Maiden Voyage!

Welcome to my new blog! 


I am a typically food obsessed Melbournian, and, like most Australians, a keen traveller.


As such I have decided to start this blog (I have another) to document my travels and culinary adventures therein. 


A little bit about me: 


I'm in my early 30's and, for an Aussie, started travelling late (28 years old). My first Overseas trek in 2007 was to Cambodia, Japan & China. I ate my way through all 3 countries, trying everything & anything I could. 


In early 2009, needing a sea-change after working for the same company for 4 years & realising also, that on the eve of my 30th Birthday if I ever wanted to do the great Australian right of passage & go work/travel in the U.K, I had to do it NOW. So I did. I took a 12 month career break from work & off I went. Stopping for a month in my beloved Japan again on the way. 


I lived in London for 10 months, until early 2010, returning home early due to having had enough of living hand to mouth (moving to one of the World's most expensive cities in the middle of the GFC was not my smartest move) & also, I missed the blinding bright sun & warmth of home. 


Whilst living & working in London with my younger sister/fellow bounder of adventure/even bigger foodie, Emma, we managed to travel to Paris & Berlin & ate our way through both cities with gusto!


I come from a long line of passionate food-a-holics (I try to refrain from the term "foodie" due to some negative connotations it now has. More on that in a later post). My Mother is a 1st generation Australian, having been born right here in Melbourne a few years after my Grandparents arrived from Italy (Treviso, in the Veneto region if anyone's curious). My Dad, being from a predominantly Anglo background was raised, like most people at the time,  as a meat & 3 veg kinda guy, but owing to his natural adventurousness  & also probably the fact that he's a big dude who needed to eat a lot (especially as he was a cop at the time he met Mum & had a big beat to walk), he loved my Mum's cooking & has always sought to expand his palette ever since. This could also be my paternal Grandmother's influence, as she too is a keen traveller. 


My Mum has cooking in her blood,  her Uncle once being the pastry chef at The Florentino in Bourke St many many moons ago, before opening up his own Pasticceria in High St Northcote (which still exists today, still bearing our family name, though my Zio has long since passed. I also live in the area so I am never far from what I believe to be the best Cannoli in town. Bonus!). My Cousin part owns a seafood restaurant back in Treviso, and my Mum is a top class cook in her own right. 


Both my parents are open minded types & it's to them I owe my willingness to travel & try new things. To this day I still remember my parents taking us to Kuni's in Little Bourke St back in the mid 80's - My sister & I happily gorging on sushi & sashimi, unaware of what it was we were eating - My Mother's philosophy being don't tell them, if they like it, they like it, don't give them the chance to form an opinion until they've tried it 1st. 


Marrying & having children at a youngish age meant my parents never travelled Overseas. In return for raising us to appreciate all types of food & the culture's associated with them, my sister & I both encouraged (read: pestered, cajoled & forced) my parents to travel after we got back the 1st time. So far they have been to London, Italy, Cambodia & Vietnam. Later this year they're off to Spain. Mum is collecting quite the repertoire of foreign recipes!


I studied History & Archaeology at Uni so my love of travel is primarily about exploring other lands and cultures, the fact that I adore food of all sorts is just an added bonus!


I hope to write in this fairly often, whether I'm abroad or not & I hope you enjoy my inane ramblings & blatherings :)