I am not a cook, I am not a baker. I have spent my life as an appreciating patron of those with the skills.
At best I am hit and miss when I try, but my occupation makes me a master at thinking on my feet, which is what it takes to change a miss in the kitchen to a hit.
Trying recipes that are traditions, staples in many countries seemed to be the way for me to feel close to the world of travel over the last 3 home bound months.
I am happy to pass on recipes I have featured through research, friends and family.
If I did “how to videos” with me reaching above my ability to whip up a soufflé, you would only see a kitchen with every bowl and pot used, and me covered in a variety of liquids and flour. It took 3 weeks for it to sink in that aprons are for this and I didn’t need to ruin every sweater I owned. The kitties have been banished from the kitchen not for their constant crying to taste everything, but throwing it up on the floor after.
Cooking and baking and travelling are all about planning with room to improvise when possible and knowing when not to or how to rise from a potential disaster.
I know I can follow a recipe and be an okay cook/baker.
I follow a recipe, get it right and it feeds the family and strokes my ego a bit in the same way I use to be able to do my own taxes, before I went to an accountant who saved me time and money.
With a house and a boat, my oven is either gas or electric, my location mountain or sea level, my cookbooks either grams or cups and ounces, and don’t even get me started on millilitres. The size of the pan, when to use glass or nonstick, parchment paper versus oil or butter or when to combine. I now have 5 types of flour in my home and avoided a major mistake when I realized at the last moment that cornflour in an international recipe meant cornstarch.
However with experience, inside knowledge that comes from major practice and research I could become a good cook/baker.
Travel consultants are good cooks. Their experience, practice and exposure to a large number of circumstances enable them to have that advantage that can elevate a recipe itinerary from an okay one to a really good and satisfying one.
Travel specialists are the great cooks/bakers, some even chefs. Their ability to take an ordinary itinerary, using their years of practice in measuring the shifts in social and political climates of a destination, the transporation systems, negotiating rates and rules, and insider knowledge of accommodations, and unique experiences, they enable you to sit back and enjoy the gourmet itinerary spread before you.