet trays until we finally were talked into tasting it. Sweet and fabulous. Wish we could find it in American markets. Don't miss this when you see it on the Tales of the South Pacific or other SP cruises.

On recent Rotterdam cruise - pork belly for dinner. Ah, never again.

Something has been really, really, really bad with the pork belly on several our recent HAL cruises. Normally it should be very sweet, tender and flavorful. Instead on these several occasions on different ships it was rancid and inedible. Even when they tried again with very special and pungent sauce treatments. I don't blame you if you had the same experience. Yet, pork belly when it is proper is hauntingly good. Hope we also never run into that "rancid" pork again.

sambal, congee, osso buco, nasi goreng, cold fruit soups, bitterballen

That's too bad about the pork belly. It was very good on the Eurodam in December. It's got to be cooked right - which isn't terribly difficult - but it needs to be served while still crispy.

Barramundi, John Dory, Filet of Kangaroo, Dragon Fruit, Kiwi Fruits(never had tried them until a HAL cruise)

My diet has always been pretty varied, so in the ship I didn't really find anything new that I had never had. Though there were some combinations of ingredients that I found interesting and new.

On my Baltic cruise, I wandered through a market in Helsinki and tried fresh red currants for the first time ever. And I was introduced to the Lady Grey tea blend at Stockmann in Helsinki. Both were excellent there, and are still some of my favorite things.

Nothing beats the fresh lobster in Maine -- sometimes it's even fresh for formal night leaving Bar Harbor. And there is definitely something special about PEI potatoes. I still have dreams about the PEI fries!