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Last winter, a friend of mine shared that she saw someone doing something that was totally in my wheelhouse. This person was taking a culinary trip around the world and making, drawing, and journaling about a dish from each country. The second I heard about it, I knew I had to do something similar. It would be the perfect way to beat the winter blues and disrupt the monotony of everyday life (I wrote that last sentence pre-pandemic - if only I knew what was coming… hahaha).
With a then two year old daughter, I decided to start locally. I wanted to keep it more simple and tangible for her. I printed off a couple maps of the United States, one for me to color in each state and another for her to scribble along as well. Every time we knock off another state she is excited to grab our maps and color them in. Every week we try to tackle a couple states. I find a popular dish from the state and search for musicians from that state to be our dinner music. We enjoy dinner together, color our maps and talk about the state- high level stuff like who we know that lives there, or something unique about it that is relevant for a two year old.
I figure, as our daughter grows, we can then branch out and do all of the countries of the world and then circle back to do it all over again, diving deeper into the cultures and the environment that makes each spot so unique. I hope it will serve as a fun way to broaden our worldview and bring us together as a family by researching meals, cooking and enjoying them together. I’m excited to see what other elements we bring into it as we keep cycling through year after year.
Anyways, with all that being said, you can see what we’ve done so far in the image slider. I’ll keep updating periodically after every few states.
I’ve got a Google doc in progress where I keep track of menus, recipe links, notes and musicians. Like I said, it’s a work in progress and I’ll update as we adventure on, so be sure to check back periodically for the latest and greatest! You can view it on Google Docs using the button below.
