On an interrail trip across Europe in 1989, years before you could buy Cool Ranch Doritos in Copenhagen or Oreos in Amsterdam, supermarkets and convenience stores in eight countries were comforting for two 19-year-olds from Los Angeles.

I know because I was one of them. The stores had a certain familiarity, with the same harsh lighting and aisles of breakfast cereal and laundry detergent found at home. But they also provided a museumlike experience, a chance to sample the culinary quirks and specialty foods of places and their peoples. That summer, Europe came alive to us through salty licorice, prawn-flavor potato chips and wheels of dark rye bread.

What has in recent years become widely known, online and in travel circles, as supermarket tourism can take many forms. Its practitioners rave about seeing familiar foods in unexpected flavors, while others embrace it as a means to people-watch or decipher the local palate — all while avoiding pricey restaurant meals homogenized for tourists.

For Keith Crockford, the chief executive of the Bucket List Company, an adventure travel operation based in the English county of Devon, “the allure lies in the thrill of the discovery. It’s about unearthing exotic fruits and vegetables I’ve never encountered before, deciphering labels in unfamiliar languages and marveling at the sheer variety of products that reflect the local tastes and preferences.”

A sudden rise last year in travel influencers’ social media posts and blog entries extolling the joys of shopping in foreign markets and convenience stores prompted Mr. Crockford and his team to conduct some research on supermarket tourism, the results of which were released in November.

In the study, which Mr. Crockford said was conducted by analyzing online search terms using Metis software, tourists and travelers appeared especially interested in the supermarkets and convenience stores of Japan, Mexico, Italy, South Korea and Thailand.