If you follow Flipboard’s #Travel topic or The Travel Exchange, there is a good chance you’ve already discovered stories from our newest Travelers in Residence. Mindi and Daryl Hirsch are the dynamic duo behind 2foodtrippers. They’re currently based in Lisbon, and when not sipping coffee and eating a pastel de nata at a local cafe, they’re traveling the world in search of their next great meal. These two know a thing or two about culinary travel, and it was a pleasure to learn more about their passion for adventure and new places. 

Where does your passion for travel come from?

While growing up in mundane suburban American neighborhoods, we each developed an itch to see new sites, experience new cultures and eat local food in faraway places, and our wanderlust grew when we became adults.

Our shared travel passion accelerated when we met in 2006. We started with a U.S. road trip and continued with trips to France, Italy and Japan. Each new destination exposed us to powerful new experiences that made us yearn to see more of the world. You could say that travel activates the dopamine in our brains. When we don’t travel, we grow restless.

We took a much larger leap a decade later, leaving our house in Philadelphia for a planned one-year trip. That trip never ended. We’ve since traveled to more countries and more cities than we can count on all of our fingers and toes.

Our travel passion is as strong today as it was when we met — maybe even stronger.

What is your favorite destination, and why? 

It’s impossible for us to choose a favorite in a world filled with such varied and colorful cultures. These are five countries that we love returning to again and again:

France

Steeped in food tradition, France is a country where chefs continue to push the boundaries of what food can be. The bestFrench chefs are obsessed with what goes on every dinner plate. We love visiting food-focused cities like Dijon, Lyon and Strasbourg. However, it’s Paris that keeps drawing us back, with its classic bistro fare, cutting-edge cuisine and grand assortment of patisseries and boulangeries. The wine and cheese are great too!

Italy

We weren’t the first to fall for Italy and we won’t be the last. While Naples is our favorite Italian food city (hello pizza!), we also enjoy traveling to Rome, Florence and Bologna. These cities, as well as others in the country’s patchwork of regions, serve classic dishes made from some of the finest ingredients on earth. Imagine eating Margherita pizza topped with tomatoes grown directly on volcanic Mount Vesuvius and you get the point.

Japan

We suspected that we’d love Tokyo and we were correct. It’s one of the world’s most exciting megacities, with great food available everywhere, even at department stores. Many Japanese people have an obsession for food, which is built on learning and mastery. From the highest-end sushi restaurants to the simplest ramen shops, we’ve always eaten well there. The food is cheaper than many people think. We’ve eaten great bowls of ramen in many places for less than $10. We’ve even found great food at convenience stores. Subsequent trips to cities like Fukuoka, Kyoto and Osaka have only whetted our appetite to explore more of the country, not to mention eat more sushi and ramen.

Thailand

Thailand is a gorgeous country filled with kind people and stunning beaches. But who are we kidding? We’re mainly there for Thai food, we’re obsessed with it. The tropical nation produces some of the most diverse, flavorful food on the planet using a cornucopia of singular ingredients. From the markets of Bangkok to the street food stalls of Chiang Mai, it’s possible for us to eat well for just a little bit of money. Although we’ve spent more time in Vietnam (which we also love), Thailand is the Southeast Asian country that we can’t wait to visit again. When we do, eating Thai dishes like Khao Soi, Pad See Ew, Pla Pao and Goong Ob Woonsen is first on our list t.

United States

Traveling the world has made us appreciate the magnificent food of our home country but not just in one city or state. We never tire of New York’s varied cuisine, which is unrivaled around the world. New Orleans’ unique hodgepodge of culinary influences always excites us. We’ve never eaten better Japanese food outside of Japan than in Las Vegas. We also love eating hoagies in Philly, Italian beef sandwiches in Chicago and burgers everywhere. Basically, American food rocks!

We could go on about more of our favorite food nations including Germany, Greece, Slovenia, Spain and our current home of Portugal but you get the gist.

Who are the voices that you turn to for travel inspiration?

Call us old school but we still buy Rick Steves’ guides when we travel within Europe and Lonely Planet guides for Asia. And, despite his passing, we continue to turn to Anthony Bourdain, who broke new ground and wrote many of the rules for food travelers like us. We also go to Alec Lobrano and David Lebovitz when we travel in France and to Robbie Swinnerton for Tokyo.

However, you’d be wrong to think that we’re totally stuck in the past. We watch loads of YouTubers like the ‘Worth It’ guys on About to Eat for fun food travel ideas and Mark Wiens for his unmatched knowledge of Thailand.

Tell us about your own curation approach and what we can expect to see on your Flipboard profile.

Before we talk about our curation approach, we need to disclose that we’re avid Flipboard users. We joined the platform when it was new but didn’t become regular users until a couple of years ago. That’s when Flipboard became one of our favorite apps both for discovering new content and for sharing our own articles. 

Anybody who follows our feed will quickly realize that our varied interests fit into four buckets — food travel, food recipes, cocktails and coffee. And by interests, we mean obsessions. We’re always looking for the next great meal, cocktail or coffee when we’re at home and even more so when we’re on the road. 

What didn’t we ask you that we should have?

We love making Flipboard connections! People should feel free to send us a message if any of our content provides inspiration to travel to a new destination, try a different cuisine or craft a tasty cocktail. These messages make our day and fuel us to create more great content.

— Jessica Jordan, community and marketing lead, is contributing to The Travel Exchange