Where in the World is Can Do Kitchen?

I have a very distinct memory of sitting at my kitchen table in the wee fourth-floor apartment I shared with my roommate in Aix-en-Provence, France. Our tall windows were thrown open and I could see into a kitchen in the building across the narrow street. A warm breeze ruffled the dish towel flung over the oven handle. In my hand: a white peach, fresh from the market milling around in the place below my window. My first white peach, so ripe it nearly burst from my touch. I sat alone there in the kitchen, bit into the fruit, and savored every ray of sunshine in its flesh. So sweet and unresisting to my bite, the juice ran down my elbows and onto the table. It was bliss.

Moments like these are snapshots from my life when food has shaped an experience and enriched my sense of time and place. I have relished many, many culinary moments in my travels, whether it be a tearing into a mysterious purple mangosteen in a back alleyway in Thailand or slurping matzo ball soup in a New York deli, and I want to start sharing these moments with you, dear reader. I’m going to weave these tales into upcoming posts, along with photos and links. Check in from time to time to witness my tasty travels, and when you visit the same places I do, you can try some of my discoveries, and share your own recommendations with me!

It is my hope that you will live vicariously through these posts, but also take notice of your own singular taste-sensation moments. These are inspirations for what we can create in our own kitchens, as well as opportunities to tune into the tastes that we’re experiencing and link them to past tastes, memories, likes, dislikes, and desires – feedback that informs every cooking decision we make. The more taste experiences our tongues and minds have, the richer our palates, and our ability to build from this base.

I grant you your culinary passports, friends. Hop aboard, and let your tongue be your guide!