One of my favorite parts of traveling is eating. Experiencing the cuisine in a different locale is nearly always exciting and you have an excuse to do it multiple times a day on your trip. The bummer is when you have to get on the plane and give it all up. But this year I got some new insight on how to minimize the end-of-vacation blues by bringing home some of my favorite foods from abroad.

I’ve been deeply scarred by how movie theaters have treated me when they caught me smuggling in Taco Bell, because shockingly, the TSA doesn't really care if you bring outside food onto a plane. (Customs is another story, but I’ll let you handle that how you like.) As long as you can meet the liquid restrictions, you won’t get a lot of hassle from them. (You can check the TSA website for fun details, like how they will gladly do a live lobster inspection.) So the question isn’t if you can, but how to do it without spoilage or breakage.

Freeze butter and cheese

I took a trip to Paris this year, and while there is a wealth of incredible food, French butter is exquisite. While I set out to cram as much butter as I could into my mouth over the course of five days, a friend I was traveling with casually mentioned vacuum sealing it in plastic and freezing it. This was a double-take moment. 

While vacuum sealing is helpful to keep food aromas in check, it’s the freezing part that's crucial. Freezing keeps the food item firm and durable, and delays the need for refrigeration, thus buying you time before any spoilage can occur. I froze four blocks of butter and they were still chilly when I unpacked. That’s about 13 hours total from European freezer to Brooklyn fridge in late May. (That is probably the maximum amount of travel time most frozen foods will hang on, so jump to the next section if your travels will keep you on the plane for longer.)

You can freeze many of your favorite food souvenirs to give them a fighting chance in your luggage. Anything you’d normally freeze can work: butters, hard cheeses, sausages, cured meats, breads, biscuits, cookies, or nut butters. Things that are larger or solid will stay cold longer, versus breads that have air pockets, or smaller cookies. If you know you’ll be collecting food souvenirs on your trip, bring a small insulated bag to help prolong the cold temperature of your food. While you can use ice packs or gel packs, I don’t recommend it. They must be completely frozen solid during TSA screening, which you can’t really rely on, and it’s added weight. 

While La Grande Epicerie vacuum sealed my bevy of butter in a plastic bag, you don’t need to bring a vacuum sealer on vacation. Maybe you could argue that the suctioned plastic supports the shape of the item, but I don’t think it’s doing much in that regard. The plastic really just prevents any gross spillage, meltage, and odor from getting out into your luggage. You can just squeeze the air out of zip-top bags, or use one of these no-vacuum-necessary compression travel bags.

Just to be clear, traveling with food, even in your car, is a bit of a gamble unless you can monitor the temperature. The USDA says perishable food can only be left in the danger zone (40°F to 140°F) for up to two hours. If you unpack the once-frozen food and it feels like it's reached room temperature, you might opt to chuck it. That said, my family has always stored butter on the kitchen table. Freezing foods keeps their temperature safe for longer, but always be smart, and use your nose.

Swaddle glass

If perishable goods won't work for the length of your travels, you can still bring home a taste your travels with jarred items. Dry goods are easy to pack if the packaging is plastic, but glass can be tricky. If you’re bringing back 10 jars of Italian peperoncino powder, or three small bottles of Limoncello from Amalfi, make sure you pad them. Luckily, your luggage is essentially full of padding material. 

Unlike in the picture, your luggage shouldn't look like you have any food in it. It should all be swaddled up. Put any liquid souvenirs, like liquors, sauces, jams, oils, or vinegars, in sealable small plastic bags, then wrap the items in clothes you don’t love so much. I usually put jars in socks, roll bottles up in several underpants, or pajamas. The cloth will prevent aggressive collisions from happening, but in the rare case of breakage, at least you were ready to retire that One Direction t-shirt anyway.

Finally, stuff any especially fragile padded jars or bottles into your packed shoes or sneakers. This shoe fortress will protect your precious food once you close the lid of your carry-on, and as a bonus they’ll keep your shoes in shape, too. I once brought home a six-piece set of Venetian wine glasses this way in checked luggage and they returned to me in pristine condition.

I’ve had it with hot honey. It’s been on the scene for years now, but I really started seeing it pop up around 2018. Despite how many times I’ve tried it (many) and the vast variety of foods I’ve put it on (several), it’s never hot enough. Not even close. And as much as I like sweet and spicy paired together (please don’t make me call it “swicy"), it rarely matches up with the flavor profile of what I’m eating. I’d like to propose that you leave hot honey behind, and instead try a condiment that delivers flavor, heat, and a bit of sweet: hot ketchup. 

Rao's Ketchup, Arrabbiata, 12 oz.

This ketchup has just the right balance of sweetness, spice, and acidity.

$6.49 at Gourmet Garage

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$6.49 at Gourmet Garage

To clarify, I’m not a fanatic spice-head. This isn’t coming from a person who pops habaneros as a snack. I like heat as a complement to a dish’s flavor, and I frequently use hot sauce or add chilis to my food. However, the minute spice becomes a distraction to my enjoyment, it’s too much. I know everyone has different tolerances, but truly, hot honey can’t effectively provide long lasting heat. This is no fault of honey.

Why honey can’t deliver the heat

Honey is a special gift, but it’s never going to make you feel spice the way other sauces will. Honey is mostly composed of carbohydrates in the form of sugars and a wee bit of water. Sugar can actually alleviate the effects of capsaicin (the spicy oil found in hot peppers) by functioning like a painkiller. Which means honey will actually make hot peppers feel less spicy to the pain receptors in your mouth. Hot honey is an oxymoron. 

If you must have hot honey, look for the brands that actually have a pepper mash that you can see. When you eat it with food, you’ll probably crack into one of these pieces as you chew and get a burst of fire. I recommend Melinda’s Ghost Pepper Hot Honey. The heat is short-lived but strong, and if that works for you then you’ll enjoy this one.

Hot ketchup is superior

Luckily, hot ketchup is here to help. It's been my condiment of choice in these early days of summer. I’ve been using Rao’s Arrabbiata Ketchup which has a surprisingly forceful kick. Hot ketchup is a far better vehicle for heat delivery because it sticks to food, the flavor is more flexible, and there’s not enough sugar in it to mute the spice. Honey has little in the way of structure, so it easily dribbles off food, while ketchup is spreadable and stays put for the most part. The flavor of ketchup is much less divisive. I know several people that hate sweet and savory paired together, but ketchup reads less like candy and still scratches the itch.

Now that outdoor grilling season is here, I think spicy ketchup should be the champion condiment of the summer. Put it on all the things you’ve tried to enjoy hot honey with. Add it to your barbecue sauce recipe, use it as a marinade, spread it on pizza, and obviously it should go on your hot sandwiches. If you’re wondering how you’ll ever make your blueberry pie à la mode spicy again (all two of you spicy dessert folks out there), maybe just reach for the hot sauce.