Updates!
And a promise for 2022
Hi Friends,
I knew it had been far too long since I sent one of these out, but I didn’t realize the last one was all the way back in March! This has been a particularly crazy year. Starting in January, it will be sent weekly or biweekly—do you have a preference? I also realized while it’s called ‘Be a Better Traveler,’ many of us still aren’t traveling much these days, and it always ends up being largely about food. Last winter, I polled you all asking if you prefer a travel or food newsletter and the results were 50/50. So now I’m asking, do you prefer keeping both in the same newsletter, or would you prefer to subscribe to separate newsletters—one for food, one for travel? If you have thoughts just reply to this email.
This is a face of pure joy after over-ordering (my specialty) at Roscioli in Rome. Very thankful for a normal-ish summer, as winter is looking bleak.
Now for some updates/reasons why I haven’t been in touch in so long:
I finished grad school in August! It was an intense, year-long program at Northwestern’s Medill School, where I met some very talented journalists (both professors and students) and learned a ton, despite already working in this industry. Very grateful that at least for the last few months we were able to be in person.
This investigation I worked on with some Medill friends was published on the front page of the Washington Post. In short, under the 287(g) program, sheriffs are given federal powers (like the same powers as ICE) to do things such as detain immigrants solely for immigration status, not only crimes. Racism, profiling, and power trips are rampant. Immigrants end up living in extreme fear of doing daily things. The program expanded under Trump, with the help of anti-immigrant hate groups. The story was part of a larger series about immigration in the United States published on the Medill Investigative Lab.
Nathan and I got married!! In Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy, with celebrations in Orvieto and elsewhere nearby. Fifty of our closest friends and family members joined us for three days in a castle, and it was magical.
Again, so grateful we were able to do this in early September, because we’d likely be cancelling now. From there, we spent two weeks in the Aeolian Islands and two weeks walking (yes, walking) through France. Travel tips from both in a future 2022 newsletter. Also just want to note that back in September, Italy and France required vaccine cards to do pretty much everything, and it was great. Hope the U.S. gets on board with mandates like this in 2022!
Finally, I received a Pulitzer Center grant to cover a trial in Iraqi Kurdistan and spent two weeks in Sulaymaniyah in November, and am heading back in January. Hopefully the story will come shortly after, but to be honest it’s turning out to be much more complicated than I originally thought. Wish me luck!
Links for Vacation Week:
How Western Travel Influencers Got Tangled Up In Pakistan’s Politics—The Guardian
Food Plays Its Role In a Borderless World—Newlines Magazine
Massive Byzantine-Era Winery Discovered In Israel—NPR
How Corporations Buy-and Sell-Food Made With Prison Labor—The Counter
Eel Is a Big Deal In This Adriatic Town—Saveur
Meet the Appalachian Apple Hunter Who Rescued 1,000 ‘Lost’ Varieties—Atlas Obscura
A Chef’s Quest to Preserve Cambodia’s Lost Flavors—New York Times
How Marcella Hazan Became Legend of Italian Cooking
Big Agriculture Is Best—Foreign Policy (I don’t agree with everything in here, but it’s interesting food for thought)
Foods of Our Own: Unique Deliciousness Made In Chicago—New City
Italy Has a New Way to Combat Overtourism—CNN
How the U.S. Dictates What Puerto Rico Eats—New York Times
We Should All Be Drinking More Lebanese Wine—Eater
I interviewed lots of Chicago chefs this year for New City, wrote a few travel articles for The National, a few pieces for Food & Wine, and one for Wine Enthusiast. I don’t remember what I’ve shared yet, but you can find them all here.
Gift Guides
Last December I shared a post about food banks, which is still relevant this year if you’re looking for somewhere to donate. Last year’s gift guide is also still mostly relevant, and these are a few things I consider travel essentials.
Final Thoughts
Watch: Emily In Paris (I know, I know!) It’s so bad. So, so bad and cringey. But it’s a light travel-ish show in what has quickly become a dark few weeks. Embrace it. But do not embrace her love of bucket hats for the love of god.
Go: Home for the holidays? Wherever you’re traveling, I hope you’re boosted and were able to get your hands on some coveted home tests. (If you’re wondering why they’re so hard to find and expensive here, this ProPublica investigation has details.)
Drink: Whatever Richard Godwin tells you to. His newsletter is fantastic.
Eat: We’ve been eating lots of tinned fish and roasted chestnuts.
I bought bags of chestnuts for a party we had to cancel because of covid, and we’re slowly making our way through. Just score, roast at 425-degrees for about 20 minutes, and peel.
Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and Happy New Year!! Looking forward to more regular newsletters in 2022. Please let me know if you have any preferences on food/travel/frequency/topics. Thank you for reading! Stay safe!!
-Rebecca
I encourage FlexTravel which offers a menu of experiences daily as we travel. So I think you need to blend both food and travel in your work, unless you are covering food tours or cooking workshops. As we travel, we discuss our plans at breakfast with fellow travelers, we stop at a pastry shop to get a treat, we enjoy lunch in a little cafe; perhaps we have tea time. Later, there is dinner to be savored, perhaps a pint of ale at the Pub... Food is the fuel of travel. Share what you discover.