CULINARY TRAVEL MEMORIES

Collaboration with St-Méthode Bakery

I have always been passionate about travelling! When I was 18 years old, I picked up my backpack and headed off to France for several months before moving on to Italy to visit a Sicilian friend. My stay with a Sicilian family made for some truly memorable experiences around the table. At lunch and dinner, we took at least two hours to celebrate the food on our plates, while cheerfully chatting away. Each meal began with a first course (primo piatto) of pasta, often with eggplant and tomato, followed by some meat and vegetables. For dessert, we simply picked fresh figs from the home’s fig tree. I fell under the spell of this sunny cuisine that, to this day, forms one of my fondest culinary memories.

After France and Italy, I had the good fortune to visit over 65 more countries over the years. With each trip, my discovery of public markets and local food culture became forever embedded in my memories. From the Tokyo fish market at dawn, to Singapore street food (with its surprises, like worms on our plates!), to the floating market in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta (and its delicious green mangoes with salt and chili), I dared to taste most everything… I remember a plate of caterpillars with coarse salt in Kenya and a soup made with whole chicken feet in China.

Thinking back on my most satisfying culinary experiences, my mind always travels to the Mediterranean… and the heart of its cuisine, in Greece, Spain, Israel, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Portugal—countries in which vegetables, legumes, and extra virgin olive oil reign. And I especially think about delectable meals enjoyed slowly, in good company.

Eating has always been one of my greatest pleasures, and the foods of other lands remain my greatest source of inspiration in the kitchen. I am already dreaming of my next destination, most likely to be Cambodia, but in the meantime, my table is filled with the flavors of Mediterranean cuisine. My favorite easy lunch? Toasted slices of Campagnolo bread made with olive oil, topped with a green olive tapenade, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella di Bufala, a drizzle of olive oil, and fresh basil. Why not bring a little Mediterranean sunshine to your plate too?

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