The Travel Issue
Travel, exploring and a keen sense of adventure—these have all been core to my personality since I was a little girl. I’d excitedly receive postcards and travel tales from my father as he journeyed around the world on military, government and, later, church business. I knew one day I’d jet around the globe too. It was in those formative years that my parents instilled in me the whole “it’s impossible to be bored in this great big world with an imaginative brain” philosophy. To this day, without a hint of irony (but a heavy dose of self awareness), if you ask the right question, I will answer, earnest as Pollyanna, “Every day is an adventure.”
I am thrilled to be introducing the inaugural Edible Queens Travel issue. To make matters meta, I’m writing this letter from about 39,000 feet up in the air. I’m flying to Atlanta to speak to undergraduate media students about how to make a career as a freelance writer. The entire Edible Queens staff is made up of freelancers, so I have a lot to share with these students about how this magazine gets made and how to make freelancing work.
So whether these stories inspire you to book a train or plane ticket, or reserve a car rental to hit the open road, I hope they will transport you nonetheless.
Experience the teeming streets and kitchens of Hanoi in our Publisher Claudia Sánchez’s Vietnam travelogue; learn about the carnivorous lifestyles of the Argentine gaucho in Daniel Beauregard’s dispatch from San Antonio de Areco ; and dip into a slice-of-life, Parisian industry night at Au Passage in the 11th Arrondissement with our former web editor, Allie Misch as your guide. This summer, my partner and I traveled to the UK for a wedding, and were surprised to find delectable tacos and margaritas in Edinburgh, rather than the quintessential haggis one might expect (you can read Jesse Hirsch’s Food Spotting report of the restaurant group behind The Bon Vivant, El Cartel and The Devil’s Advocate).
Stateside, I challenge Texas stereotypes and show you around all my old stomping grounds in Austin, and travel writer Ramona Flume brings us into the kitchen of a quintessential New Orleans character, JoAnn Clevenger—the famous James Beard Award– nominated Upperline restaurateur and inventor of fried green tomatoes with shrimp remoulade offers a charming and authentic taste of the Big Easy.
Queens is a portal to the world, and how lucky are we for that? Sari Kamin proves it in her travel diary “around the world” without leaving Queens. So if you aren’t crossing the Queensboro anytime soon, you can still get your fill of culture. For every destination we take you to, we’ve recommended its corresponding local cuisine, your very own Edible Queens Travel issue tasting menu.
We’d love to know about your own travels and food adventures beyond our jurisdiction—what foods and cultures have you experienced lately? Please share with us where you’re headed (and what you’re eating there) by connecting on social media. Tag @ediblequeens or hashtag #ediblequeens!
Keep exploring, y’all.
