June, 2014 - Erin De Santiago

Food Travel

Erin spends the majority of her travel time scouting out the best eats in locations around the world. She has experience with everything from street food stalls to the world's best Michelin-starred and World's 50 Best Restaurants. Her passion for food doesn't just lie in the goodness of the food itself, but she loves to learn about the history behind local dishes, sometimes even eventually attempting to recreate them at home.

To date, Erin has traveled to over 70 countries on six continents, primarily on food-centric trips. Her travels have taught her to be open, respectful, and to embrace seemingly "bizarre" foods that are important culinary staples in various cultures. Some of the more interesting dishes she's tried include fish sperm sack in Taiwan and Japan, fruit bat in Palau, conch penis in Belize, fugu in Japan, cow udder in the Netherlands, and ant larvae in Mexico.

Meeting and Working with Notable Chefs

Erin's passion for food and culinary history has led her to meet and work with some of the world's best chefs. She is humbled by the people she's met and the foods she has tried, and she hopes to continue telling important and lesser-known food stories that deserve to be shared with the world.

Some of her most memorable food-related encounters include:

Meeting Chef Joan Roca at El Celler de Can Roca
Being Chef Joël Robuchon's personal guests at one of his restaurants in Paris
Meeting Chef Narisawa at his namesake restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
Becoming good friends with chef Daniel Negreira in Taiwan, who taught Erin everything about molecular gastronomy when she became the English language editor for two of his cookbooks
Meeting Andrew Zimmern at the Los Angeles Travel Show
Meeting Chef Rene Redzepi at his Noma pop up in Tulum

Erin's Food Travel Blog

Erin's blog, Our Tasty Travels, has received several notable mentions, including Top Blogs to Watch in 2013, Top 25 Culinary Travel Blogs by TripAdvisor's FlipKey, and a finalist in Flight Centre UK's Top 5 Food Travel Blogs.

Food Travel Posts by Erin De Santiago

by Erin De Santiago

Disney Travels

From her earliest childhood memories, Disneyland was a big part of Erin's life. She grew up around 30 minutes from Disneyland in California and once she was old enough, she bought an annual pass. Prior to moving out of Southern California in 2004, Erin was known to visit Disneyland as many as 4 to 5 times per week.

Once she started traveling internationally, she finally fulfilled her dream of visiting all the Disney Parks worldwide. She decided to combine her passion for Disney with work, and is one of the few English speaking writers who cover events and happenings at the Disney Parks worldwide. Erin maintains an annual pass to Disney Parks around the world and visits each of the resorts at least once a year each — before Shanghai opened, she even visited all five in the same month!

While most Disney bloggers and writers are well-versed in the United States Disneyland and Walt Disney World cultures, Erin is more in tune with the Asian Parks. She spends most of her time at Tokyo Disney and Hong Kong Disneyland, attending multiple events throughout the year.

Disney Writing

Erin previously wrote for Examiner.com as their Worldwide Disney Parks Examiner and also had started her own blog, Disney Globetrotter. She's also written about Disney for TripSavvy, Viator, Roam Right Travel Insurance, Disney Trippers, and more. Her blog is currently being redesigned and should be relaunching soon.

Some of Erin's Disney pieces include:

Roam Right Travel Insurance: 7 Not-To-Miss Attractions at Disneyland Paris
AOL Gadling: Disneyland in Sand: Blankenberge Sand Sculpture Festival
CNNGo: Dim Sum with a Magical Disney Touch
TripSavvy: 10 Treats to Try at Tokyo Disney
Roam Right Travel Insurance: Tips for Planning a Trip to Tokyo Disney Resort

by Erin De Santiago

Wine

Erin fell in love with wine as soon as she was legally old enough to drink, and immediately started learning more about the winemaking process and the varieties of wine on the market. She moved to Northern California in 2007 just to be closer to Napa and the surrounding wine countries there. Erin had hoped to attend UC Davis' winemaking program until she realized chemistry was a key component in the degree — a subject she absolutely struggles with. Instead of torturing herself with chemistry courses, she began volunteering in a tasting room on the weekends. The winemaker taught her a lot about wine and the winemaking process. Deep down, she still holds on to the dream of becoming a winemaker one day, but for now, she just drinks a lot of wine and writes about her experiences.

In February 2014, Erin received her Certified Specialist in Wine (CSW) Certification from the Society of Wine Educators. She is planning to study for the WSET courses in London soon as well. She's been asked several times why she does not sit for the sommelier exam, but aside from not being in one location long enough to complete the weekly course meetings, Erin prefers to focus more on the history and technical aspects of wine versus the service industry aspects.

Previously, Erin served as the Old World Wine Editor for Suite 101. She's written articles on wine on her culinary travel blog, Our Tasty Travels, as well as posts for other sites.