In 2019, the Pacaya volcano became the first pizza place in the country of Guatemala, and one of the first on earth, to use lava caves as ovens. Pizza Pacaya founder Mario David García Mansilla was inspired after seeing guides invite tourists to roast marshmallows over the cooling lava.

One of the most acclaimed eateries in Arkansas is a two-table diner on the ground floor of a family home. James Jones’s family recipes are the same ones that his father and grandfather have used since at least 1910.

Once the site of a fisherman's post, this restaurant sits atop a rock on Michamvi Pingwe beach. It's perched on a tidal island that rises above the sand at low tide, but becomes an island at high tide. Depending on the time of day, voyagers arrive on foot or by boat.

There's at least one thing most cultures can agree on: Stuffed dough is delicious. In India, it's samosa; in Poland, pierogi; and among the Jewish communities of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, it's all about samsa. These savory pastries are made of flaky baked dough filled with lamb and onions. If you’re in New York, there's only one place to go: Rokhat Kosher Bakery in the Rego Park neighborhood of Queens.

New Orleans is no stranger to paranormal activity and or classic Creole fare. Muriel’s just happens to serve a generous helping of both. At this French Quarter restaurant, patrons dine amongst the spirits of New Orleans's past—the restaurant keeps a hidden séance room on the second floor and reserves a table for the spirit of the former owner each night.

The snoball is a New Orleans treat that (controversial opinion alert) improves upon the classic snow cone. All thanks to the engineering skills of Ernest Hansen, the erstwhile proprietor of Hansen’s Sno-Bliz, which has been in business since 1939. In addition to a menu full of wild flavors, Hansen’s also has toppings—most famously, bananas caramelized in brown sugar and vanilla for a Bananas Foster Sno-Bliz.

Since the 1960s, this unassuming bakery has been churning out fresh, piping-hot sweet and savory buns. Customers show up in droves for the bakery’s signature char siu bao, often causing a considerable line to snake from the front door down Bayard Street. Trust us, they’re worth the wait.

This 25-year-old eatery is our pick for Hanoi’s best take on bún chả, an iconic dish that brings together bún (rice vermicelli noodles) and chả (pork patties). Head down a narrow alley—where the restaurant’s vendors man charcoal grills, sorting herbs, and preparing drinks—to find an area with plastic tables and stools. You’ll be asked how many orders of bún chả you want, and whether you want them with nem cua bể, crispy fried crab spring rolls, a typical accompanying side dish. (Say yes). 

While some might find the concept of dining just steps away from buried corpses to be unsettling for Berliners in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Bergmannkiez, it's the most natural thing in the world. Since 2013, when architect Martin Strauss and his wife Olga set up shop in the historic archways of a chapel, Café Strauss has been serving Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) with a side of contemplation. 

An abandoned canteen for Soviet workers is now serving some of Armenia’s most progressive heritage cuisine. Located in an eastern Armenian village, Tsaghkunk Restaurant was once a lunch stop for local growers and cattle farmers. The building sat abandoned for around 40 years, before ex-diplomat and businessman Hrachya Aghajanyan restored it lovingly into a dining room for modern Armenian gastronomy.

Wattana Panich's giant pot of neua tune, a beef stew popular in the Thai capital, has been simmering since owner Nattapong Kaweenuntawong was a child. Growing up studying the exact flavor profile of the stew from his father, Kaweenuntawong now balances the flavor himself daily. He uses some of the previous day's leftover broth to start the base of the following day's soup.

Lalibela, Ethiopia is a holy city, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its 12th-century churches cut into the rock of the earth. On the opposite end of the architectural spectrum, just a short walk away, is Ben Abeba, a snail shell of a building that looks more like a spaceship landed on top of that rock. The award-winning restaurant serves a menu mixing traditional Ethiopian dishes and western fare, sometimes combining the two.

Located in a cave thought to be between 120,000 and 180,000 years old, Ali Barbour's takes dining al fresco to a whole other dimension. Diners enter through an unassuming, whitewashed facade, then descend 33 feet underground to enjoy their meals in an ancient coral cave with a wide mouth overhead for excellent stargazing. Though the menu is international, seafood is the specialty. You can dine on a meal caught in the Indian Ocean, mere feet from your table, and possibly at the same sea level.

In the quiet Reforma neighborhood of the capital city, one couple fights to preserve these native varieties at their restaurant, Itanoní. The eatery’s name means “corn flower,” and it is a delicious celebration of the treasured crop. It’s a greatest-hits of tortilla-based delights: savory, bean-and-queso-topped memelas, triangular tetelas that ooze salty, gooey queso fresco, and herbaceous wraps filled with eggs and the local hoja santa leaf.

Solar Branco is a mansion that was built in the hills of Sao Miguel, the largest island in the Portuguese Azores, in 1885. Today, the estate has been converted into a hotel with an unusual feature: its very own Gin Library. Assembled over the course of the owner's travels—the collection now includes more than 600 gins in all flavors, shapes, and sizes.

Arguably the greatest attraction at Taiwan's National Palace Museum is a small statuette, shaped like a bok choy cabbage. A closer look reveals that the cabbage is carved from a single piece of green-and-white jade. The Silks Palace, the museum's on-site fine-dining restaurant, offers a meal modeled after famous objects on display, including a pork version of the famed meat-shaped jasper stone.

Tokyo’s only Ainu restaurant serves Indigenous food from northern Japan. Opened in 2011 by Teruyo Usa, Harukor is a gathering place for Ainu in Tokyo and a venue where non-Ainu can learn about the group's history and culture.

For generations, George Jackson's family has baked with the help of the same "bug." Said bug is actually a sourdough starter. A typical bug is a combination of flour, mashed potatoes, and the water they were boiled in. When fermented and mixed with more flour and water, the result is rēwena, Māori sourdough. Jackson started a bakery to make both sweet and sour parāoa, or bread.

At Cornell University, fall heralds the return of a most unusual vending machine outside of Mann Library near the Department of Horticulture. In lieu of the usual assortment of snacks, the popular fixture features nine apple varieties, all grown at Cornell Orchards’ two locations. For the modest price of a dollar, students can snag a crisp, juicy Gala, Shizuka, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, or Ginger Gold. Precisely which apples are on display varies from month to month.

This San Francisco institution has been dishing up bamboo steamers of dim sum for more than a century. First opened in 1920, it bears the distinction of being the oldest dim sum restaurant in the United States. Although the prices have inched up ever so slightly—back in the 1930s, a basket of ha gow went for a mere $0.30—the menu of Cantonese stalwarts has remained largely the same for decades.

At La Rifa Chocolatería, if you ask where the honey, unrefined piloncillo sugar, or, of course, cacao nibs come from, the staff here can rattle off its microregion and village of origin, as well as the names of the producers who made it. Mesoamerican people from the Olmecs to the Mayans and Aztecs fermented and ground cacao into a frothy beverage, and co-founders Daniel Reza and Monica Ortiz Lozano draw on Mexico’s ancient history with the beans.

With an ever-changing, globe-spanning menu and a wall-to-wall collection of culinary curios collected over a lifetime of travel, Nue may be the closest thing to the Gastro Obscura book in restaurant form. The choose-your-own-adventure quality inside this chimerical Seattle spot verges on extreme. Drink your way from the intersection of Ireland and Vietnam (the “McNguyễn” uses Irish whiskey and Vietnamese Coffee with sweetened condensed milk) to Scandinavia (don’t miss the Salmiakki cocktail).

Opened in 1896 in a former train station, despite claiming to have served more than 50 million meals, Bouillon Chartier doesn’t appear to have changed much since opening day. Dishes include classic French fare such as celery remoulade, calf head in Gribiche sauce, roast chicken and French fries.

Grandma’s cake and chit-chat—that’s the concept behind the lovable Munich café and bakery Kuchentratsch (in German, “cake gossip”). Located in the heart of the Bavarian capital, this sweet haven has perfected the typical German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen-Zeit (afternoon coffee and cake time) and put it toward a good cause. The establishment doubles as a social initiative startup where all fresh-baked confections are made by local elderly folks.

With every handcrafted scoop served at Cape Town's Tapi Tapi, microbiologist turned ice-cream maker Tapiwa Guzha tells the story of his own food history, as well as stories from across the African continent. His freezers contain flavors like rondo ice cream, made with a nutritious edible clay consumed by pregnant women all over Africa, as well as botanical flavors such as black-jack, bitter leaf, and baobab.