Doniree Walker | Food and Travel Blogger

Nomadic Foodie is a collection of food and travel stories. My name is Doniree Walker, and I’ll be your host here. I do a lot of the writing here, but I also host a lot of guest writers because I love a varied perspective on food, community, and travel.

Roots

I grew up a Southern girl first, with roots in both Alabama and Tennessee, and greatly appreciate southern fare like cornbread, fried okra, and grits.  At 13, I moved with my family Minnesota where I learned the fine art of the Hot Dish (casserole), the Dome Dog, and some truly great microbrews.

In 2010, I left Minnesota for beautiful Boulder, Colorado where creative and delicious vegetarian and vegan options are offered in just about every eatery.

This is me and my Boyfriend (whose real name is Chris).  We travel and eat together a lot.  He’s a handsome one, isn’t he?  This is us at Target Field, Minneapolis, MN (October 2010).

Chris and I met in Boulder, and we moved to Portland, Oregon in December of 2010 to explore the Pacific North West, fresh seafood and wine country that includes Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California. Since moving here, we’ve become obsessed with the local fare. From food carts to the Farmers’ Market – Portland is one delicious city!

Food

I’ve had zero culinary training or professional experience beyond my own experimental cooking and a couple of cooking classes, but I simply love to taste, sample, swirl, and explore.  Nomadic Foodie is a collection of those stories about travel adventures, creative new recipes, and restaurant reviews from the places explored.

I firmly believe that champagne isn’t just for celebrations, that great macaroni and cheese is marked by toasty bread crumbs on top, and that phở is the absolute best hangover meal out there.

Top of the Market – San Diego, July 2010

Wanderlust

When I’m not exploring my current city of residence, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring and sampling the foods and wines of other cities. My favorite cities (other than hometowns of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Boulder, and Portland) are Chicago and New York City.

These are cupcakes from New York City’s Magnolia Bakery.  They’re as good as they look.  The coconut one I had was even better.

In July, 2010, I joined the Cherry Marketing Institute in Traverse City, Michigan for the National Cherry Festival (huge thanks to the CMI and Weber Shandwick for the invitation, hospitality, and education in Michigan’s cherries!).  You can check out those recaps here (National Cherry Festival) and here (An Education in Cherries).

In September, Olson and Associates PR firm in association with the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitor’s Authority, invited me to scope out the Great Reno Balloon Race and eat and play my way through the Reno and Tahoe areas of Western Nevada.  For a full list of those posts, click here.

2011 trips covered a couple of different places in Washington: the Wenatchee Valley in Central Washington and amazing food and wine in Seattle.

Social Nomad

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Bon appetit!

Photo credit: top photo was taken by Rachel of Hello, Gorgeous Photography; photo of Chris & I at Target Field and photo of me toasting the mimosa are courtesy of ChristopherDan; cupcake photo is my own.

doniree

Doniree Walker is the Nomadic Foodie. She loves the exploration and community of food, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves the region's focus on local and seasonal food, daily farmers' markets and food carts at seemingly every turn. She's on twitter as @doniree and @nomadicfoodie, and blogs her adventures and life in general at doniree.com.