Johnny Jet at the Taj Mahal; photo courtesy JohnnyJet.com
Another Globavore Interview, this time with Johnny Jet, AKA John DiScala, from the popular travel website JohnnyJet.com which highlights lots of great travel deals. My Travel Style interview will soon be featured on JohnnyJet.com too.
- Who are you and how does food play into your travels?
Johnny Jet travels around 150,000 miles and visits 20 countries each year. He and his website JohnnyJet.com have been featured over 5,000 times in major publications, including USA Today, Time, Fortune and The New York Times, and he has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, PBS and also hosted “Hot Spots 2012” on the Travel Channel. He now appears every Saturday on Leo Laporte’s The Tech Guy Show talking about travel and technology. JohnnyJet.com has been named “one of the top best money-saving web sites for travel” by Budget Travel Magazine, while the L.A. Times calls it “one of the top 10 essential travel resources on the internet.”
- You’re at your favourite eatery with three companions (fictional, living or dead). Where (and when!) are you and who are you with?
My wife, mother and father.
- What are your favourite foods?
Acai bowls, pizza, chicken parm, jambon and fromage, tom kha kai, butter chicken….
- Is there anything that you’d never eat? What is it and why?
Lamb, liver, goat cheese… all bums me out.
- What do you crave but can’t get whilst on the road? How do you satisfy the craving?
Authentic Mexican food or Double-Doubles from In-N-Out. Wait until I get home.
- What food are you embarrassed to admit you like to eat?
Double-Doubles.
- What / where do you dream of eating, but haven’t yet had the pleasure?
Pho in Vietnam.
- Strangest meal?
Live grub worms in New Zealand.
- Ever had food poisoning while traveling? Any advice to share?
Unfortunately, yes. But the 4 out of 5 times was in a fancy restaurant in the USA. Once in a fancy hotel in Mexico.
- Have you fallen so much in love with a foreign dish that you learned to make it at home? What’s the story?
No, since everything tastes better away from home.
- What’s the first thing you eat after returning home from a long trip?
Mexican or burgers or salads.
- Favourite foreign ingredient you wish your home supermarket carried?
No answer
- Country / city where you’ve found the best food? Details please so we can check it out too!
Italy and Malaysia.
- Country / city where you’ve found the worst? What made it so awful?
No answer
- What are your favourite markets for a) eating b) finding unusual things and c) for photography?
Thailand.
- If money were no object, where (and what) would you eat?
Constantly travel all over the world.
- Do you have any food regrets?
Yes, those five restaurants that gave me food poisoning.
- If you could invent any ice cream flavour, what would it be? (yes, I am looking for ideas to add to my ice cream repertoire!)
Chocolate, peanut butter and caramel popcorn.
- What do you love and hate about food writing (yours and/or in general)?
That you eat way too much food and the meals are long.
- You’re having surgery tomorrow and there’s a reasonable chance you’ll lose your ability to taste (oh the horrors!). What would you choose as, essentially, your last meal?
Some spicy Thai food.
Travel Eater 