After years of misfires in my efforts to bring gifts home from my travels—plastic keychains that disappear into junk drawers, T-shirts worn only once—I’ve accepted a simple truth. Food is the only shareable souvenir that consistently delights, especially when incorporated into a relaxed dinner with people you love.

These days, after a trip, I invite a few folks over to my home and prepare a meal inspired by my latest destination, using sauces, spices and condiments I’ve picked up on my trip. After dinner, I pass out little memento goodies such as honey, tea, candy or jams as party favors.

Think of the souvenir dinner party as a direct descendant of the post-vacation slideshow party. The difference: Your guests won’t have to feign enthusiasm after the thirtieth photo of you “holding up” the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Here’s how to pull it off.

While you’re away, pinpoint at least one delicacy that will transport your guests to your vacation destination, preferably accompanied by a traditional tipple. Source the (customs-compliant) ingredients before your return flight, then bring them out during a dinner back home as conversation starters.

Some of my most successful table spreads have included cloudberry jam from Norway, hot sauce from Belize, Japanese matcha, paprika chips from Spain, Portuguese sardines and dukkah , an Egyptian spice mix.

By serving treats from my travels I’m tapping into the same instincts that have made food tourism so popular in recent years. In Expedia’s Unpack ’25 report , which investigates travel trends, 39% of the 25,000 surveyed travelers said they visited supermarkets on vacation, and 44% said they’ve expressly sought out food there they can’t find at home. Videos of travelers showing off grocery aisles in China and Chile rack up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok.

When I told my friend, writer Leilani Marie Labong, about my propensity to stuff my suitcase with jars and tins, I learned she does the same. Her travel bounty this year: two dozen traditional flour tortillas made with lard from Albuquerque, N.M.; nine packages of “bronze-cut” reginette pasta from a pasta-maker in Paso Robles, Calif.; a crinkly bag of unusual white polenta from Switzerland, near the Italian border.

“They only sell it in Ticino,” she said, before revealing her plans to make the sweet, nutty dish for her partner who couldn’t join her on the trip.

Los Angeles-based Kori Jones runs the company Simple Life Things, which prepares giant charcuterie and cheese boards for events. When she travels, she hunts for inspiration—and loves finding new condiments to share at post-trip dinner parties. Her chutney-glazed chicken was an easy win at her house after a trip to the U.K., as were the jars of tomato confit she brought back, which she now sells on her website.

A proper haul takes some preplanning. On the r/Travel subreddit, one user, inspired by a trip to Spain, had put together a feast of Basque dishes including smoked Idiazabal cheese and Txakoli wine. She offered a handy piece of advice: “I always pack a collapsible duffel on big trips and fill it with clothes on the way home so I can bring home half a suitcase of food.”

You don’t have to be an excellent cook to make a good impression. I celebrated a rail trip across Germany, for instance, with an Oktoberfest-style meal of brats and sauerkraut purchased from my local German butcher. We enjoyed them with beer and Grauburgunder wine, Bavarian mustard, marzipan and Lebkuchen cookies I had brought back in my suitcase.

If a full meal sounds too daunting, opt for more manageable food-themed gatherings. My kids and I routinely host a tasting of chips collected around the world. A favorite? Hawkins Cheezies (Canada’s answer to Cheetos). Tip: A few minutes in the freezer enhances their crunch.

Not every souvenir will be a success. My two sons pulled matching faces of disgust when I offered them Scandinavian salty black licorice with raspberry I’d purchased on a whim in Norway. And even though I’d enjoyed dakos —little toasts with shaved tomato, feta, fresh olive oil and spices—for breakfast in Greece, and brought home barley-rusk croutons from a local grocery store, my attempt to re-create the dish back home missed the mark. It ended up in the trash, not on the table—but it was still a fun dinner party.