As someone who’s traveled a whole lot–and, probably more importantly, a native New Yorker–I always think the world of cuisine doesn’t hold many more surprises. I don’t mean the “monkey brains? how lovely!” kind; I mean the more mundane sort.

Like the first time I was in England and found out that a sandwich consisted of two pieces of bread and one slice of meat, or that “chicken salad” had nothing to do with mayonnaise or celery. But that was almost 30 years ago. Guidebooks warn you that you might get served live snake in China, but they don’t tell you what “with fries” means n the Middle East.

Maybe I’ve just never been to a real falafel restaurant in New York either. But when I was in Jerusalem, we went to a cafe called the Magic Carpet on Emek Refaim St. I was told that it was Iraqi cuisine, prepared by Yemenis. I had a falafel pita, with hummus, and when I was asked “Do you want fries with that?” I said yes. And the fries came–inside the pita with the falafel. I don’t know about you, but I rarely have potato sandwiches at home.

Anyway, I learned to say a phrase I never expected to say: “I’ll have the fries on the side, please.” Imagine saying that to somebody in McDonald’s!

There was actually an interesting story to go with the name of the restaurant. When Jews in Yemen were being persecuted, the Israeli government put on an airlift to bring those who wanted to emigrate into the country. Many of the Yemenis had never seen an airliner before, and they called them “Magic Carpets.” Supposedly.

The other “new” food I encountered was St. Peter’s Fish. I was at my hotel restaurant looking for something native and less expensive, and there was a whole St. Peter’s fish on the menu. I asked the waitress if there was another name for the fish, and she asked the chef, but they both came up blank. So I figured, ok, Holy Land, native to the Sea of Galilee or something. It was about the length of a trout, but fatter, and quite tasty.

I got back to my room and looked it up online. Tilapia. Which you can find everywhere at home. Sigh.

I learned something about tilapia, though–or at least about how it comes to be called St. Peter’s fish. It seems that with a whole tilapia (which I’ve never seen in my local markets) there’s an indention on the fish’s side that looks like a thumbprint. St. Peter being a fisherman and all, somebody decided it was his thumbprint; hence the name.

So even when you’re abroad and eating something as non-exotic as fries or tilapia, there’s always something to learn.

–Mary Hunt, editor, eFlyer