Sophie Skips Town

I was going to describe Cox’s Bazar’s food in one word, but then I found a billboard that speaks for me, so here you go:

That’s right. Oil. So much oil that they’ve even got a huge billboard in town to advertise. There’s no cheap way to avoid the oil…but once you embrace it, you can embrace the luxuries of Cox’s Bazar cuisine, which includes:

Samosas!

You know they’re good when they’re served in the newspaper and plastic bags and are still burning hot with oil seeping through. Be sure to grab them in the morning when they’re freshly made! There are usually several other snack options if samosas aren’t your thing. Definitely a go-to snack to carry with you before you end up stuck in traffic for 3 hours on your way out of town.

Here’s another popular street food to try. I always ask for extra chillies for that extra spunk — but I have an insanely high spice tolerance. So don’t try this at home. Side note, if you’re really lucky, they’ll even package your snack with recycled condom packages as displayed above. That’s called being resourceful.

Speaking of being resourceful, don’t forget to throw away your trash at one of the several garbage locations in Cox’s Bazar. You can’t miss them. They’re open-mouthed penguins with a sign that says, “Use Me” to which you proceed to “use” the penguin by dumping your trash in its mouth.

Definitely my favorite part of Cox’s Bazar.

But now let’s talk about the real food. Roti. Naan. Paratha. All the bread. So so good.

Just take a stroll around Cox’s Bazar in the morning to find the best roti stalls. You can’t go wrong.

But if you’re really searching for really good stuff, it’s better to head out of the city and into the villages. That’s where the magic is. And you can enjoy the sunset as well. Bonus!

But here’s the real advice. If you truly want some good, good food, you better find a way to get invited to a local’s house for dinner. Homemade Bangla food is absolutely incredible. Let’s hope you’re not a vegetarian, because the chicken curry is always amazing. You can’t walk away without 2 full plates of rice. Really, you can’t. They will make you eat it all.

And if you make a request, you might able to receive roti-making lessons. Apparently I’m not that skilled in making roti. It was rated 4 out of 10. The shape of my roti was compared to the continent of Australia. If you can try making a less Australia-like roti, then you’re already 10 steps ahead of me.

But yeah, we have a lot of food here. A lot.

Most of it includes potatoes and oil, which isn’t bad for a time. Just find that healthy balance. Go out and find some mangos.

They have mangos everywhere. Big mangos, little mangos (seriously, I almost died when I found these baby mangos). 

Now we have to talk about how to complement all of this lovely food with some fun drinks! 

Check out my post all about the coffee alternative: SPEED!