Bonjour. My name is Niglo Flunch. When the lovely folks at Smashed Flat Wines asked me to author their Blog I was, naturally, flattered yet hesitant - at first. Then, after spending some time exploring other Blogs it became very clear to me that this method of communication is the ultimate social networking machine... and I love to network socially.... which is why I travel the world looking for new food, wine and music adventures.
I met Marie and her fun family at a cafe in Tours a few years back. They were on their way to Switzerland with no map. No map! What a way to travel! They seemed to be having a lot of fun. Used to be that all travelers ventured out without maps - there were no maps and waters were uncharted. Yet people left the comfort of their homes for parts unknown to explore, see what was out there and in doing so, discovered wines and foods they had never tasted, much less seen, before. Lucky us! They brought these treasures home. Thanks to people like Marco Polo the Italians have pasta now enjoyed the world over. Spaniards found tomatoes in the New world and brought them back to grow in the Mediteranian regions as early as 1560. Potatoes were brought to Europe in the 1400s from the Andes. Yes, that was a long time ago... but what about Sushi? This is a fairly recent western discovery long enjoyed by the Japanese - the infamous California Roll came to being in the early 1970s - food historians credit Ichiro Mashita, sushi chef at the Tokyo Kaikan in Los Angeles with inventing the roll... And what about wine? The earliest evidence of wine production is about 6000 BC in Iran! Iran? Wow! you've come a long way Baby!
We don't much get the 'travel with no maps' opportunity these days, but it seems to me, in this brave new world of Blogging, that time has come again. We can share so much with so many, and we don't have to suffer the indignity of not bathing for months to bring a wonderful discovery into the homes of friends. Very cool.
