If possible, don’t eat or drink ANYTHING there. It is amazing what the lower GI is capable of doing to rid itself of India’s common bugs. Just maintain the electrolytes, stay hydrated and close to a toilet!
Anyway he gave a lot of practical travel tips since most of the people taking his class were planning on traveling to Italy. And he was up on things there as he traveled back once a year.
I recall one of the many of the pieces of advice he gave was while in Italy - always drink bottled water; never order a drink, even an alcoholic drink with ice cubes in it; be careful eating any fresh fruit unless it is something that had a thick skin that could be peeled like a banana or an orange and even something like an apple shouldnt be eaten if it was washed off with the local tap water; and never eat any raw vegetables. (And yes, he even said to avoid eating salads.)
I recall him saying that it wasnt that the water was bad per se or that Italians as a whole are unhygienic, but said it is never a good idea to consume the tap water in any foreign country, or as he said, the little bugs there are not the same as the little bugs here. The the little Italian bugs dont make the Italians sick because their guts are used to them, but you? You will be in the bathroom for 24 hours wishing for death.
A couple of years ago my nephew and his wife vacationed in Italy and my nephew got a 24-hour case of food poisoning while they were in Venice.
For anyone who wishes to continue living, it’s a bit extreme not to eat anything. But, yes, there are bugs everywhere.
You get used to the milder ones after a while.