Travel Site Will Find You Home-Cooked Meals Abroad Margaret Myers - PBS NewsHour
go to original February 27, 2016

To visit Mexico is to eat your way through Mexico. Pictured here are chiles en nogada, guacamole, homemade salsas and ensalada de nopales. (Margaret Myers)

Wouldn’t it be cool to travel the world like a TV chef? Like Anthony Bourdain, or that guy on the Travel Channel who eats weird food? OK maybe not him. But Bourdain, he has it all — not only does he get to dine at the world’s most exquisite and exclusive restaurants, he gets to experience the food and the culture from the very people who carry on their country’s culinary traditions.

Now, thanks to the sharing economy, and sites like Traveling Spoon, you, too, can travel like an irreverent chef.

Much like Airbnb, Traveling Spoon connects users with hosts abroad — but instead of a bed, you get a home-cooked meal.

The concept is the brainchild of two passionate travelers and food lovers. And the origin story: co-founder Steph Lawrence’s 2007 family vacation to China. She yearned to break through the tourist trap offerings — the big, gleaming hotels and restaurants catering to Western travelers. Instead, she felt disconnected from the culture she had traveled so far to experience.

...It wasn’t until 2011 when she was in her first week of business school that she met fellow food lover Aashi Vel, and the two put the plan into action, launching Traveling Spoon in 2013 in just a few cities in India, Thailand and Vietnam. Today, more than 150 host chefs participate in 17 countries. Just last week the site launched in Mexico, adding hosts in Puebla, Puerto Morelos and the capital Mexico City. So now you can experience abuela’s mole and arroz con leche.

Read the rest at PBS NewsHour

Related: Recipe: A Chef’s Take on Mexico’s Most Patriotic Dish (PBS Newshour)

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