Thursday Traveler: Andrew Tolentino from Dish Our Town

A New Yorker at heart and a former fashion professional, Andrew Tolentino shifted gears and has become a food and travel writer. Along with his wife, Brenda, they conceived and created, Dish Our Town, a food and travel blog. Dish Our Town is a storytelling vehicle sharing their love for food, travel, and the culture that goes with it. Andrew serves as Co-Founder and Head Writer of Dish Our Town.

One great thing about this job is being able to meet my colleagues from around the world. I had the opportunity to meet Andrew and Brenda about a year and a half ago at a travel conference. I love reading about their travels and thrilled to see they are just as lovely in person as they are online. One thing I admire most about this family is how much they encourage their daughter to travel the world, which gives her the opportunity to open her mind to so many things. Material things go away. Life experiences through travel will remain in the heart and mind of a child forever.

You currently live in one of the greatest places on Earth, New York City. How has this inspired you and your desires to travel the world? New York has always and continues to inspire our family to travel, simply due to its cultural diversity. Every street corner we will come across something, a restaurant per se, and it will remind us of a country in which we love, or inspire us to go to a place we have never been.

How has your travel influenced your daughter? Travel has influenced her in so many ways, but most importantly it has made her to be more appreciative of things that may be foreign to her, and want to understand. It has helped her to be tolerant and inclusive. Most of all, it has made her open-minded. No Social Studies textbook can ever compete with real experiences.

What has been your favorite travel destination? It’s truly hard to narrow it down to just one. But if we had to choose, it would have to be a place in which we can’t help but visit if we are in striking distance; and that would have to be Rome. It simply has everything we love about travel. Most importantly, the food.

What is your #1 Travel Bucket List Destination? Japan. That will be crossed off next year!

As travel professionals, what has been your greatest success? On a professional level, we believe our greatest success to be having been validated by others as mavens of what we do by getting their support and funding.

Who is your greatest travel inspiration? Rather than one person, it’s an amalgam of people that  inspire us, and that group is symbolized by our City of New York. It’s a city made up of many different people and cultures of many different backgrounds. Their stories continue to inspire us to travel, whether it be Montana or Morocco.

Where will your travels take you next? Our next travels is taking us to Mexico. A country, a cuisine, and most importantly, a people we love.

I love sharing inspirational quotes with my readers. What quote would you share with someone inspiring and motivating them to not only ‘Be the Change’ but to also see the world? “We are not only defined from where we came, but where we are going”. These are my words, but I’m sure it’s a paraphrase of a greater work.

Join Andrew and his family and travel one dish at a time at Dish Our Town. Also, find them at Facebook, and Instagram.