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🇰🇭🇨🇦 Asian-Canadian journalist
✈︎ 10 yrs slow travel/living abroad, as a privileged migrant
↓ Farm-to-table experiences in El Salvador

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This is a friendly fireball fight in Nejapa, El Salvador.

Every year, teams of locals, train in advance, then gather to lob these kerosene-soaked, cloth-bound fireballs at each other — while an ever-growing crowd of spectators cheers them on — and tries to avoid getting hit with stray fire.

For over 100 years, Las Bolas de Fuego, as it’s called, has commemorated the El Playon volcanic eruption, which destroyed the original site of their village in 1658 — and is why the town was moved to its current location.

Now, the other story behind the festival is that it commemorates a legendary fireball battle between the town’s patron saint and the devil. Either way, it feels like a great reflection of Salvadoran’s deep resilience, be it in the aftermath of a natural disaster or supernatural attack.

By the way, if you want to experience Las Bolas de Fuego on August 31st next year, go with @tuncolifetours and you’ll have a great time.

#elsalvadortravel #offthebeatentrack #elsalvadorturismo #visitelsalvador #travelstoryteller by @abigailgamble

Book our next farm-to-table experience in Tamanique, El Salvador via the link in our bio.

No crowds. No traffic. No city lights. This is tranquility.

It’s custom cocktails with local ingredients and carefully curated craft beers.

It’s joining a few other like-minded, equally-curious guests to learn how this small organic farm grows the freshest, most delicious produce.

And it’s an intimate dinner of homemade, traditional Salvadoran dishes, by candlelight, under the stars.

This is farm-to-table in Tamanique, El Salvador at @organicos_de_tamanique.

Gracias @hijodelcoco for the video clips from our last experience 🙏🏼 #visitelsalvador #elsalvadortravel #farmtofork #farmtoplate #farmtotabledinner by @abigailgamble

Andy and I love trying food from local spots all over El Salvador. And on a recent trip to the Santa Ana region went hunting for lunch in the cute little town of Chalchuapa.

We ended up in this traditional restaurant stocked with fun, random paraphernalia — which is not an uncommon decor choice for spots like these.

When trying a new restaurant we always like to test out their version of staple local dishes, such as a Salvadoran enchilada, plantains, yuca topped with chicharrón and of course dessert, like buñuelos accompanied by a warm, corn-based drink called atol de elote.

Would you come for lunch with us here?

#foodtravelstories #elsalvadortravel #elsalvadorfood #offthebeatentrack #offthebeatenpath by @abigailgamble

I host intimate dinners — open to anyone who RSVPs — at my home in El Zonte, El Salvador, in part to share Asian cuisine, but also to encourage community, within my personal space. Which to me feels more intentional and comfortable, than most other settings.

Research shows, sharing meals with others literally leads to higher levels of life satisfaction, wellbeing and social connectedness. And it definitely beats eating in front of a screen.

So come to dinner, enjoy a home cooked meal and hopefully nourish your mental and emotional health a little, as well. Cause sometimes connection just requires … accepting a dinner invitation.

Research: World Happiness Report 2025, Chapter 3, conducted by Gallup

#buildingcommunity #expatliving #foodcommunity #culturalexchange #elsalvadorgram by @abigailgamble

Cooking and sharing Asian dishes that I love, in El Zonte, El Salvador — via small intimate gatherings at my home called Family Dinner — brings me so much joy. Because food as a means of cultural exchange and community is one of my favourite things.

Full disclosure, my background is Cambodian not Japanese, so I’m no expert. But this is my Khmer mom’s way of making Yaki Udon.

It’s a Japanese dish featuring crisp, stir-fried veggies, your protein of choice and a rich soy-based sauce that fully coats the thick, chewy udon noodles, and other ingredients.

What should I make for the next Family Dinner, and would you like to join?

#elsalvadortravel #elsalvadorfood #foodtravelstories #travelstoryteller #offthebeatentrack #hiddengem by @abigailgamble

I gotta say… picking fresh, organic chillies to enjoy with some tasty traditional Salvadoran food — like fried majonchos, chicken enchiladas and yuca with chicharron — alongside THIS view, is an experience I’d highly recommend.

This is a private organic farm that Atilio started in 2016. Andy and I are food nerds, so we really enjoyed learning about everything from the drip irrigation system he uses for more efficient watering, to how these micro tunnels trick certain plants into growing here — even though they usually prefer a higher elevation.

But what excited me most was the diversity of produce. Atilio grows plants you’d expect to see in El Salvador like tomatoes or plantains, but also a variety of Asian herbs and vegetables that his wife, and amazing chef, Marta, seamlessly blends with traditional Salvadoran ingredients and dishes.

Stay tuned for my and Andy’s next adventure…

#elsalvadortravel #elsalvadorfood #foodtravelstories #travelstoryteller #offthebeatentrack #hiddengem by @abigailgamble

Our latest mission exploring El Salvador was to try traditional foods from local markets.

So here I’m tasting torrejas, a Salvadoran dessert sweetened very traditionally, with unrefined cane sugar, called panela, at Mercadito Merliot.

Before desert, we tried sopa de patas, made with cows feet, which you see locals eating everywhere here and sopa de gallina, which is a very tasty hen soup.

Now the only thing better than exploring one market, is going to two, so Andy who is from San Salvador, also took me to check out Mercado Central, in Centro Historico.

This is a much bigger market and seems to have pretty much every type of food from El Salvador for sale. It was particularly cool to see how they prep ingredients like tomatoes for use in sauces, or wet mill corn into a paste, to make staples like tortillas.

Of course, all this wandering made us hungry again, so we tried more local dishes, this time focusing on meat and sea food (ceviche mixto), washed down with a cerveza.

#elsalvadortravel #elsalvadorfood #foodtravelstories #travelstoryteller #offthebeatenpath #offthebeatentrack #travelvlogger by @abigailgamble

Yesterday, my friend Andy and I went on a cultural adventure, to the artisan town of Ilobasco and found this hidden little ceramic studio where we met Carlos.

Like many in this town known for making some of the best clay ceramics in El Salvador since the mid-1800s, he produces ceramics in a traditional way. He uses a kick wheel, as potters have done for centuries. After showing us how it was done, he even taught Andy to use the wheel and she picked it up pretty quickly, making two cups!

Many locals in this region are descendants of the Indigenous Lenca people, and they evolved their ancestral pottery knowledge into producing, first, religious figures, then other imagery from Salvadoran life, as well as vases and dish ware.

FYI, the prices in this town are incredibly reasonable — and even better, you’re supporting local artisans.

#elsalvadortravel #offthebeatentrack #offthebeatenpath #hiddengems #culturaltourism #culturalexperience #culturalexploration #travelstoryteller by @abigailgamble

$To battle high food prices, El Salvador’s Ministry of Agriculture @agriculturasv, launched daily farmer’s markets in towns across the country called Agro Mercados. There the food is directly supplied by farmers and they have set prices that are far cheaper than big supermarket chains. The catch is, you usually need to go early to get the best produce and avoid long lines. Even getting there when they open at 6 am I often spend an hour or two in line. But it’s worth it because my dollars are going to farmers, not corporations, and I get enough fresh fruits and veggies to last me for a couple weeks, at a a fraction of the cost compared to supermarkets. #elsalvador🇸🇻 #elsalvadorfood #elsalvadortravel #foodtravelstories #visitelsalvador #travelforless #cheaptravel #localmarkets #foodtravelstories by @abigailgamble$

How is El Salvador protecting endangered sea turtles?

A lot of the conservation efforts in the country are a partnership between non-governmental organizations, like @acotomsab and tour agencies, such as @tuncolife.

They fund the protection and release of baby sea turtles into the Pacific Ocean by offering tours to visitors that educate them on the endangered species, then teach them how to carefully and safely take part in a turtle release.

Without this revenue enabling NGOs to a) protect sea turtle nests and b) help the newly hatched baby turtles safely reach the ocean, it is highly likely they’d be attacked by predators or get lost.

Other than donations, much sea turtle conservation in El Salvador has come to depend on tourism for survival.

#elsalvadortravel #sustainabletravel #ecotravel #ecotourism #traveljournalism #travelstoryteller by @abigailgamble

Abi | Slow Travel/Living Abroad

@abigailgamble