Welcome to Sunday Sobremesa, a twice-monthly thread to discuss food and culture while sipping on a coffee (or a Fanta naranja1 if that’s more your style!).
As you’ve probably noticed, this week’s sobremesa is a day late. I could blame it on travel, or the time difference, but I’m going to be 100% honest with you about why I didn’t post yesterday: apple pie.
Yesterday afternoon I took Kate McDermott’s virtual pie-making class for The Quintessential Apple Pie. I was pie-obsessed all afternoon, during the actual class of course, but also during the hours after that I spent hovering over the pie while it was baking and while it was cooling, taking pictures of it, and eating that first slice (it was incredible!). I’ll write more about it later this week—you can bet that it’s already number one on my Friday Favorites list—but I was incredibly impressed with how well the pie turned out considering that I’m a complete novice. Many thanks to Kate for being such an excellent teacher!
Now on to our discussion for the week: travel snacks. As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I’m back in the US visiting my family, which meant a long plane ride over the Atlantic. Plane food is hit-or-miss, particularly when you have to request special meals. I always plan ahead and bring a baguette and jamón ibérico to make a bocadillo (yes, I get lots of jealous glances from my less-prepared seatmates), but good snacks are also key.
Snacks are essential for any type of long travel. For plane rides I tend to lean toward healthier items, like a couple of different types of fruit and either a snack bar (like Kind or Rawbite) or a piece or two of dark chocolate. Road trips are for more “fun” snacks: Oreos are a must, and there’s a rotating selection of chips/salty nibbles that typically choose from (Lay’s Gourmet Original, Gublins, kikos from Mister Corn).
I’m curious to hear from you: what are your favorite travel snacks? Do you always go for the same foods, or do you switch it up? Excited to hear your picks in the comments!
Fanta naranja: Orange Fanta. They’re better in Spain for some reason (I’m assuming due to the type/amount of sugar used—the ones in the US are too sweet in my opinion) and I used to ask David to bring me cans every time he visited.
Ahh, how great you took Kate’s class! Her apple pie is my favorite to make (and to eat!) Welcome back! will you be in Chicago at all? We can meet for coffee! My favorite snacks on plane are cookies, preferably shortbread with tea!
Oh, I wish it was still Sunday, Kiki! Hope your flight went smoothl! I've been wanting to take one of Kate's classes but the timezone doesn't help :( I bet the end result was delicious!
Once you're used to how soda tastes in Europe, trust me, except for apparently coke (which I don't drink) you'll not want to drink any of the US versions!
Also: snacks. For planes I always have a salted caramel almond kind bar (I also always have one in my bag and in the car door pocket to ward off being hangry!) and savoury rosemary almonds for healthy snacking.
For roadtrips we tend to pick up whatever candy we fancy in the first gas station, usually something with mixed fruits and nostalgic from childhood like Fruit Polos (https://thesweetboxshop.com/polo-fruits-37g-roll-1453-p.asp) and Wine Gums (https://thecandystoreonline.co.uk/products/soft-wine-gums: these have booze names on them but are non alcoholic and fruit flavoured!); J and I are the perfect pairing for this as I hate the lemon and lime ones (orange are okay but not a favourite) and he hates the red and purple ones!
I try to eat healthy when I travel on planes, especially for long haul flight since I'm sitting for so long! I tend to lean on bags of nuts and fresh fruit if possible - maybe an apple to curve that sweet tooth. Alternatively a good bag of trail mix with plenty of chocolate covered nuts or espresso beans 😅 are my guilty pleasure. I unfortunately eat the entire bag before the plane has taken off and feel a bit bad afterwards!
Welcome back! My go-to travel snacks are Twizzlers, pretzels, and soft chocolate chip cookies. That being said, my ex once made me a baggie full of freshly cooked bacon to take on a long flight and it was the best thing. Other passengers were quite jealous, haha.
Now that you can make a pie, consider going smaller and making sweet or savory gallettes or crostata for something portable. From the book "Pie All the Time" by Taylor Harbin I just made some with kale, nuts and golden raisins.
Another possibility would be hand pies. I will soon be trying this recipe:
Helpful pie gadgets: Perfect-A-Crust Pie Crust Molds
Probably not being manufactured any more but look on EBay
(plastic circles for rolling out dough for 8", 9", and 10" pies)
Rollling pin measuring strips. Just bought a set from MoreCuisineEssentials.com (have not tried them yet!). The set has 1/4", 1/8" and 1/16" thicknesses.
Shop.kingarthurbaking.com is a great place for baking ingredients and supplies. Trained, experienced people will answer your baking questions if you need any help or ideas.
I often stop in at Starbucks for coffee and pastry, so then I started trying to come up with things I could make and that are portable!
At one time I would pack sliced salami and pita bread for a quick meal. There was no danger of leaking mess, and took up little space in my bag.
Sunday Sobremesa #10: Let’s talk about travel snacks
Ahh, how great you took Kate’s class! Her apple pie is my favorite to make (and to eat!) Welcome back! will you be in Chicago at all? We can meet for coffee! My favorite snacks on plane are cookies, preferably shortbread with tea!
It was great to have you in the apple pie class yesterday and I'm very happy that you liked both the class and your pie!
Oh, I wish it was still Sunday, Kiki! Hope your flight went smoothl! I've been wanting to take one of Kate's classes but the timezone doesn't help :( I bet the end result was delicious!
My go to snack: toasted almonds
My naughty snack: something chocolatey!
Once you're used to how soda tastes in Europe, trust me, except for apparently coke (which I don't drink) you'll not want to drink any of the US versions!
Also: snacks. For planes I always have a salted caramel almond kind bar (I also always have one in my bag and in the car door pocket to ward off being hangry!) and savoury rosemary almonds for healthy snacking.
For roadtrips we tend to pick up whatever candy we fancy in the first gas station, usually something with mixed fruits and nostalgic from childhood like Fruit Polos (https://thesweetboxshop.com/polo-fruits-37g-roll-1453-p.asp) and Wine Gums (https://thecandystoreonline.co.uk/products/soft-wine-gums: these have booze names on them but are non alcoholic and fruit flavoured!); J and I are the perfect pairing for this as I hate the lemon and lime ones (orange are okay but not a favourite) and he hates the red and purple ones!
I try to eat healthy when I travel on planes, especially for long haul flight since I'm sitting for so long! I tend to lean on bags of nuts and fresh fruit if possible - maybe an apple to curve that sweet tooth. Alternatively a good bag of trail mix with plenty of chocolate covered nuts or espresso beans 😅 are my guilty pleasure. I unfortunately eat the entire bag before the plane has taken off and feel a bit bad afterwards!
Welcome back! My go-to travel snacks are Twizzlers, pretzels, and soft chocolate chip cookies. That being said, my ex once made me a baggie full of freshly cooked bacon to take on a long flight and it was the best thing. Other passengers were quite jealous, haha.
An adult beverage to calm the nerves. I hate flying.
Now that you can make a pie, consider going smaller and making sweet or savory gallettes or crostata for something portable. From the book "Pie All the Time" by Taylor Harbin I just made some with kale, nuts and golden raisins.
Another possibility would be hand pies. I will soon be trying this recipe:
https://www.browneyedbaker.com/apple-hand-pies/
Helpful pie gadgets: Perfect-A-Crust Pie Crust Molds
Probably not being manufactured any more but look on EBay
(plastic circles for rolling out dough for 8", 9", and 10" pies)
Rollling pin measuring strips. Just bought a set from MoreCuisineEssentials.com (have not tried them yet!). The set has 1/4", 1/8" and 1/16" thicknesses.
Shop.kingarthurbaking.com is a great place for baking ingredients and supplies. Trained, experienced people will answer your baking questions if you need any help or ideas.
I often stop in at Starbucks for coffee and pastry, so then I started trying to come up with things I could make and that are portable!
At one time I would pack sliced salami and pita bread for a quick meal. There was no danger of leaking mess, and took up little space in my bag.