Pickled honeydew may sound like an odd arrangement, but it's surprisingly delicious, and among the vast array of pickled treats one can sample on our Two Markets, Two Continents walk in Istanbul.

We spotted this colorful display of conservas (canned fish) at one of Lisbon’s finest traditional markets. The tinned fish industry is an old one in Portugal, dating back to the 19th century. The quality of the fish and the olive oil, plus the retro packaging makes it a delicious souvenir or gift.

West Georgia's climate is ideal for tea, and Georgia has been producing high quality tea since 1847. On our Old Market & Beyond culinary walk in Tbilisi, we get a chance to see, smell and taste fine samples of tea and other delicacies in the Dezerter's Bazaar - the Georgian capital’s largest and oldest open-air marketplace.

Ask anyone what they know about Georgian food and they’re sure to mention khachapuri, a baked barge of dough packing a cargo of gooey cheese. While khachapuri in its many forms is perhaps the best known Georgian dish abroad, we sample the equally delicious if less flashy tonis lobiani, a traditional bean-stuffed bread, on our market walk.

On our “Street Eats Breakfast” walk in Shanghai, we stop for jiānbǐng (煎饼), sometimes called Chinese crepes, flapjacks or burritos. Served up streetside on flat griddles, these millet flour pancakes are topped with scrambled eggs, cilantro, green onions and pickled mustard tubers and then slathered in umami-laden soybean paste and spicy chili flakes.

While on a culinary walk in Queens, we stop by a tortillería that uses high-quality corn and the traditional nixtamalization process to make their delicious tortillas. But tasting homemade tortillas is just the beginning on a global journey through the United Kitchens, where immigrants from all over the world, including Tibet, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina, share their flagship flavors.

Legend has it that huangjiu, or yellow wine, was invented by Du Kang, the god of Chinese alcohol. Because huangjiu is fermented, the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) benefits of the drink are legion, and include “invigorating the blood.” You can see for yourself if that’s the case on our Night Eats tour in Shanghai.

Named after the soldiers who fled the Czar’s army in the early 19th century and sold their guns and equipment there, the Deserter’s Bazaar today is the main food source of most of Tbilisi’s restaurants and many families seeking the best bargains in fresh produce, like the winter greens and veggies we spotted on a recent Old Market walk.

While Turkish breakfast is a showstopper, many in Istanbul begin their day with slightly more humble (although no less divine) fare: soup. On our “Culinary Secrets of the Old City” walk, we go beyond the major monuments of Istanbul’s Old City and bypass all the restaurants aimed at tourists, instead visiting those time-honored spots where all of the serious eating – like soup for breakfast – is done.

A customer haggles with a vendor selling freshly plucked village chickens and turkeys in Tbilisi’s Dezerter’s Bazaar. This raw, disorganized, 2,000-square-meter warren of unprocessed agrarian goods is the city’s largest open-air market and the focal point of our culinary walk in the city.

Last week, while on one of our Queens culinary walks, one of the bakers we normally visit asked us to come to her house so that we could see her family’s personal altar for the Day of the Dead. She explained the tradition to us in detail, shared her homemade sweets and gave us parting gifts. It was a special day, and we feel so lucky that she opened her home to us.

It’s that time of year in Tbilisi when market stalls in the Deserter’s Bazaar are overflowing with pomegranates. Usually, a vendor will cut open at least one pomegranate to display the jewel-like seeds.

A vendor in the Deserter’s Bazaar shows off her churchkhela, a very traditional Georgian specialty usually homemade from grape juice thickened with flour and nuts. They say that churchkhela were created by Georgian warriors as a sugar hit that wouldn’t perish on a long march – in other words, one of the world’s earliest energy bars.

Bāozi (包子), or steamed buns, are a basic, on-the-go meal. Yeast is added to wheat dough, which is allowed to rise. The dough is then stuffed with a raw filling (everything plain pork to egg custard), wrapped by hand using a pinching style until closed and placed on top of boiling water in towers of giant bamboo steamers.

A man sells Imeruli cheese, from Imereti, off the back of a truck in the Deserter’s Bazaar in Tbilisi, Georgia. Named after the soldiers who fled the Czar’s army in the early 19th century and sold their guns and equipment there, the bazaar today is a raw, chaotic warren of unprocessed victuals delivered daily, directly from the countryside.