Foods Lefteris Has Tried

These Japanese sweets demonstrate the ephemeral beauty of the seasons.

A pharmaceutical company developed this beverage as drinkable IV solution.

These bird-shaped cakes once fueled miners in Japan's Fukuoka region.

This layered pastry from Italy's Amalfi Coast may have origins in a 17th-century convent.

This Hungarian fried dough can make a rich breakfast or trusty hangover cure.

This spiraled Balkan pastry requires painstakingly rolling dough into silky sheets.

Hungary's favorite chocolate bar is filled with cheese curd.

Before they're filled with brandy, these bottles get attached to trees so pears can grow inside.

The fiery Calabrian meat spread also goes by "red Nutella" and "poor man's Viagra."

This condiment proves that what the world considers delicious is (nearly) universal.

Drooling over this nutty spiced dessert is a heretical move.

The marshmallow-based candy is named for a delicacy just out of the ancient Greeks' reach.

A sandwich so decadent, it was once inappropriate for women to order one.

Baloney's predecessor is sweet, delicately spiced, and bigger than your head.

In Czechia, a foamy beer is a sweet and creamy treat.

After rotating over hot coals, the Transylvanian treat unravels in a sweet spiral.

In Poland's highlands, a small group makes a beautiful, smoky sheep's milk cheese.

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

On Easter in Greece, whole lambs roast beside succulent skewers of their offal.

The fiery fruit brandy of the Balkans.

Romania's all-occasion plummy spirit.

This offal soup is a classic Greek hangover cure.

The aroma of this mulled wine has been compared to “a warmed-up bowl of Froot Loops.”

This flat, silver spoon holds an exalted place in the mystery and ritual of absinthe drinking.