During the 20 hours on airplanes en route to Vietnam, as I accompanied a humanitarian mission group from First Baptist Church, I had plenty of time to get excited about all the new food I would get to try.

The first foray into authentic Asian cuisine was on the flight to Seoul, South Korea. We had a choice between beef and rice or "Korean Dish." It looked like all the Korean people got the beef, but some of my traveling partners and I tried the "Korean Dish."

It was the first meal I have ever eaten that came with a direction card. There were all sorts of things to add, such as spicy red curry paste and sesame oil.

For all I know, it could have been a truly awful representation of Korean cuisine, but it was one of the tastiest and most filling airplane meals I’ve ever had.

Once we hit land in Da Nang, Vietnam, I had no idea how to order.

So thankfully, Joe Tu, who organized the mission trip, helped with the ordering process throughout my culinary voyage through Vietnam.

I ate several meals in Vietnamese restaurants with Joe and Oahn Thi Bui, the two Vietnamese members of the trip who are from Gainesville.

I made a deal with Oahn that she would only tell me what I was eating after I ate it. I had to try everything, but luckily I could spit the more peculiar bites out.

I am proud to say I ate some sort of pig’s neck blood, which looked and felt similar to a square of tofu. It was much easier to eat not knowing what it was.

But I couldn’t make it through the pig foot cartilage. The extremely chewy texture made it the first and only item I spit out on the entire trip.

I accompanied Joe and Oahn to several meals with his family.

"This is how I fellowship with them — over meals," said Joe.

When Joe was reunited with his 92-year-old aunt Da Thi Tu, who he had not seen in 32 years, all the family in the area met at My Hanh, a Da Nang seafood restaurant.

It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. We ate course after course of seafood that was served seconds after being cooked on the outside grills that served as the restaurant’s kitchen.

The meal was family style, with everyone sharing from the same dishes. Plates were passed around so everyone was able to taste all of the courses.

Fish dishes and veggies were served with rice paper, which you wrapped up and dipped in fish sauce. Chopsticks and spoons were our only utensils, and it’s perfectly OK to pick up your plate and "shovel" the rice — chopsticks aren’t the easiest to pick up grains of rice with.

And because it was OK to use your hands, especially with the shrimp and lobster dishes, we had moist towelettes instead of napkins to clean our sticky fingers.

Even though I could not understand what was being said around the table, I could tell that the conversation never lagged.

I never had the chance to enjoy the plethora of brightly colored fresh fruits and vegetables served with most of the dishes. They are prepared in tap water, which would make the Americans on the trip horribly sick. So, even though it broke my heart, we had to pass up all the fresh vegetables and any fruit that wasn’t peeled. We had to stay vigilant to avoid tap water in all forms, including ice, and made sure to use bottled water to brush our teeth.

Vietnamese coffee was a definite highlight. It is very strong, comparable to espresso, and served with condensed milk. I had grand plans to prepare this for myself back in Georgia until I looked at the nutrition label and realized I’d have to run an extra two miles a day to make up for all the fat in the condensed milk. Now, I’m back to wimpy American coffee with fat-free creamer.

After another 20 hours in the air on the trip back to the United States, we landed in Atlanta on one of the most important culinary holidays: Thanksgiving.

After a week of fish sauce, coconuts and foods made of pig parts, it was quite a change to recognize everything on the table.