Several weeks ago, we visited the ecological reserve of Xochimilco to meet some of the people who are trying to make a difference in food production in Mexico City. Aboard a colorful trajinera, or boat, we enjoyed a delicious salad made with local produce, as well as chicharrón, guacamole and locally produced cheese while Ricardo Rodriguez, owner of De La Chinampa, explained to us what the project is all about. “We’re trying to connect producers with consumers. What we do is bring the food from the soil to the table, always making sure the small and local producers benefit from this trade and keeping in mind where the food comes from and its history. Our main goal is the ecological restoration of the zone through the commercialization of the local products.”

After Portugal, Spain is second in exerting the most influence over the traditional bars and botequins of Rio. Even though the number of immigrants from Spain is less than that of Germany or Italy, the Spanish, like the Portuguese, took over much of the popular commerce in the city at the end of 19th century and the first half of the 20th.

In Barcelona, these are fortunate times we’re living in, gastronomically speaking. We’re blessed with a growing multitude of tapas bars whose humble appearances belie the excellent culinary chops behind them. Bar Resolís is one of these. The eatery is known mainly because of its location in the heart of Raval, the most multicultural neighborhood in Barcelona. It sits on a street lined with vintage clothing shops and is outfitted with a cute mini-terrace, a small open bar and windows that frame a wall full of colorful graffiti in the passageway adjacent. It’s the ideal laid-back setting for us to enjoy a vermut with our elbow on the sill while checking out the intriguing handbags in the shop window in front.

There is something magical about the area where To Mavro Provato is located, near the rather mysterious Proskopon Square in Pagrati. The square itself, hidden behind Vasileos Konstantinou Avenue, is usually dark even in the daytime thanks to the tall shady trees that fill it.

Juan Pablo Ballesteros comes from a family of entrepreneurs. In 1912, his great-grandfather, Rafael Ballesteros, opened Café Tacuba, which is today a food landmark in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico. Not far from this culinary treasure is Los Limosneros, which Juan Pablo opened more than a year ago, seeking to continue his family’s legacy while building a reputation of his own.

The hardest part about dining in Hong Kong is choosing among the overwhelming number of options. It’s one of the most densely populated cities on the planet, with more than 7 million mouths to feed – and many with demanding palates. You can stand on just about any block in the city and find several affordable eateries above, below and across from you (kind of like Starbucks in Seattle).

Editor's note: We are profoundly sad to report that Beşiktaş Kaymakçı has closed.  In our imagination, kaymak – the delicious Turkish version of clotted cream - is the only food served in heaven, where angels in white robes dish out plate after plate of the cloudlike stuff to the dearly departed, who no longer have to worry about cholesterol counts and visits to the cardiologist.

The cuisine of Antep deserves every bit of the praise it receives. In the southeastern city known as the gastronomic temple of Turkey, the world’s most refined kebab traditions are obsessively guarded by a cadre of traditional ustas in the local grilling institutions. Baklava workshops are steeped in an odd mixture of science and voodoo that would titillate Willy Wonka himself. But coming down from a grilled meat and sweets binge, the body wants dolma, pilav, börek and çorba – the home-style food that is strangely absent in Antep’s restaurants.

Editor’s note: In the latest installment of our recurring feature, First Stop, we asked Michael Costa, head chef at the award-winning restaurant Zaytinya, in Washington, D.C., where he heads first for food when he arrives in Barcelona. El Passadís del Pep is home to the best, most authentic Catalan seafood in the city. There is no menu but they curate the experience in such a warm, kind way that you may find that you prefer not to have to deal with a menu. The cooking is classic, minimal and serves only to enhance the natural beauty of the ingredients. No Egotarian Cuisine here, just excellent product treated with respect.

Dear Culinary Backstreets,My wife and I love to cook at home and for our friends, and we would love to learn more about Spanish cuisine on our next trip to Barcelona so that we can recreate our favorite meals when we return home. Where can we take English-language cooking classes in the city?

Oaxaca, in southwestern Mexico, is one of the country’s most biologically and culturally diverse states, with its Pacific coastline and confluence of mountain ranges at a tropical latitude and the numerous indigenous groups that have populated the area for centuries – or longer. All of these influences have produced a regional cuisine that is incredibly rich and deep and beloved among food-loving Mexicans (and non-Mexicans). Many immigrants from Oaxaca have brought this diversity of food and culture to Mexico City.

Brazil, as everybody knows, was colonized by the Portuguese. But even with the end of colonial Brazil, the Portuguese continued to come: at the beginning of the 20th century, thousands of them immigrated to flee poverty in Europe and to start anew in Brazil – especially in Rio. As the capital of the colony for more than 400 years, Rio has been the most influenced by Portuguese traditions, architecture and, of course, gastronomy.

There is a certain rite of passage associated with being invited to dinner or coffee at a Greek friend’s house. Not so much because of what you will end up eating or drinking there, but because of what the other guests will be bringing as gifts. To most Western Europeans’ surprise, one of the most popular gifts for the host is a big dessert – the kind of cake that is usually reserved for birthdays or big celebrations in other countries. Greeks often arrive bearing big, rectangular patisserie boxes containing anything from a large cheesecake to ice cream- and sorbet-layered cakes. And of course, very often these boxes contain a pan of the Greek national dessert, galaktoboureko.

Unwieldy English restaurant names often lose a lot in translation. Take Zhu Que Men, or “The Gate of the Vermillion Bird.” The name, which draws on Chinese astrology and Taoism, might seem a little highfalutin’ for a home-style noodle joint, but the subtext speaks volumes.

Editor’s note: In the latest installment of our recurring feature, First Stop, we asked Lillian Chou, former food editor of Gourmet and now a freelance writer in Beijing, where she heads first for food when she arrives in Shanghai. There are several factors that decide where I eat first when I arrive in Shanghai – mostly, it’s whether I’m alone or with friends and what kind of eaters they are and how much time we have.