Why travelling to eat is the best way to connect with the local culture?

‘Nowadays more and more people are travelling to eat’ and, as Prachi says, this is a good thing. Prachi Joshi has decided to quit her job to travel and discover food culture all around the world. Deliciously Directionless is her ‘delicious’ blog where you can also find recipes Prachi collects during her travel. In this interview she tells us her story and her travel experience in Italy and, if you are an host, read carefully, as she also gives you some tips for a perfect welcome!

1. Hi Prachi! You are a full time writer and traveller now. When have you decided to start a blog and why?

I started blogging in June 2012. I had taken a sabbatical from a 9-year-old career in the banking industry in Mumbai. I had always wanted to write. So I started a blog, writing about two of my favourite things — food & travel. That led to commissions from National Geographic Traveller (India) and later TimeOut Mumbai. In the past three years I have also written for Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller, CNN Travel, Mint (a national newspaper in India), and several other publications. I also do a bit of content marketing for a couple of companies. In 2016 I hope to continue with my on-going assignments, and also add a few international publications to my portfolio. I’m also planning to branch out into video content on the blog.

1. You have recently been to Italy and we can read many detailed travel tips about it on your blog! Some parts of Italy are beautiful and really well-known, but this Country preserves some hidden treasures especially in not so lesser known areas. How did you find travelling in these ‘Middle Lands’ and which have been the things that have you impressed you more?

I have been to Italy twice and I have stayed for a month each time; Italy is my favourite destination of all. I actually learnt to speak Italian as well, since I was so obsessed. Apart from exploring some of the main cities (I loved Venice!), I also spent time in a lesser-known part of Italy (at least to foreigners) — Le Marche. I travelled around the region for a week, visiting Urbino, Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, going horse-riding and truffle hunting, exploring the underground Frasassi Caves and more.

It was wonderful getting away from the touristy parts of Italy, and actually see another side of it — slower, friendlier and more intimate. In Ancona I stayed on a working olive farm, and since I visited in Autumn, I could see the harvest & the milling of olive oil; tasting different types of oil and understanding the pains farmers go through to produce the oil that we take for granted. Then in Sicily, I tasted a different sort of Italian food — street food from the historic markets in Palermo. It’s quite unlike the usual sort of Italian food you’re used to, shaped as it is by centuries of Arab influences. It was quite a revelation.

1. Do you think you will come to Italy again in the future? If yes, what would you like to do and what would your approach be like?

Of course! I was hoping to come back in 2015, but I got a chance to go to Spain instead. Hopefully 2016 will have me back in bella Italia. I will definitely want to spend another month in Italy — I want to explore the foods of Emilia Romagna, especially travel along the so-called Via Emilia, covering Bologna, Modena, Parma etc. I also want to visit Liguria & maybe Puglia or Abruzzo. And more of Sicily & Piemonte… I think one month will not be enough!

1. Thinking about the hosts you have met in Italy and during your travels. What are, in your opinion, the most important and valuable things for an host and for an accommodation? Our Human Destinations, for example, have decided to take a challenge, and open their houses to welcome travellers, share their stories and their culture with them, as we think that people themselves are one of the things that can really make a difference when we travel. But all of us can always to something more to improve their welcoming. Could you give a few tips to hosts to offer a perfect accommodation?

I have stayed at several BnBs, AirBnB apartments, an agriturismo, and independent apartment rentals all over Italy. I much prefer this style of travelling rather than staying in hotels. And I have had such warm & friendly hosts in Italy! I am still in touch with some of them.

For me, an accommodation need not to be luxurious — basic functionality & cleanliness is what I look for, and I always prefer an apartment with a kitchen (so I don’t have to eat out everyday) and the all-important washing machine, which is so very necessary when you’re travelling long-term!

I love interacting with my hosts, as it always gives a local perspective on the place. My hosts have suggested some lovely places to eat at, and also given local travel tips. In Rome I would have never thought of visiting Ostia Antica, if my hostess had not suggested it, and I was so glad I went.

1. In your blog you talk about food and recipes from all over the world. Can you see a connection between food culture and the lifestyle of people? And how do you think food can be a meeting point to share with the global community?

Yes, there’s an integral link between food & people’s lifestyle. The best interactions happen around the dinner table. For me, food is one of the most important things when I travel — I have even skipped seeing a tourist attraction in favour of a cooking class or a local meal. You learn so much about a place through its food — what people eat, how they grow their produce, where they shop (markets are my favourite things to do in any new city) etc. I have learnt Tuscan cooking in an agriturismo near Volterra, taken a seafood cooking class on Lido in Venice and even hand-rolled pasta in Le Marche.

Food experiences have always been the most vivid memories of a place. Nowadays more and more people are ‘travelling to eat’, which is a good thing — I have never understood people who eat at McDonald’s in Italy or go to Starbucks, say in Vienna! The last year or two has seen several start-ups that offer local food experiences — be it cooking or eating with a local, market visits, walking tours, visits to cheese farms & vineyards, wine, cheese or olive oil tastings and so much more. It’s wonderful to see these initiatives and it’s a great way to bring people together.

1. If you travelled with HumanDestination, which inspiration would you follow?

I would probably choose rurality. Having lived in a crowded, noisy city like Mumbai, I do feel the need to escape at regular intervals — to a quieter place, where you wake up to the sounds of nature, where you don’t have to rush to catch the bus to get anywhere, where you can just spend the day looking outside the window!

If you, like Prachi, travel to eat and have the desire to discover food cultures and new recipes, we suggest you to pay a visit to Filippo and his family, who will make you experience the true Sicilian food in one of the most characteristic areas of Sicily, to Raffaella, who will guide you through the colors and flavors of the true Palermo (especially the vibrant markets that offer a wide variety of mouthwatering street food) and, of course, to Luciana, who can teach you the traditional cooking of Emilia Romagna in an exquisite setting on the hills of Bologna.

Originally published at www.destinazioneumana.it on December 26, 2015.