Whether we’re talking fat-free, gluten-free, organic, MSG-free, Paleo or vegetarian, every regimen takes on new challenges and pitfalls when you are traveling or living abroad – especially in a country like China, where you may face a language barrier.

When the seasons change from summer to winter, your body requires different foods to stay healthy – as anyone who has come down with a fall cold can attest. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) says that the changing temperatures result in a dry season, medicinally speaking, meaning that your body lacks fluids, affecting your lungs and throat, as well as your digestive systems. Autumn is also a chance for you to build up your body’s immunity before the harsh winter. Nourish yourself with these foods now, and you’ll be thanking yourself when winter sets in.

Kim is an avid traveler who divides her time among sniffing out new ingredients in markets, poking through bookstores around the globe and teaching at Grand Arts High School in downtown Los Angeles. Poon is a food, travel and lifestyle photographer based in Los Angeles.

On recent visits to Madrid, we’ve noticed that a new breed of food market has taken hold of the city’s attention. While the traditional kind with food stalls slowly disappears, vibrant, culture-focused gastromarkets are booming. In addition to great food, they offer a mix of businesses, along with cooking demos, live music, exhibitions – the list goes on. In 2009, the private society El Gastródomo de San Miguel refurbished a beautiful building that was built in 1916 and located very close to Plaza Mayor. It was opened as the “culinary space” Mercado de San Miguel. Though the initial inspiration was Barcelona’s La Boquería, San Miguel is utterly different, with its own colorful, unique personality. The market is dedicated not just to selling quality seasonal foods, but also to allowing visitors to enjoy them in situ, at tables and chairs distributed throughout common areas. They can choose from cod, fresh shellfish and other seafood, various vermuts, pickles and olives, paella, churros, Spanish wines, international beers, delicious Iberian ham and cured sausages and cheeses, ice cream and non-Spanish items, such as pasta or sushi. Unsurprisingly, the concept has been a hit, and other similarly styled markets have since popped up around the city.

Editor's note: We're sorry to report that the vendors and restaurants at Sipalou Lu and Fangbang Lu have suffered the same fate as those on Wujiang Lu and have been shut down. For street food, head to the area around Er Guang. In the lead-up to the 2010 World Expo, the government tore down one of Shanghai’s most famous food streets, Wujiang Lu, so the city would appear more “civilized” in the eyes of businesspeople and tourists visiting from around the world. Sparkling cookie-cutter international brands replaced family-run hawker stalls, and Wujiang Lu’s fried bun purveyors and stinky tofu vendors were scattered across the city. But its sad fate, which left a gaping hole in the city’s culinary landscape, also created new opportunities, allowing Fangbang Lu to become one of the city’s top food streets.

In Mexico, magic is all around us. It’s in the architecture, history, way of life – and, of course, the food. The country’s Ministry of Tourism is no stranger to this magic, and in fact, fully grasping its economic possibilities, it created the Pueblos Mágicos program in 2001 to recognize villages that are unique and historically significant. There are now 80 such pueblos mágicos across the country, and one of our favorites is just a short drive away from Mexico City.

Carnitas, a pork dish that originated in the state of Michoacán, can be found in restaurants, markets and street stalls all over Mexico City – it’s a fixture of the chilango diet. The other day, we received an invitation to visit a carnitas place that our host said would blow our minds – and that’s definitely the kind of offer we never refuse.

In Spain, pork is serious business; it’s been a fundamental part of the diet here for millennia. Pigs were an important animal on the first Celtic farms and also for the Iberians (around the 6th century BCE), who would sell to other Mediterranean peoples salted and cured pork, as well as olive oil and wine. In that time, the Romans – who already loved and produced ham, even creating ham-shaped coins as a symbol of value – appreciated the ham from Iberian lands such as Tarraco, where, recently, a fossilized ham was found that was more than 2,000 years old (now that’s what we call aged!).

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).

Spring arrives at the markets in Istanbul with a great deal of color and fanfare. Vendors arrange peas in perfect diagonal rows, displaying their goods to lure you into a multi-kilo purchase. Men furiously carve out artichoke hearts and toss them into lemon-water-filled bags, step around massive piles of trimmings and hand you what feels like a new goldfish purchase. Fava beans are ubiquitous in their fuzzy pods, although less appealing because of all the prep work that comes with them. Best to enjoy fava beans in a restaurant, zeytinyağlı-style (with olive oil) and or in our favorite preparation, a garlicky mash like the chefs make at Müzedechanga in the Sabancı Museum.

In Mexico, marketplaces have been the soul of communities for millennia, and of the many modern-day ones we’ve visited in Mexico City, the one we’re always most excited to return to is Mercado Medellín in Roma Sur. Recently, we visited with a guide, an American expat who gets her produce and meat there every week and could get us the inside scoop. Our first stop was La Sorpresa butchery. Arturo, the owner, shook our hands and continued breaking down a large piece of beef for a special delivery. He told us that his family has run La Sorpresa inside the market for 25 years. The meat they sell comes from different slaughterhouses in the country, and even from the United States.