Traveling Food Dude Adam Vosding talks snacking, traveling adventures
Adam Vosding, the Traveling Food Dude, sees a lot of different stadiums and arenas on the road.
FoodSided: Do you have a favorite type of go-to food to eat, generally speaking?
Traveling Food Dude: Generally speaking I’m still a meat and potatoes guy at heart, but when I go to a restaurant I try to pick something made with regional or local ingredients that I won’t find anywhere else. I was recently in Ontario, Canada where they grow a lot of cranberries and picked up some maple-cranberry sausage from a local grocery store. It was a cool local twist on plain sausage.
One of my other favorite places has been the fish market in San Diego that they do every Saturday morning. It’s a legit “sell fish right from the boat” market and there is also a food vendor there that makes fish sandwiches and fish stew with the local catch. They did a thresher shark stew with fresh California avocado that was amazing!
Why do food and sports work so well together?
To me it’s a culture thing. I still have a dream of attending a Packers game in the middle of December and checking out the tailgate scene where folks still grill out and make some awesome food in the freezing cold! I love the tailgating tradition, especially when going to various college football games and especially in Louisiana where the folks in Baton Rouge can cook up some killer food before an LSU game…even if it is barbecued alligator when the Gators are in town.
It may be kind of touristy now, but I’ve seen the Tampa Bay Lightning play in Montreal 4 times now and I always have to make sure to get some poutine while at that game! It just adds to the whole experience and of being at the sporting event and literally tasting the local flavors while watching a game.
Which stadium that you’ve visited has had the best gameday food? Do you have an ideal snack that you associate with sitting in the bleachers?
That’s a tough one. I am kind of amazed at how some stadiums or arenas have a lot of local offerings and some do not. I do see a trend where local food is becoming more popular and that’s a trend I really like to see. I’m also a big fan of “stadium friendly” food that is easy to eat with your fingers while watching the game. Some stuff can be too fancy and not too stadium-friendly to eat.
The baseball stadium in San Diego had a lot of great local food and the Los Angeles Angels had an area where actual baseball players from their team would have food offerings based on their influence or suggestion. That was really cool. One item that stands out for me was a jackalope sausage (jackrabbit and antelope) from Biker Jim’s (a local Denver place) on a fresh local roll with cream cheese and grilled onions. Hot dogs at a baseball game are always great, so this item kept with what you would want at a baseball game but had that local flair.