What’s on Your Foodie Bucket List?

One of my favorite past posts was asking my foodie friends about their aspirations around food. (Read it here.) They had plenty of fun ideas! Looking back, many of them fulfilled things on their lists.

I decided to bring this post back for an update because it’s always good to track progress and keep dreaming about the future, especially after last year. Enjoy this post full of inspiration to create your own foodie bucket list!

Aimee, Blogger of Food Banjo

I have a couple of foodie aspirations for 2021, and they are both to help me be healthier!

Though I grew up in Texas and LOVE BBQ and chicken-fried steak, I’m trying to eat more vegan and vegetarian meals! I am slowly trying and incorporating these into my diet, and I would love to get to a point where most of my meals are vegan and veggie-packed. We started a backyard garden last year, so I’m hoping to grow a lot of zucchini and tomatoes that I can turn into vegan recipes this summer! I already have some recipes I love, like this Air Fryer Zaatar Zucchini, Bolognese Sauce with Spaghetti Squash Noodles, and a One-Pot Chickpea and Tomato Stew.

I also am working on drinking and creating more mocktails. I feel like 2020 was the year of making cocktails at home when suddenly we were all stuck at home trying to cope with the pandemic. (Shout-out to everyone trying to work from home with kids!) 2021 is my year to be healthier, so mocktails instead! I would love love love to figure out a martini mocktail, but that seems very daunting.

Shveta, Blogger of ATX Bites

I cannot believe it’s been over a year since I dined at a restaurant 🙁 HOW THE HECK HAS IT BEEN A YEAR! Sorry sorry, not screaming at you – just in shock that’s all. As soon as I’m vaccinated, I’m definitely dining out (probably outdoors only):

Comedor – I thought I’d go there for my birthday last year, but alas, my birthday was the day of the shutdown in Austin, so that didn’t happen
Peacock – We’ve ordered take-out from Peacock several times and I absolutely adore their dishes. I’ve seen pictures of the restaurant and it looks like such a dreamy spot!
Aba – Aba’s Austin location has a garden area that looks like such a stunner of a location to dine! We had their food for Thanksgiving and it was out of this world!
Hestia – I never got to check them out pre-pandemic but the concept and food are supposed to be some of the best in Texas! So definitely hitting them up as soon as I can.

You’ll also find me sipping on a glass of vino out back at LoLo Wine. I was supposed to have a bunch of friends meet me there for a birthday celebration last year. 🙁 Going to hit up their backyard very soon.

Don’t even get me started on all the places we want to visit as soon as we feel comfortable flying. Basically, anywhere out of this country lol!

Jessica, Photographer and Entrepreneur

I last wrote to Anita back in 2017 and at that time, my goal was to tackle the delicious street food of Asia in the style of my biggest inspiration – Anthony Bourdain. I spent over two years there voraciously exploring South Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, and Taiwan (with Morocco and Turkey in between). I look back so fondly on those memories. I was lucky to do and see – and eat – all of the things I did. What I learned was immeasurable, and some of my biggest successes always came from the practice of going local – talking to the locals to ask where they eat and what they order. Observe the places they choose to eat their meals, the dishes they order, and the method in which they mix the ingredients and garnish their food. The connections that you can make through food are incredible, and my experience has been that most people really enjoy your curiosity and find it an honor to be able to show you their customs. I enjoyed every moment of that journey and never wanted to stop, but like most, the pandemic had different plans for me.

The last year has had its ups and downs. The ups: being “stuck” in Turkey – a country with such a diverse landscape and a unique culture – and having the opportunity to spend the whole summer on the Mediterranean Sea. And then, buckling down in the wintertime for more lockdowns and curfews gave me a lot of time to create. I have learned more in the kitchen over the last year than at any other point in my life. I made almost everything from scratch, baked sourdough, preserved lemons, brewed kombucha, grew herbs and arugula, pushed myself to try to create as close to a zero-waste house as possible given the circumstances, meal planned, shopped the farmer’s market, learned all about seasonality, and experimented with different recipes and cuisines daily. The downs? Well, mostly not being able to travel freely, curfews, lockdowns, etc. Despite that, life has been really, really interesting and I love having so much room for creating.

All the time creating has allowed me to pursue entrepreneurial projects. I learned the art of soap-making and have started creating my own handmade, small-batch line of natural products like soaps, whipped body butter, and lip balm. Since we last chatted, I began selling my travel photography online (I even have a piece on sale at Urban Outfitters) and have had more time to put my artwork out into the world as well – you can see or purchase here. My latest project is co-founding a start-up, SproutyPod: The Coolest Little Microfarm for Your Home. We expect to launch on Kickstarter in late Spring 2021 and are fast and furiously ramping up now.

The next phase of my life and travels will be in Italy. At the beginning of 2020, I applied to have my citizenship recognized through the Jure Sanguinis (bloodline) process, and I recently got word that it was officially approved. I just got my new passport and am excited to spend a few months in an informal apprenticeship in Florence at a charming, historic bed and breakfast. My end goal is to open my own B&B on a property with a garden/farm where I can grow ingredients for my natural product line as well as organic fruits and vegetables for consumption. I hope to continue on my journey of creation that I have recently fallen deeper in love with. I look forward to meeting my distant relatives and learning how to prepare all the dishes of my ancestors. I will spend a lot of time exploring Italy with the goal of finding a place to call home, learning to speak Italian, and of course, eating a lot of locally recommended dishes! I can’t wait to offer homegrown, authentic experiences for guests that are just as hungry for the local experiences as I always have been. I hope you will all come to visit me there one day, in the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram at @thedishstance.

Dan, Foodie Friend

When Anita last asked me for my bucket list food item, I went with eating the endangered and illegal ortolan whole. This time, I decided to stay on the friendly side of the law.

My next bucket list experience is The Fat Duck in London. It is a three-Michelin star restaurant, so you know it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. What makes The Fat Duck my current top Michelin experience however is two words: molecular gastronomy.

Molecular gastronomy has been on the food scene for a while now. I first learned of it on season two of Top Chef, when the “bad boy” contestant Marcel gained lots of screen time for his attitude and for his novel methods that used science to innovate how cooking is done. Chicken cooked in a water bath! Distilling peach cobbler into a foam! It was all so unique and new.

And isn’t that why we’re all here? If you’re a reader of a food and travel blog, then I am sure what drives you is to experience the unique and the new. We’ve all had eggs benedict before. I LOVE eggs benedict. But I’ve never said, “Oh this restaurant has the most unique eggs benedict ever!” However, if you had ordered eggs benedict at the famous (though sadly now closed) molecular gastronomy restaurant wd50 in NYC, you would have been greeted by cubes of fried hollandaise covered in English muffin breadcrumbs with a smear of sous vide cooked egg yolk on the plate.

Even though there are several high-end, famous restaurants known for molecular gastronomy, they haven’t exactly become commonplace. So, I haven’t had a chance to eat at one. The Fat Duck, led by Chef Heston Blumenthal, is ranked by many to be the top in the world.

One of the most iconic dishes from The Fat Duck is called “The Sound of the Sea.” You are presented with what looks like a box of sand. Not so fast! On top of the box is a glass plate with what looks like more sand but is actually a mixture of tapioca, fried breadcrumbs, crushed fried baby eels, cod liver oil, and langoustine oil. That’s all topped with abalone, razor clams, shrimp, oysters, and seaweed and then covered in seafoam.

Here’s the kicker: you are also given an iPod to listen to ocean sounds while you eat the dish. Blumenthal had seen research that shows that sound can amplify our sense of taste. Hearing the ocean makes our taste buds anticipate the ocean salt! It is reported that diners have been moved to tears when tasting this dish.

While I doubt I would eat at a molecular gastronomy restaurant every week, I really do want to visit a high-end one someday. And The Fat Duck is currently the best of the best. As a three Michelin star restaurant, the price starts at $390, however, I am sure it will be one of the most unique and memorable dining experiences I could ever have. And for what other purpose is a bucket list for?

Anita, Blogger of Fearless Captivations

Since my previous foodie bucket list response, I’ve crossed a few things off my list like dining at The French Laundry, trying Pliny the Elder, dining at Otoko, and visiting Mexico City. I’ve even done things I didn’t know I could put on my bucket list, like eat an incredible 21-course dessert-focused meal. Still on my restaurants and dishes lists are dining at Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Noma and eating dim sum and egg tarts in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

In the past few years, I’ve been inspired by people who follow a slow way of life when it comes to food. This means you’re more thoughtful about where your food comes from and typically looks like growing your own garden, being a regular customer at a farmers market, and eating seasonally. (Check out the Slow Food organization for more.) My year of eating locally and starting our CSA subscription helped me explore what slow food looks like, and it sparked the desire to continue on a path towards a low waste lifestyle. One day I’ll start a garden and hopefully, the garden will expand, maybe on a piece of land, to be able to sustain all our vegetable needs. We eat a lot of vegetables!

When it comes to travel, I know finding local eats and taking food tours will always be a part of the plan. Bucket list specific, take me to Casa Maria Luigia (or any picturesque estate, maybe Jessica’s future bed and breakfast!) in Italy to taste wine, make pasta, and enjoy care-free Italian life. Or I would happily try mushroom foraging in the Pacific Northwest with Terra Fleurs. Am I naive to think spending a week on a working farm, just to see how it’s like, would be fun?