2013: A Food Odyssey
February 28th 2013 is a very important date for me – it is the first day of a major new chapter in my life. After 13 years, I will give up my permanent, pensionable job to embark on a food odyssey.
The downturn in the Irish economy has handed me a golden opportunity. eircom urgently needs to “right fit” its employee base and has offered voluntary redundancy to its staff. For me, this has come at exactly the right juncture in my life. I have long been fascinated by food & food culture (see my “About Me” page) and so have decided to take a few months out to follow my food passion.
My husband & I have purchased a camper van and in early May we will set off on a food odyssey around Europe. We will spend a number of months travelling from country to country, region to region, discovering a world of food. We will savour local delights, poke around food markets, meet local producers and experience local food customs.
We would love for you to join us on our journey and so I will be posting regularly to this blog. We have pulled together a draft route for our odyssey, but really have yet to decide exactly where we will go. We want the trip to be relatively organic – if we find a place we like or get a great tip, we want to be able to spend some extra time exploring or deviate from our planned route.
We are very keen to get your input – please share your experience and knowledge with us so that we can make this an expedition to remember. You will find the current draft of the map on the “Map” page – please feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions using the “Comments” feature. We will be updating the map regularly, both before we leave and while on the road, so you can see exactly where the road is taking us. If you’d like to keep up with our travels and adventures, please sign up to follow our blog via e-mail.
We look forward to having you aboard!
My Food Odyssey 
can’t put my finger where i heard this before but its still interesting
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Hey June,
I’m really looking forward to following your blog, it really is the adventure of a lifetime. I had a thought – have you considered investing in a decent video recorder, a diary of your travels (with some footage of the country you’re in, you interacting with the locals as you buy food and then making your meals)? It might be something that a TV station would be interested in buying off of you! (We need some new names in food journalism…).
Just a thought!
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Thanks Paddy! We’ll definitely be taking some video footage and posting to YouTube (linked via this site). Not sure about it being picked up by a TV station, though! That said, we do have a radio interview with the national broadcaster lined up for next week – more details to follow. Very exciting times!
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Thanks, folks! Niamh, Ston doesn’t look like its too far from Dubrovnik and a few people have suggested the islands around there, so will definitely look into that. Tony, watched a video on Titignano and it looks amazing. Looks like it could be a good stop-off point between Florence and Rome. And sure I might see you in France for a coffee! Jo, thanks again. Will be in touch as soon as we have some dates. J.
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Great adventure June. If you’re in Croatia, I recommend a little village called Ston on the coast line, heading south towards Dubrovnik. I had a wonderful seafood lunch there, really really good food and was recommended by locals. Worth a visit if you’re heading that way. Also, anywhere in the French Pyrenees is amazing…some great old abbeys to visit there 🙂
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Best of luck June, our paths may cross, I’m on a 6 week break around Barcelona, south and west France. One suggestion for Italy is look up titignano.com near Orvieto in Umbria. Really nice agritourismo in a really remote location. The food is amazing – 12 course meal for dinner etc. it’s where I got married so a bit biased but definitely worth a visit in my opinion.
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Go girl!, very exciting for you.. Will definitely keep a track of your progress and sure if you are in Paris, look me up
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