Foods Elena Amabili Has Tried

Infants and Genghis Khan enjoyed this fermented mare's milk.

Pink or green syrup turns a historic German ale into a tart, sweet delight.

A bitter liqueur that traces the history of a Hungarian-Jewish family.

The fiery fruit brandy of the Balkans.

Artichokes form the backbone of this vegetal liqueur.

The same grass that feeds massive European bison adds notes of vanilla and lavender to this unique Polish vodka.

Chinese rhubarb imparts an organic smoky aroma to this Italian amaro.

Only a few breweries still make smoky beer in this classic German style.

You can find authentic versions of this sour Slavic brew at street stalls and monasteries.

The sweet-and-sour soda almost disappeared with the collapse of communist rule in then-Czechoslovakia.

There's a legend that this Latvian herbal liqueur saved an ailing Catherine the Great.

A Spanish ritual meant to inject effervescence into a flat drink.

In Spain's Extremadura region, local sheep and a touch of thistle make for an ultra-creamy, slightly bitter cheese.

As fine as the marble it's cured in, this pig fat salumi is a Tuscan masterpiece.

These rare, hand-pulled strands of cheese are making a comeback in southwestern Georgia.

"Monk's Head" cheese requires a special shaver.

For a brief seasonal window in Spain, snails go from dreaded pests to coveted tapas.

The Galician cheese named for a nipple and brought to you by “blonde” cows.

Usually, the only heat that gets close to this raw pork fat is a sprinkle of pepper.

These expensive and dangerous-to-harvest barnacles were once confused for goose eggs.

The Sardinian cheese that wriggles with maggots.

To circumvent a meat ban, Italian immigrants hid their soppressata in balls of cheese.

This “brown cheese” tastes like caramel.

The stinky cheese comes with onions and bathroom humor.