Episode 213 - Aashi Vel, Traveling Spoon
In this episode of Soul of Travel, Season 6: Women's Wisdom + Mindful Travel, presented by @journeywoman_original, Christine shares a soulful conversation with Aashi Vel.
Aashi Vel is the founder and CEO of Traveling Spoon, a company that is changing the future of travel by creating meaningful travel experiences. Traveling Spoon provides travelers with private, authentic food experiences, from homemade meals to cooking classes, with locals around the world. The company has been featured in the NY Times, TIME magazine and Forbes as the future of culinary tourism. Most importantly, the company has a meaningful impact, not only on travelers but also on their hosts that are enabled to become micro-entrepreneurs, earning an income doing what they love. An industrial designer and patent holder with a deep passion for problem-solving, Aashi has designed several award-winning products. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design and received her MBA from UC Berkeley.
The Genesis of a Global Food Community
Aashi's journey begins with a story that many travelers can relate to – the frustration of seeking authentic local cuisine in a tourist destination. In 2011, while in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, she found herself surrounded by "beautiful bohemian chic restaurants" that, despite their charm, served food catering to Western palates. "I had the hardest time finding authentic Mexican food," she recalls. "I just could not for the life of me find even just a really fantastic taco."
The turning point came through a simple glimpse through a window, where she spotted a local woman cooking in her kitchen. "That moment just sort of turned this light on in me," Aashi shares. "I was like, ah, I just wish I could eat with her and hear her stories and be in her kitchen, watch her cook." This serendipitous moment would eventually lead to the creation of Traveling Spoon, which provides authentic culinary experiences with the best home cooks around the world.
At Berkeley business school, Aashi met Steph Lawrence, who shared a similar dream born from her time in China, where she longed to learn dumpling-making from a Chinese grandmother. Their complementary desires – Aashi's wish to eat in locals' homes and Steph's desire to learn cooking from them – formed the foundation of their partnership. Together, they built Traveling Spoon into a platform that now operates in over 200 cities worldwide, connecting travelers with authentic home-cooking experiences.
Beyond Just Food
Aashi shares that what makes Traveling Spoon unique is its understanding that food is merely the beginning of a deeper connection. "Food is that incredible connector," Aashi explains. "It's that catalyst for connection that gets people to open up and share stories about each other." The company personally vets every host, focusing not just on cooking skills but on warmth and hospitality. "The single most important factor is how warm and hospitable someone is," Aashi emphasizes, "because they're inviting you into their home and they're sharing a part of who they are and how they live with you."
Christine's own travel experiences echo this sentiment. She shares memories of simple yet profound food moments, like trying green papaya with spicy salt in Belize or watching toast being made on a Thai street corner. These experiences, she notes, transcend the mere act of eating to become moments of genuine human connection.
The Power of Local Connections
The conversation takes an especially poignant turn when discussing how these intimate food experiences can transform family travel. Christine shares a touching story about her children's favorite travel memory – not the Eiffel Tower or the Mona Lisa, but picking vegetables and feeding chickens at a host’s home. "That's one of the things that they will say was the best.”
Preserving Indigenous Food Traditions
Traveling Spoon's mission extends beyond creating memorable travel experiences – it's also about preserving cultural heritage through food. The company is actively working to include more indigenous and sustainable food experiences in their offerings. "Indigenous people think of themselves as belonging to the land rather than the other way around," Aashi notes, explaining how many traditional food practices and knowledge of local plants are at risk of being lost.
The conversation touches on the importance of understanding these deeper connections to the land and food. Both Christine and Aashi share their passion for foraging and discovering local ingredients.
A Designer's Approach to Travel
What makes Aashi's perspective particularly unique is her background as an industrial designer. This experience has profoundly influenced how she approaches Traveling Spoon's user experience. Her decade-long career designing medical products taught her the importance of understanding user needs and creating seamless experiences – skills she now applies to crafting meaningful food encounters for travelers.
As the conversation draws to a close, both Christine and Aashi reflect on how food experiences in travel are often misunderstood. "People think about food and travel as these five-star experiences," Christine observes, "or they think, 'I'm not a foodie, so food isn't important in my travel experience.'" But as their discussion reveals, food is about "everything – the history, the culture, the language, the traditions," as Aashi aptly puts it.
The Impact of Authentic Connections
Through this work, travelers are discovering that the most meaningful moments often happen not in fancy restaurants or tourist attractions, but in the warm embrace of a local's kitchen. These experiences prove that food is more than sustenance – it's a universal language that bridges cultures, creates understanding, and forms lasting connections.
As we navigate an increasingly connected yet sometimes divided world, initiatives like Traveling Spoon remind us that sharing a meal can be the first step toward building genuine cross-cultural understanding. Through the simple act of cooking and eating together, strangers become friends, and cultural differences fade into the background as our shared humanity takes center stage.
“The power of travel is meeting someone from a completely different part of the world. And then realizing over a meal just how similar we all are, we’re humans, we share the same values despite the political and cultural differences and food is that incredible connector. It’s that catalyst for connection that gets people to open up and share stories about each other.”
Soul of Travel Episode 213 At a Glance
In this conversation, Christine and Aashi discuss:
· The power of food in connecting people, places, and cultures
· How she forms partnerships with community members to open their homes and share traditions and a meal
· Aashi’s work as an industrial designer and how it helps her work as CEO and founder of Traveling Spoon
Join Christine and Aashi Vel now for this soulful conversation.
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Related UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goal #3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
Sustainable Development Goal #11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Sustainable Development Goal #12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode
Learn more about Traveling Spon at https://www.travelingspoon.com/.
Connect with Aashi on your favorite social media network! Instagram / LinkedIn.
Special gratitude to our partner for this episode, Explorer X and their newly launched Hero Travel Fund! If you’ve been dreaming of an extraordinary journey, one that takes you beyond the ordinary and into the heart of new cultures and perspectives, but the financial barriers have been holding you back, then the HTF is for you. Apply by 2/28: https://www.explorer-x.com/hero.
About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of people making a positive impact in the tourism industry. In each episode, you’ll hear the stories of women who are industry professionals, seasoned travelers, and community leaders. Our expert guests represent social impact organizations, adventure-based community organizations, travel photography and videography, and entrepreneurs who know that travel is an opportunity for personal awareness and a vehicle for global change.
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Soul of Travel Episode 213 Transcript
Women’s travel, transformational travel, sustainable travel, women leaders in travel, social entrepreneurship
Christine: welcome to Soul of Travel podcast. I'm your host, Christine, and I'm Very, very, very excited to be welcoming Ashi Vail to the podcast today.
She's the founder and CEO of Traveling Spoon and I can't wait to share a little bit of our, how we initially connected in just a moment. But, um, right now I just want to take the time to welcome you. So thank you for joining me.
Aashi: Thank you for having me, Christine. Such a joy.
Christine: Thank you. Um, well, we, we had a fun, I guess, meet cute would be the like hip term for that. Um, this fall in San Diego at arrival, and we were both attending that conference and, um, When we finally did meet, I remember telling you, I was like, Oh, I saw you walking through the event of, you know, all these people.
And I was like, Oh, I wonder who that is. She has great energy. I definitely want to meet her. And then you popped up again. And I was like, Oh yeah, that's, I need to look for her. And then. We were at the Arrival Spotlight Awards and you got on stage to accept your award for Tour Innovator. So congratulations for that.
But I was like, there she is again. I'm like looking you up on LinkedIn and finding you on Instagram and looking at your business. So I was like, I have to meet her. And then. There was a women's um, gathering event that of course I went to and like three people came up to me and they're like there's this woman here you have to meet let me see if I can find her and then everyone was like this is Ashi you have to meet her and I was like perfect thank you so I, I love those um, moments because I I think for me it really calls into this aspect of like trusting your instincts and noticing when the universe provides these little nudges and I feel really lucky because I feel like sometimes certain people like I walk by and it's almost like a cartoon character and like there's the little sign over their head that's like this one just pay attention.
And I'm like, okay, I never know what, what exactly that means anyway. That was my, my version, my side of our meeting, but then we hit it off right away and we had a really beautiful conversation, um, and a lot of different touch points over the weekend. So I am really excited to share a little bit more about your journey, um, here on the podcast.
Before we begin, I'd just love to let you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do.
Aashi: Of course, I'm Ashi Vail. I'm the co founder and CEO of Travelling Spoon. And Travelling Spoon is an online marketplace that connects travellers with private and authentic food experiences. From meals and market tours to cooking classes with locals in their homes. And our mission is to make travel meaningful through food.
Christine: Yeah, thank you, which I love because, much like you I'm sure, like food is such an important part of the travel experience. It's such a great way of understanding and examining like where you are and you've learned so many different things. By, like, being aware of the food, which we'll get into. Um, but yeah, I just, I love this idea as well as the type of connection it fosters.
Um, but before we go there, I'd love to hear from you a little bit more about who you are as a traveler. And was travel something that has been a part of your life? Or, um, what did that look like for you?
Aashi: Yeah, I will credit my parents for fostering this wanderlust in me. Ever since we were children, my parents, who are from different parts of India, right? So we would visit family in different parts of India, and then when we could, we would travel internationally. Once every You know, four or five years, and it was just such a joy to visit new lands and hear new accents and eat different types of food.
And so by the time I went to university in the U. S., every chance I could get, I would, you know, take off and try and visit a new place. And so by the time I got my MBA, I think I had visited about 51 countries around the world. And the reason for my starting Travelling Spoon happened because of a personal pain point during one of my travel experiences.
So I remember being in the Yucatan in Playa del Carmen in Mexico in 2011. And I had the hardest time, Christine, finding authentic Mexican food. So whenever I travel to a new city or region, I want to try the most local fruit and the most local dishes. And I just could not for the life of me find it. You know, the restaurants that came highly recommended both by TripAdvisor and by friends were these beautiful bohemian chic restaurants.
But they were crowded and touristy, and the food itself catered to a Western palette. And I was not able to find even just, you know, a really fantastic taco, and I knew Mexico had amazing food. And one day, on my way to another restaurant, I happened to pass by this house on the street. And I looked through the window for some reason, and I saw this woman cooking in her kitchen.
And that moment just sort of Turned this light on in me and I was like, ah, I just wish I could eat with her and hear her stories and be in her kitchen, watch her cook, you know? So that for me was the genesis of Traveling Spoon. And then a few months later, I met Steph Lawrence, um, at business school at Berkeley and she had had a very similar, you know, experience.
A few years prior to that when she was living in China, on her bucket list of things to do was to learn to make dumplings from a Chinese grandmother and she just couldn't find that sort of experience. And we both really connected over our shared passion for authentic food and travel and we, we laughed about it, but you know, I really, um, we started the company together during business school.
She really wanted to learn how to cook in a local's home. And I just wanted to eat in the locals home. So we said, why don't we work on this together and see where it goes? And that's what we did. And by the time we graduated, we knew this was what we wanted to do. And we realized that it wasn't just us feeling this, this pain during travel, right?
We, there were so many people who really wanted to experience the local culture through food and wanted to meet locals. Because that to me is the power of travel, is meeting someone from a completely different part of the world. And then realizing over a meal just how similar we all are, you know, we're humans, we share the same values despite the political and cultural differences and food is that incredible connector.
It's that catalyst for connection that gets people to open up and share stories about each other. So that's what we do. We give travelers a chance to go into a local home that we have personally vetted in what, 200 cities now around the world so that you can go into a local home and learn to cook. a meal and, you know, have and share that meal with a local in his or her home.
Christine: such an important part of travel. And it's not always about having the most, you know, five star dining experience, but just having, um, These unique moments of connection and I, I'm thinking of things as simple as like the first time that I tried green papaya with like a, you know, spicy salt in Belize and, or ate, um, toast made on the street corner in Thailand.
And, you know, like there's these little things that are just. so delicious and beyond the food, it's the experience of, for example, in that, that case in Thailand, like seeing this little, um, coal fire pit on a cart with the grate over it and just cooking like plain white toast. And you think it can't be that remarkable, but Everything about every bite like I can think about it right now, and it's mind blowing the simplicity, but then also talking with a woman while she made the toast and, um, I think it's just such a brilliant connection.
And like you said, it's this commonality that kind of defies all. Barriers because we all eat food. We all have meals. We most of us have these moments in our lives where food is important connection to our own family and our own culture. And so it bridges gaps in a way that I think a lot of things.
don't necessarily do or it's such an easy thing and you're going to have to eat when you travel, right? You know, there's nothing else that's like a given on any travel experience, but you're going to have to eat because as humans, that's something we have to do. Um, so I just think it's such a cool way to really be intentional.
Um, and I know one of the other things I loved most when I've been traveling is to go to a local market and then from that I found, well, it's great to wander through and look, but a lot of times you don't know what any of the ingredients are. It might be hard to communicate with the vendors. Um, you might try a few things, but you're not really sure like which vendors to connect with.
And so. I also was like, Oh, I wish there was someone like, I wish someone's grandma would just like, show up and take me through this experience. And then like you said, take me to her table and prepare this meal for me. But I'm, I'm wondering from you, like, what ha what has some of those experiences been like?
I know that Like, one of your goals with Traveling Spoon is to make the world smaller and to make it better, and I think it really, it seems so simple, but I think it has huge potential to do just those things.
Aashi: I'll share one of my favorite travel memories that truly encompasses. You know, the reason for our existence. So I remember being in Bali and vetting one of our hosts, Deva. And Deva at the time was a local gardener and staff member at a resort. And he walked me through his garden, which was filled with tropical fruit and vegetables.
And, you know, I saw everything from this fruit, which is this pink fruit that's in a pear shape. Um, that I hadn't eaten since I'd left India and I saw it hanging on the tree and I climbed up and got it for me, you know, and then we saw how they grow pineapple and lemongrass and galangal and things like that.
And I remember this one moment when I was walking through his garden with Deva and I looked up and I saw this perfectly ripe papaya hanging on the tree and it looked ready to be eaten. Christine. So I was like, Deva, what is that still doing up on the tree? Why aren't we eating that right now? And not a speck of green on it.
And he's like, Ashi, this morning we had two papayas and we took one, but we saved the other one on the tree for the monkeys to eat and spread the seed. And I was just like, what? You know, it's such a deep respect for nature that they have in the way they eat, in the way they share. produce with, um, you know, other living creatures.
And it was just truly inspiring for me. It's just, you know, learning something new about how people live. And then he walked me back to his home. Um, so in Bali, the families live within a family compound. So his nuclear family has its own little, you know, cottage I'd say, but it's within this. Beautiful lush, you know, stone walled compound and so we're about 100 people live and so the kids run around freely and you know that if something were to happen, you know, family member would bring them back and it's just such a cool way of living.
I thought. And then so we go into his home. I met Jiro, his wife. And we cooked a traditional Balinese meal together, uh, on a wood fired stove. We, you know, grated coconut on a bark, freshly pressed coconut milk. Um, most of what we cooked was, you know, from his garden, which was incredible. And the entire family joined.
You know, it was cousins and kids just helping to cook, get clean. And it was just memories. We were talking about how travel is all about those memories, and the memories are what you have at the end of your life, and it was, it will forever be one of my favorite memories. So we cooked, uh, Bregadelle, which is this traditional Balinese dish now, which is a remnant of a Dutch colonial recipe.
So it's a corn fritter originally, you know, created by the Dutch, but the Balinese have made it their own by adding ginger and lemongrass and spices, and it was simply one of the single best bites I had on the trip. Um, but while we were cooking, Christine, I noticed this black and white checkered pattern on a lot of different things, from the deities to the tablecloths and even the aprons had that.
And Balinese patterns tend to be more intricate and colorful. So I was like, you know, what, what does this, um, represent? And he is, a lot of our travelers have said that he's a modern day Buddha. So in his very sort of serene and solemn voice, he's like, We believe that in every situation and in every one of us, there's some good and some not so good, and this black and white pattern is a constant reminder of that, and it helps keep our life in balance.
I was just like, wow, that is so, um, so unique in the way. You know that they think because my whole life I was like this, you know, good people and not so great people and I don't just don't want to associate with the not so great people. But if you come to terms with the fact that in each and every one of us depending on the situation we have good days and bad days, that's okay.
And, um, you know, it just. Changed how I think about life and philosophy and the world, and it just helps to have a more balanced way of thinking so they don't have very high highs or very low lows because, you know, according to they were in every situation, you can see some good and some not so good.
There's, you know, some that can be some negative consequences to positive events and vice versa and a three hour cooking class taught me so much about life Christine and that Is what I cherish the most about the experiences that we create is that you get a chance to meet with someone from a different part of the world.
And during this private experience, you know, we made it private so that our guests can have one on one time with our hosts. Because it is super fun to have a table with 10 or 12 different travelers, but they end up talking to each other. And so our entire mission is to create that cultural connection that happens when you have, you know, one on one time with a local.
So the food allows you to, to share stories, but it's that time together that bonds you and connects you and creates a memory that truly lasts forever. And, you know, you were talking about how, how we humans share the same values. Yes, the houses are different and the way people live are different, but who they are deep down is the same.
I watched this Vietnamese grandmother force feed her grandchild in the same way a New York grandmother, you know, force feeds her grandchild. I just love that. You know, that love, that sense of. Food being nourishment and care and enjoy. Um, it's just truly something that connects us all. And these experiences, you know, bring to light the fact that we are all humans sharing the same values.
And especially at a time like this when, you know, there's just so much more polarization happening in the world. Travel is such an education and such a way to connect us.
Christine: Yeah, and I think it's such a A harmonious way like it does help overcome that polarization because it's it's very simple and there's there's not so much right and wrong about a papaya, right?
You know, like we can find a way to meet in the middle. Um, and I love the story that you just. We kind of went through, 'cause I was talking about how much we can learn through food and you know, you were talking about like agricultural customs and the way of, of connecting to nature and a way of respect.
Like all those things you learned just from that quick moment. And then you started to learn about culture because you. Understood how they were living and how they had this shared living space and the way families function and interact different than they might wherever you are coming from. And then all of a sudden, you're cooking this food that has this Dutch influence.
And so now you're understanding, like, the history and maybe colonialism and all of these things and and all you did was share a meal. And I think that's what's so mind blowing about it is especially if you just are. Open to seeing all of the things that you're learning. It can be such a valuable and powerful experience, like wrapped up in such a simple and accessible experience.
Because I think a lot of times when you think about understanding maybe these larger narratives or, or, or digging deeper, you feel like it's going to be a heady experience. And this is easy, like, Okay. Anyone can do this.
Aashi: Yeah. And anyone, everyone takes something out of it and something different out of it too, based on their life experiences and you know, what they enjoy. Um, I know that a lot of our, I remember one of our guests brought their nine month old, I wanted to say, and to this Balinese experience. And she said, you know, our host refused to let.
her child be on the floor. So in Bali, up until children turn one, they are carried. And so it was such a unique experience for them because they said, you eat, we'll take your child and play with them and carry them. And it was just this wonderful, you know, moment that the couple shared and knowing that their child was taken care of, but also learning.
Wow. In Bali, you know, the sole focus is on the child and to make sure that child never gets on the floor, at least within this family. So it was, it's just unique to hear these different experiences and recounts of stories.
Christine: Yeah. Um, well, I, I wanted to share another story. I feel like this is going to be a short, a story sharing session, but I think that's the important part of what you've created actually. So I, I think this is perfect in this way, but, um, I wanted to just, I was reflecting as I prepared, prepared for our conversation.
Like I wished I had known about traveling spoon when I was traveling with my three daughters because we were traveling for an extended time and like they love cooking. They're pretty savvy in the kitchen, like they're still picky eaters, but they do love to prepare things. And if they prepare it, they're more likely
Aashi: To eat it.
Christine: eat it, which is something I've also learned.
Um, and I am going to give a little shout out before I tell the story to my friend Katrina Biller. Billard, who, um, has her business Empowered Kitchen. Um, I met her here in Colorado, and she was cooking and doing cooking classes. And she went to France to like the most perfect, like Hallmark y story. But she went to France, um, to look for places to run a retreat.
And she's a chef, and she wanted to learn more about French cuisine and In this process, she ended up at this party where the family that she was visiting and the family, another local family were like, Oh, you have to meet our son. They met, they got married
Aashi: Oh my goodness.
Christine: they live just south of Paris. So when I went with my girls, we went and stayed with them.
Aashi: Oh,
Christine: And, um. What I love so much about the experience is, you know, because she cooks, she offered to do a cooking class and then her husband's family are beekeepers for like a, for many generations in the area. So they went and took us to where they produce the honey and we tasted like all the flavors of honey and they're like, okay, when we put the bees in this field, then the honey has this lavender essence.
And when we put the bees in this field, I was like, What? Honey just comes in a bear. I don't, I don't even know, you know, like what a shame. And, um, so that was so amazing, but she did the cooking class and my girls got to learn, you know, about that. And before that, she took us to a local farm. Like she had some ingredients at her own home, but.
Some weren't in season that she wanted or they didn't have enough. So we went to the farm and they like collected all of this produce. And it was huge. And my girls walked around with baskets, just like, there is food everywhere. And I was like, stop eating all of it. We really do have to pay for it. Like they would just see the berries and tomatoes and all these things.
Aashi: Oh, what a magical experience.
Christine: And then like after that, my little littlest girl like snuggled up on the couch with her dog and it was raining outside and like that moment that experience all together is one of the things, even though we traveled for like four months together. That's one of the things that that they will say. Was the best not like the Eiffel Tower or seeing Mona Lisa in the Louvre But they're like remember your friend's house and picking vegetables and feeding her chickens and cooking that dish and so that's what it reminded me of like I wish we could have had that experience everywhere.
And I got to have it because I knew someone who could provide, you know, the experience that you're connecting people to. So I wanted to talk a little bit more about that. Like, how do you find the people that offer these experiences? How do you build that connection and create, because it's hard to create that level of intimacy.
Quickly, but like, how do you guide that process? I
Aashi: Yeah. So 50% of our hosts. still come through host referrals. You know, we had fortunately a lot of great press and so people around the world read about us and will apply online through the website. And then the other 50 percent is, you know, a combination of reaching out in certain destinations, you know, to food bloggers, uh, using social media as a way to bring awareness of traveling spoon to locals who are passionate about food.
And then we personally vet. every single host that we bring on, Christine. So we have a video call to screen for passion. You know, at the end of the day, yes, they have to be good cooks and we vet for that. But the single most important factor is how warm and hospitable someone is because they're inviting you into their home and they're sharing a part of who they are and how they live with you.
And so often that You know, if someone is warm and hospitable like that is truly the most important part and then we have ambassadors who visit the home and taste the food and write a review for us. We came upon this system of vetting our host quite by accident. So we had, you know, when we first started, we have to, So many people reaching out and say, I love what you do.
And I want to, you know, join the company and help. And I have so many jobs. And, um, we quickly had a roster of about 500 you know, foodies. And so we said, you know, we've got these hosts around the world that need to be vetted and. We would give our ambassadors. We, of course, you know, interview them and make sure they had good photography skills and then had them share a meal.
So they would get a free meal with the potential host and in exchange, we would receive an honest review and a vetting document that was completed. And if the host passes a certain mark on the very stringent vetting document, only then to invite them into the community. So that is how we brought on our hosts around the world.
But what I love is that to this day. It is still a majority of our hosts are host referrals. So our hosts would be like, you know, in India, we have a host who makes. You know, I think some of the best biryani in Chennai, and she said, Oh, my friend makes the best dosa. You've got to get her on. And so that is how we brought on, you know, different people and we truly followed the food.
And that has allowed us to get into destinations that you wouldn't normally think of. So our top destinations are not Paris and London. You know, our top destinations are, for example, Modena. which is the balsamic making capital of Italy. And so we have a host there, Mariangela, who will take you up through the spiral staircase to her attic.
And it's filled with these, you know, barrels of different sizes. And you learn how her family has been distilling balsamic vinegar in this. for centuries. And she's one of 22 families in Modena who make, you know, balsamic vinegar. And she learned it from her grandfather who learned it from his grandfather.
But my favorite part of the experience then is that you come downstairs after you learn about how it's made. And then she gives you a tasting of the balsamic with on different foods, or whether it's Parmigiano Reggiano cheese from a local, you know, farmer, or if it's. sorry, cheese maker or, you know, gelato bread.
Um, it is truly a wonderful way to get a sense for the region. Just like you were talking about, you know, your daughters having that incredible experience of all of the different produce that they were. Seeing and picking and eating too much of apparently, but, uh, if people don't want to learn how to cook, this is a great way to understand the culture through the local.
Um, so going back to my point, because we followed the food, our secondary cities have become some of our bigger destinations. So, you know, in pre pandemic. are some of our top 10 destinations were Addis Ababa and Beirut and Samarkand and, you know, Uzbekistan. So it's truly wonderful to be able to do that.
And I think that that's a way to alleviate over tourism as well. Um, because you are then, you know, going to these beautiful little towns and Learning to, um, eat what the locals there eat. And the other thing that I love about what Traveling Spoon does is it truly makes it sustainable because when you are going to someone's home, they are preparing what is fresh and seasonal and what they love to eat with you.
As opposed to, you know, often when travelers go to a restaurant in a new country, They gravitate to what sounds familiar to them because they have to make a choice on a menu, and they're not trying out some of the other dishes that are truly local or different. And just this morning, Rafat Ali from Skift was talking about a flattening of food cultures.
You know, with sometimes with tourism, you go and you eat what people talk about, and you have an idea of what you think Indian food might be. And so then you go to India and then you order that, and that's what you eat. But there is a vast number of cuisines and micro cuisines in India. And so it's sad when you don't get to experience all of that because you don't know about it or don't know how to order it or afraid of doing so.
But when you go into someone's house, they are preparing for you what they love to eat, what they grew up eating, what's fresh in the market that day. And they're taking you to the market and introducing you to the fruits and vegetables so that you can hear how things are grown and why they're grown in that terrain and get a chance to taste it.
So You know, and then the second thing I want to say about that is because they are cooking for you based on when you are coming to their home, there's much less waste than there would be at a commercial establishment, which has to carry inventory, right? And it's also. purchased from local farmers and from their own garden.
And so it keeps things a lot more local. So I love that aspect of it as well, that it's, you know, we're able to be sustainable because of those reasons and help people experience different parts of the world outside of mainstream destinations.
Christine: Yeah, I love that so much. Like, I don't know where you were a few steps ago before it led you on that path. But that's what I was thinking about. I was like, Oh, my goodness, this is such an inherently sustainable process. Um, because of all the reasons that you just mentioned. So you answered the question I was going to ask you anyway.
Um, but I really love I love that because And again, this is a way that travelers will maybe. Learn or be educated about more sustainable, um, behaviors just by having it modeled for them. And I think also in the US, especially or in bigger cities, people don't always know where their food comes from. And this is such a way of just learning about that.
I, I know, I remember seeing the first time seeing a pineapple grow and I was like, wow, that's cool.
Aashi: right? That it's just
like a crown on top of the plant. Yeah. But
Christine: those things I think are really valuable. Like luckily I grew up with a grandmother that had a huge garden. So I had seen a lot of food growing, but it's just the food of, you know, my area and what we would eat typically.
Um, but at least I had an understanding of like planting and growing and preserving and like. something that I think has been really lost through the generations. Um, I can't do any of the things that she could do. Sadly, um, I could sure learn them, but I haven't. Um,
Aashi: you know, Christine, that sort of leads me to this. Um, and sorry for cutting you off there, but just, you know, the idea of preserving culinary traditions through generations when your kids don't want to learn them. So we have this host Rocio in Mexico, who's like, she wanted, she, she's like, actually, my kids don't want to learn how to make my grandmother's recipe for mole because it takes three hours.
But I love that a couple from San Francisco is willing to pay 100 to learn how to make my grandmother's recipe, right? So it's a wonderful way of preserving those food traditions. Um, even though it may not be passed down directly to your family, it is being shared with the world. So it's a wonderful way to do that.
Christine: that does too, and I was just talking with another person about this yesterday is it also shows the value to the next generation because you know, when you and the mother are trying to teach your kids to make them all day, like your kid is annoyed at you and they don't want to do the thing.
And they're just. going against that tradition based on, you know, what teenagers or young children do. And, you know, when you look at that in a, in a larger context in many remote and rural communities where you're looking at preserving not just food culture, but, you know, weaving and all different kinds of artists and culture.
So many kids and younger generations leave that to go to the cities to get jobs that they think have more value. But when travelers come in and they pay 100 to learn how to make mole, then a younger generation is like, Oh, wait a second. There is also value beyond The fact that my mom thinks her grandmother's Malay is amazing.
You know, like I think that that conversation is really important too. And that in and of itself will help the preservation process because it, it shines a new light. Like we, we all do that. You know, we, we are so entrenched in our own environment. Kind of let go of, we don't see how important that is until someone reflects that back to us.
Aashi: That is a great insight, Christine. Yes. And now our hosts are forced to write recipes for our guests. And so at least they have it written down as opposed to, oh, pinch of this and a little bit of that.
Christine: Yeah, which is how my mom cooks and, and I was grateful. My niece wanted to learn one of her recipes and my, my mom was like, I don't have a recipe. I do the thing. And so my niece sat and watched her and she wrote it down. And what I love most, she was young. So everything's like phonetic and not spelled right.
But I have a photocopy of the way she. wrote how my mom made this certain dish because I love that it's not spelled correctly and everything. And like, that's the, the, the magic of that. But I think that's a really important thing. And then the other thing you had mentioned was like the flattening of food culture.
And I think that's something really interesting to think about in the context of tourism, because, you know, as tourists come into a destination, then. The market caters towards the tourist, and then the locals start consuming the food that's catered towards the tourists, and it just, like you said, it just kind of goes from there.
And also, I hadn't thought about, but like, my interpretation of Mexican food when I go to Mexico is going to inform the food I eat in Mexico, or when I went to Thailand, like, I had a very You know, assumed belief of what Thai food looked like based on the food that I had had previously. And then, as I began traveling through the country, probably much like India, right?
You're in the northern areas and the food is so much different and it's like this richer, heartier. It's more towards the mountains and in the cities it looks a certain way and then maybe you have these modern interpretations of food and then you go towards the beaches and you have these
Aashi: Close to. Yeah,
Christine: remember thinking like, we really don't understand Thai food and then again it like led me to this like Thai culture and Understanding the difference between all these different areas and people and how that was informing the food.
And for me that, that is again like this rich opportunity we have with food culture when we travel.
Aashi: absolutely. Yeah. Every country has that too. Thailand, you know, India for sure. But Thailand too, this northern Thai near Chiang Mai, that's very different from Southern Thai with the jungle curries and the spice. It's just incredible. The diversity of food and flavors. Um, if you. You're just, you know, had the chance to sort of open up and experience it all.
Christine: Yeah, and you think then you translate that back maybe to the U. S. And, you know, people are going to think, oh, American food is like. I don't know. I can't even think of anything
Aashi: Hot dogs
And,
Christine: but if you look at the way You know, obviously there's so many cultures here. So if you look at regional interpretations of that, or you look at Midwestern food or you're in San Francisco, you know, like there's all these food options or where I lived in Seattle versus when I lived in Phoenix.
Like there's such a depth to cuisine in the United States. And I think many of us maybe not, might not appreciate that because it's our own backyard.
Aashi: And so glad you brought that up, Christine, because we launched in the U S recently, and that is what people, when I would first tell them, like, Oh, but you know, American food. But if there is so much diversity here, you know, the South for sure with the Creole and Cajun food, you know, but you know, Texan barbecue, different from barbecue elsewhere, you know, food in Savannah, Georgia, different from Memphis, Tennessee, like even though it's Southern food, there are variations and differences there.
We have a host in Detroit. who offers a farm to table experience. So you eat trout that's been caught in Lake Michigan with tomatoes that are grown on her garden, you know, and we have the Pacific Northwest cuisine, which is all about, you know, locally. caught seafood and blackberries and Washington apples and in the Seattle area.
So there's truly so much that the US has to offer. And, um, my favorite experience that we recently brought on was, uh, our very first indigenous experience in Juneau, in Alaska. And it's with a host, Cindy and Michael, who are members of the Tlingit tribe in Juneau. There are only 950 Tlingit people left in Juneau.
And so it's a great way to get a sense for, you know, how Native Americans ate, uh, and Indigenous people eat now. And, um, it is Like she was telling me how, so her husband still has a permit to catch, um, wild salmon and halibut with a net. And so that's what they get and they freeze, you know, throughout the year.
So you learn to cook that and eat it and learn about how it's been fished. Uh, but also things like, you know. She get, gets you to taste spruce tip jelly. And I did not know that you could use spruce dips and you know, even, even eat that. Um, if, you know there's an opportunity to go foraging for wild mushrooms during the season in the forest, and so bring that back and, and cook it up.
And so it's just such a. Wonderful way. That is, has been a personal goal of mine to share, you know, indigenous food and culture because so much of it, uh, has not something that we, that is easily accessible. And so I'm really, really excited to, to bring on that experience in Juneau and we plan to bring on more sustainable and, you know, indigenous experiences around the U.
S. and the world as well.
Christine: Yeah, I think that's really beautiful. And again, it's a way of honoring and sharing and creating conversation and, um, valuing a culture that's maybe not scene for that, depending on where you are. And I think, you know, that that is something I also really, really appreciate when I travel and I would seek out those experiences myself.
But to have someone do that for you, I think is helpful because not Not, not everyone is a savvy enough traveler to try to figure out where those things are and who, who can offer that to you. And I, I think it's just really, really important. And, um, I, I love the intentionality behind finding those experiences and telling that story because it's, it's just.
It's such a relatable way. I know we've said it a bunch of times, but I hope people listening will really, you know, see what an incredible opportunity and a wealth of education and connection that cuisine really is when they're traveling.
Aashi: mean, it's taught me so much. Just, you know, how indigenous people think of themselves as belonging to the land rather than the other way around. And there are so many, what we consider, you know, wild plants and vegetation or weeds that grow that are actually have wonderful benefits, whether medicinal or, you know, just tastes great if cooked a certain way.
And we want to revive all of those incredible food traditions.
Christine: Yeah, that when you were just talking about to the, the way things taste and smell, especially when you're just like walking through and picking something, which is, Clearly one of my favorite things to do because I've talked about it a million times now. But I stayed at this property in Belize and they had this huge garden.
And I just remember them walking through and saying like, you know, here taste this mint compared to this mint. And I was like, oh, multiple kinds of mint. One first lesson learned. And then they would hand me some other herb and it's, you know, three times the size that it would be if I found it here or the intensity and the aroma.
I'm like, Gosh, if rosemary tasted like this at home, you know, I would never stop eating rosemary, but That there's something so primal about it, I guess, and I think that is maybe what's really, um, so powerful is that we're so disconnected from that, that food source that that's why the simplicity of just like picking and eating is tremendously powerful.
Like nothing tastes like a. Tomato off the vine, right? It's such a different experience than purchasing it in the grocery store and taking it home and eating it. And, um, I just think that that is something that's so healing. And the other thing you were talking about is, um, the medicinal properties of foods and, and other things that grow.
Like, I think that's another experience I always look for if someone is you know, talking about medicinal like plant medicine or healing herbs and foods. I, again, in Belize, I met this medicine man. I had like read an article about him and I'm like, Oh, I think we're near where he is. And we found him and he took us on a hike and showed us the land where I think his great grandfather had grown up.
And As we walked through, he just would like point out this thing and then like, have you smell it. And then he would be like, okay, this is used for this. And then he would talk about this tree and he is like, if this thing pricks you, it's gonna cause a rash. But if you look, there's this plant that always grows right by it, and
Aashi: Oh, that's an
antidote.
Christine: go away.
And I was just like, this is mind blowing and it's being lost. You know? He was saying no one in his village, much like we were just talking about once. Take the time to learn this, but people from America
Aashi: Mm-hmm
Christine: to learn this. And so I just think that this is such an important dialogue to be creating at this time in our history.
Aashi: Absolutely. It reminds me of, have you read the book, braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Rimera. You know how she talks about the two flowers that you see growing together and then there's a reason, right? And for. All of nature, there is a reason why things happen and grow a certain way if only we took the time to sort of study it and learn about it.
You and I share a very deep, deep passion for foraging and eating fruit. On my, my wish one day is to discover a new fruit. So Christine, you and I should wander through a forest one day soon.
Christine: I agree. I really want to take a foraging based. Trip as well. So, um, I will reach out to you to ask for information about that. But yeah, I, I think it, it's great. And I love that you mentioned, um, braiding sweetgrass. That is such a beautiful, beautiful book for anyone listening. Um, it's like, I don't even know.
It's like, uh, like this
Aashi: It's a revelation,
Christine: Yeah, it's a revelation. I like reading it is like a balm for your soul. I think it's just, it's such a beautiful experience reading it. And we read it in my, um, my book sojourn that I lead a couple of years ago and, and reading it with other women and just hearing that longing they have for that part of themselves as humans.
Again, I think this is something that maybe is Subtle in the work you do, or maybe not understood by travelers that are are having and participating in these experiences, but there's this part of us that has been lost in our modern culture. And I think it's just a really important value to bring back to people.
And, um, yeah, I hope people listening are just like, Oh, I didn't like, I think people think about food and travel as these. Often as these five star experiences or they think, I'm not a foodie, so food isn't important in my travel experience, but I just would really love to challenge people who maybe have that belief to look a little bit past that and realize how important food really is to their travel experiences, whether they're specifically seeking it out or not.
Aashi: Agreed.
Christine: Um.
Aashi: the taste, right? It's about everything. The history, the culture, the language, the traditions.
Christine: Yeah. Well, I wanted to, to tap into one of your other areas of wisdom. I know that you're also an industrial designer and patent holder, which is like the complete other side of you, but I'm, I'm just curious, like from an entrepreneurial sense and from a business owner standpoint, like how those design skills and problem solving and innovation like helped the technical side and the logistical side of growing your business.
Cause I know there's so many people. Who would love to start a business like this that maybe don't know where to start, or I'm just curious what, what that looked like and how that informed your business.
Aashi: I loved my career as an industrial designer. You know, I got to design products that improve the quality of people's lives. I was a medical product designer for a decade. Um, and I have always been passionate about food and travel and wanted to start a company, which is why I did, but Christine, you're absolutely right.
My skills as a designer have come in handy so much with a traveling spoon, you know, whether it was designing the website and getting a sense for, you know, the user experience and the UI designing the experience, right, to truly. I remember as an industrial designer, I would go into the hospital and watch how surgeons were performing surgeries so that we could help improve, um, you know, where things were kept, how the handles of surgical equipment were designed, how quick, how much faster, how many minutes we could shave off of surgeries by just redesigning the experience.
And so understanding the user became so important. And I took that with, you know, to traveling spoon as well as to truly understand what does a traveler way in the beginning when we had our first, you know, I, I would say for any entrepreneur out there, the first thing you want to do is. get to an MVP, which is the minimum viable product level, which gives it's the smallest little test you can do to test out whether your company and your business or idea product is going to sell.
And so our very first MVP was, um, when I was in business school, we asked There was a group of MBA students going to India and so I just reached out and said to the leader of the group, I said, Hey, would you guys be interested in having a meal with a, with a, with a local in her home in Cochin when you go?
And within a couple of hours, they were like, yes, we're all interested. 12 of us want to go. I'm interested. 25. You also want to test to see how much people would write. Let's see if there's interest, right? And so now I'm scrambling because in five days they were expecting to have a dinner with a local host in coaching. So then I'm reaching out to friends and friends of friends and asking, you know, their parents or in laws would be open to hosting a group of MBA students. And we found Roshni, our very first host in coaching.
And she invited these 12 MBA students into her home, and they learned about, you know, like how we were talking about how when you go to India, you think of butter chicken or chicken tikka masala food in Kerala, even within Kerala, there's Christian Syrian Christian food, there's, you know, Hindu Malayali food, there's there's even a section of, you know, Jews in, in Kerala who have their own cuisine, which is wonderful.
So there's just So they went into her home, learned how she makes appams, which are this delicious coconut milk and rice batter that's fermented. And then you cook it on a griddle and it's pillowy in the middle, but it's lacy and crisp on the edges. And you dip it into like a chicken curry or a fish curry or a stew made of coconut milk.
It's simply wonderful. The most delicious dishes you can have and you wouldn't know to get that unless you were, you know, truly searching for it. And so they came back and said it was the highlight of their trip. So this was our MVP. But then they also said, as MBA students would that, you know, had there been a little alcohol that might've broken the ice a little more.
And so to this day we have, you know, beer or wine as an additional add on. If people are interested, they also said, you know, with this was what, 10 years ago or 12 years ago. Uh, hard to get to the home. If you don't have, you know, back then, GPS and Google Maps is not what it is now and, uh, wasn't what it is now.
And so we now have, you know, pick up and drop off as an additional add on. So if you're staying at a hotel in Japan or in coaching and you want to be picked up and drop off, some of our hosts will do that. Um, and so truly understanding and understanding. Um, designing your customer and figuring out, you know what it is that will help make their experience better, more convenient, less stressful, joyful.
Um, these are all the skills I learned as a designer, uh, truly understanding, like wearing the shoes of your customer to, to make that ideal experience. Um, and then also, yeah, problem solving constantly, right? Design as a whole term for design thinking, which is. You, you, you solve a problem and then you move on to the next one.
It's just a series of getting to improve, to make small improvements, one on top of the other constantly. And so all of those things have helped me become a better entrepreneur, I think. Um, and yeah, I, and I think any field, right, with entrepreneurship, there's so much you have to do and so many hats you have to wear.
That no matter which field or, um, skill you have, it'll come to use. You just have to find a way.
Christine: Yeah, I think that's what's so fun about travel is so many people drop into this industry from different places and bring these unique skill sets and then apply them to travel. I think that's always interesting to see in people's businesses. Um, but I loved what you said about, you know, the most viable product and just like testing it and then saying, well, I thought it was a great idea.
I didn't actually have the person who was going to execute that. But what I love most about that is I think so many of us can get lost in the details when we have an idea and we're trying to perfect the product to present it before you even get started and then you realize that you built something that wasn't exactly what it needed to be, whereas you left room for Like your customers to inform what you created.
And I think that maybe that's a design building mindset as well. But like, I think that that, especially as entrepreneurs, it's really important to know like what you build today is probably going to be a long way off from where you end or, you know, you're 2. 0 and then you're 5. 0 and you're
Aashi: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it's just where, what we started off with, you know, we had these visions of having this open marketplace where people, as you see the website. Right now, right? You go, you browse which city you're going to, and then you look at the different hosts, and then you book some of the minds in confirmation.
So if you book right now, it's all the calendar is all synced. And so, you know, for sure, it's guaranteed. When we first started, Christine, that's what we were hoping to build. But we had no money and, you know, investors on Silicon Valley investors were like, come back with a product and then we'll, you know, think about investing and I'm like, well, we don't have money to make the product, but then you can, right?
So we built what we called a concierge system where we had this WordPress form and we said, fill out the city you're going to, what dates you'll be there and whether you're interested in a lunch or dinner and any dietary restrictions. And so they would fill out that form. I was the manager of this huge Excel spreadsheet where I had, you know, the guests, the cities, they were interested, what they wanted.
And so I would match them up with hosts on the backend and then send them this confirmation. So from their perspective, Oh, this is a really easy, you know, I type in what I want and I get a confirmation on the date that I want and, and it worked for two years and that is how we raised money. And that was our product.
And we served, you know, thousands of travelers that. But my God, it was, it was tough, but it works. And so my point is just that you can be really lean and build your MVP and test it out and just like you were saying, don't wait so long because by the time you launch your product. People have changed, customers have changed, technology has changed.
What they want may not be exactly what you're providing. Um, so don't let perfection get in the way of progress and, you know, test it out in a small way and then continuously improve and pivot on it.
Christine: Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that's really, really, really valuable information. And I think, you know, many of us, even if we know it, you, you still like the perfection gets in the
Aashi: Yeah, absolutely. That's
how we're built.
Christine: Um, well, we have already. Come to the end of our conversation.
So I have a few rapid fire questions to to round out our time together. Um, the 1st is what are you reading right now?
Aashi: Right now. I, you know, this is a tough thing about, uh, when I read on a Kindle, I really have to think about the title. Oh yeah. 10X is easier than 2X, which is a book that is basically saying, you know, if you're going to scale, focus on the things that are truly driving your business further rather than everything.
So I'm trying to do a little bit more of that right now. Uh,
Christine: is always in your suitcase or backpack when you travel?
Aashi: an eye mask because I'm a very light sleeper. Um, And some food always, uh, usually it's a savory snack
Christine: Yeah, we shouldn't be surprised that you're, um,
Aashi: I always carry fruit with me, which gets in the way when I'm going, uh, into my international travels. I often get stuck.
Christine: Yeah, I forgot I had a piece of fruit when I came back. I don't know where I came from, but it was one of those things where you're like probably eating it in the airport, got on the plane, didn't really think about it. And all of a sudden there was a dog like sniffing my backpack and I was like, Oh my gosh.
Sorry, I'm not meaning to be like bringing food in from, I know it's so
Aashi: Yeah, sure.
Christine: worst. No, I think it was just like an apple. It wasn't even anything magical like a rambutan or anything like that. Um, so to sojourn is to travel somewhere as if you live there. Where is a place that you would love to sojourn?
Aashi: Italy. I've been there many times, but their love for food and family and love for life is something that I hold very, uh, precious, and so it,
Christine: Uh, what do you eat? This is a great question for you. What do you eat that immediately connects you to a place you've been?
Aashi: ooh, uh, I mean, so in South India, when I grew up, on Saturdays, we would always have, uh, a purely South Indian meal, because my mom was from the North and my dad was from the South. So, whenever I have rasam, which is a broth made from tomatoes and pepper, and either tamarind or lemon, it brings me back to my mom's kitchen at home.
Christine: Mmm, that sounds delicious. Um, who was a person that inspired or encouraged you to set out to travel?
Aashi: I think it was a combination of my parents because they took me on travels, but also my uncle and aunt who just the joy I would see in their eyes when they came back from their trips and they would share stories. Uh, definitely my family inspired me to travel.
Christine: If you could take an adventure with one person, fictional or real, alive or past, who would it be?
Aashi: Ellen DeGeneres. I think she's super funny.
Christine: Yes, oh my gosh, that would be very, very, very fun. I feel like she would be really fun foraging, so we should maybe invite her. We'll put that on the list. Um, so as you know, Soul of Travel is a space for recognizing and celebrating women in the tourism industry. Who is one woman you would like to recognize here in this space?
Aashi: So I thought about this because you had asked me this earlier and I wanted to share a few women and then I want to talk about the one woman that I do want to put a spotlight on. So the few women that I have found to be incredible are one is Alexis Bowen, who was the founder of Elsewhere. Which is a company that connects travelers directly with local experts around the world.
And it was acquired by Lonely Planet. Um, also Radha Vyas, who's the founder of Flashback that, uh, has so social adventures for solo travelers. Um, but the person I want to put a spotlight on today is Jamie Lehane. Christine often, you know, there's founders that get the chance to talk about their companies.
Um, but often we've. Don't hear about the women behind the scenes who are making travel happen. And Jamie is a director of supplier partnerships at signature travel network. And, uh, it is a consortium of travel agencies. So, you know, it's an umbrella with tens of thousands of travel agencies. And she has been.
So wonderful in helping us, um, like building our partnership with Signature. So she has brought awareness of Traveling Spoon to all of the travel agents. She's, you know, included us in the newsletter. We meet, you know, pretty frequently and she gives me tips and advice. And she's been wonderful. And I think, uh, she, she deserves the spotlight because she's just been such a champion of what we've been doing.
And. giving us this chance to help travel advisors and agents also understand what Travelling Spoon does and include our experiences in the trips that they curate for their clients.
Christine: Yeah. Thank you so much for mentioning her. And also in the way that you did, because I think it's really important to not just shine the light on the people who are the obvious leaders or the obvious, um, people moving the industry forward, but it's all these people that open the doors for us that really will change what the industry looks like.
So I love that you. brought that into the conversation as well. Um, thank you so much for being here. As I mentioned before we hopped on, I've been looking forward to this conversation since we met, and I'm so happy that we were finally able to do this.
Aashi: Oh, thank you, Christine. It truly has been such a pleasure to speak with you and one day forage together.
Christine: We will.
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