The First Bite

In the past four months I have truly dug into my passion for food. With my housemates' blessing, I prepared three weekly house dinners and threw in the occasional (semi)glamorous dinner party for feasting and socializing. Much to my hope and delight, our initially tentative conversations warmed to hearty debates over the shared meals, and the difficulties of juggling menus to accommodate six distinct appetites and schedules became well justified. My mission to encourage eating consciously, in the company of others, and well within our abode taught me flexibility and efficiency while nurturing my creativity in approaching new recipes and crafting menus. Additionally in the company of my friends-turned-guinea-pigs, I was able to incorporate substantially more ingredients and styles than I ever would have managed as a solitary eater.

My social-culinary meanderings in these next four months will take me on a voyage across 12 countries, spanning 5 continents. Aiming to glimpse into the different attitudes towards food around the world, I seek to engage with street food vendors, some of the most resourceful and inspiring contributors to the evolution of a country's food culture. With my hands out of the kitchen and my feet into the local roads, I hope to bring you the first bite of countless dishes and experiences.

My next greetings will be from Cadiz, Spain. Cheers!

For those of you kind enough to pity the fate of my organs as I will doubtlessly introduce them to questionable microorganisms, take heart in knowing that I've loaded up on the average stock of pepto bismo, immodium, and even some natural probiotic gut-lovin' bacteria from the local Trader Joes as triple backup. Here goes.