Culturally food and its ritual defines the person. International mobility brings other cultures to our doorstep and ours to theirs. In the modern age, diet, food preference, religious beliefs and allergies have become very important. Here is my twelve year resumen when I moved to Barcelona from the UK and how Google Maps empowered me to be more sociable and mobile with my vegetarian / diabetic diet.
Food Choices Define Us, Our Happiness And Our Geography
The choices, preferences and beliefs shape our worldview, ethics, morals, passions, priorities, preferences and biases to food. Importantly, it determines our geography, locations where may or have to go. Socially our choices may be limited. If you can’t have a good time as nothing is on the menu, then a bad time is on the cards.
I prefer to see it the other way around, we will be welcomed at a place sharing or catering for our food preference, ideology etc. Our diet shapes and develops the social us. My passion with Google Maps has been instrumental in aiding myself and those I share my maps with, to seamlessly stick to our diet preferences. Once we know the terrain, we may live life to the max!
My Passion, My Story
Nowadays Google Maps is very evolved. Finding a vegan restaurant, near me, open now, offering Sichuan tofu is very easy. In 2007, where my passion began, it was another story.
For over 25 years, I’ve been a strict vegetarian. I’ve a diabetic for longer. In early 2006 I moved to live in Barcelona, Spain. The first year I found very hard. Most of my friends chose places where it was difficult for me to eat etc. Google maps helped me take the power back and started bookmarking places in Google Maps to recommend places to go to. Simply, the city became my terrain.
Twelve Years Later. Guiding Locals & Visitors To The Best Vegetarian Restaurants
With two maps, one for local vegetarian food places another for vegetarian and vegan restaurants where I could eat out helped me quickly adapt to recommending good places like a local guru (knowing the terrain). The maps shaped where I could meet / shop with local friends without having issues. It was both seamless and genius.
This life lesson maybe used for any diet. I highly recommend using it! Nowadays creating lists and niche interests is very easy. My passion has since evolved from if it exists, it’s better than nothing to raising the bar with my reviews for those visiting Barcelona.
My city has increased the quantity but not the quality of vegan and vegetarian food stores and restaurants. Now, my passion is finding and promoting outstanding vegetarian and vegan restaurants. Now, I share the best dishes they offer along with pointing out healthy, delicious, vegetarian, vegan, diabetic friendly, well presented and innovative food that is cost/quality very competitive, not cross contaminated, with great service.
Here are some examples of high standards, very competitively priced national and international vegetarian/vegan food setting a great standard in the city.
Doing Good Gets My Five Star Reviews
To get my five stars, my approach is to award it to places ‘doing good’. My personal passions are hashtag / comment if the place is accessible, be animal friendly (having a bowl of water and food for animals, or allows dogs inside). Those that go one step more for client satisfaction is my excellence standard.
Humour Is Great Video Entertainment
The introduction of videos is a great help. With international food, I often show how to eat or prepare it. To show my fun and my joking personality, I love to throw in an element of fun with sharing food.
My video trademark is to video a little food fight. The other person takes the food I had picked up with my fork, chopstick etc. Nine times in 10, I let them win.
You will have to watch all my videos to see the very few which I win ?
Thanks for reading and for your time and patience. I’d love to hear how you’ve used maps and refined / developed your passion in your city. Meanwhile, I’ll be looking at your posts to find out about your passions
