FOODIES LIKE YOU & ME – TRAVELERETTE, TRAVEL WRITER AND SOLO FEMALE ADVENTURER

Stella Gold is an American travel writer and teacher leaving in New York City. She did our Tapas Lover Tour in Barcelona and posted a review about it on her blog, Travelerette.

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In your opinion, what do all ‘foodies’ have in common?

We all want to try something that we have never tried before and to learn something new about food. Basically how film geeks are about movies foodies are about food.

Name 5 essential ingredients in your kitchen that you can’t live without.

Salt, olive oil, butter, garlic, and chocolate. Preferably not all at the same time.

What is your all-time favorite food?

I love all food, so it’s very hard for me to pick just one. But I actually cannot live without chocolate, so I’ll go with that.

All ‘foodies’ have guilty secrets, what food that you absolutely cannot live without makes you feel guilty?

This is easy: a really greasy slice of New York pizza. I know that it’s not authentically Italian, the cheese usually isn’t very good, it’s often reheated instead of fresh, but I don’t care. I am a native New Yorker and I believe our pizza can cure all ills from the common cold to a breakup. PS. Never eat it with a knife and fork.

Describe the most amazing culinary experience that you’ve ever had.

The most amazing culinary experience I ever had was also the first culinary experience I ever had. When I was a little girl, my mother took me to brunch at Commander’s Palace, which is a legendary restaurant in her hometown of New Orleans. I ordered strawberries and cream, ham and eggs, and a praline parfait. When we went back to the restaurant the next year, I was sad to see that those items were not on the menu and I told the waiter so. But they said it was no problem and they made the dishes I wanted just for me, off-menu. Since then, I go back to Commander’s every year when I visit New Orleans. I don’t order the same thing every time though because I’m not six years old anymore.

Have you ever eaten at a top-ranked restaurant? Which one?

The only restaurant in the San Pellegrino Top 50 at which I have eaten is Tickets in Barcelona. It was such an exciting experience to eat the famous playful dishes I had only read about like the liquified olive or the cheese pillows. It definitely made me want to eat at more top-ranked restaurants.

You did the Tapas Lover Tour with us, what was the most memorable thing about it?

The most memorable thing about the Barcelona Tapas Lover tour was how our group bonded over the course of the evening. We came from different countries and were many different ages, but by the end of the evening we felt like we had been friends with each other (and our guide Josh) for a long time. I think the excellent cava might have had something to do with that, but the atmosphere of the restaurants and the great food helped too. As a solo traveler, that was a great experience for me.

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