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Let me start this off with a disclaimer: Toothpaste is not food. You shouldn't eat it. Neither I nor this publication, though it is a food publication, supports or recommends eating toothpaste.

Many food and travel writers have enthusiastically noted that when they arrive in a new destination, their first stop is invariably "the market." I like to go to markets, too—the sights, smells, and tastes are always a wonderful introduction to sensory pleasures that lie ahead. But my first stop in a new place? The pharmacy. To buy toothpaste.

It started in college, with a birthday present. One year, my friend Josh gave me a tube of Botot, a licorice-flavored Italian brand made from an 18th-century French formula. To this day, it is one of the most thoughtful birthday presents I've ever received, but at the time neither of us knew that it would inspire a full-fledged obsession. Though I enjoyed the Botot and the novelty of a foreign toothpaste, I didn't expand my horizons until 2016, when I was introduced to Marvis. Another Italian brand, this one was available in a variety of funky flavors like jasmine- and ginger-mint and came in an attractive silver tube. After my first brush, I knew it was time to more fully immerse myself in the world of toothpaste.