What is a traveling foodie?

Hello. My name is Elizabeth and I am a traveling foodie. I am on the road about two hundred days a year for business and I love to travel for pleasure. I also am a foodie. The term foodie was coined by Paul Levy and Ann Barr in the book The Official Foodie Handbook, 1981. Wikipedia states that a foodie is an informal term for a particular class of aficionado of food and drink. I first heard it in a casual conversation with a foodie family my husband and I met at a music festival. They were camping next to us and both parties were being themselves playing games and preparing amazing gourmet meals and drinks during the weekend. We soon realized our common interest of food and board games and we all instantly became friends. They described themselves as foodies. They also traveled for business coincidentally as public speakers and spent many nights in a hotel room away from home.
When a foodie travels for a length of time for business their way of existence is compromised. I have traveled to some markets with only buffets full of fried foods and to grocery stores that only offer iceberg lettuce for produce. When my husband and I travel for pleasure it is often to music festivals or for camping. Food has always been a big part of our plans when we travel. But our new friends also made or brought their own food while on business. The father would tell me how he makes gravlax, salmon cured in salt and sugar, in his hotel room. I thought, "How creative and fun!". I love to cook and one thing I miss most about being on the road is not being able to cook. I became very curious and soon started creating dishes in the microwave or even the coffeepot. It became an adventure and something to look forward to on the lonely road. I started eating better and was enjoying myself. I became a traveling foodie.
I have worked on the road for ten years. In the beginning I always ate at restaurants. I never ate fast food or bad foods but I still had stomach aches, spent a lot of money, and would be stuck with what was offered by the hotel restaurant. Gradually I ate food I brought from home or made meals in my hotel room with ingredients bought at a grocery store. Now I eat my own food about ninety percent of the time. When I eat out at a restaurant it is now on my terms and I enjoy it even more because it is a fresh experience.
I am now a traveling foodie. I use that term to describe someone who eats good food and continues to adhere by those standards even on the road. And if you are one who travels for business you know that sometimes you have to seek out the good food and even create it yourself. I always try to stick with organic, local, fresh, and non-processed foods with no artificial ingredients. When I eat meat I try to stick with all natural, humanely treated and preferably organic. So if I want to stick to those standards even on the road I have to plan ahead and prepare some items at home. It is worth all the effort and it is possible to accomplish. If you also travel and want to continue to eat like a foodie even on the road then check back and I will continue to post how to travel like a foodie. The next post will be about how to plan ahead and prepare what you will need before you leave home.