While the idea of the blog was truly to highlight all the amazing places in the world I find myself traveling to for business and pleasure, this month I have decided to take a little detour and and write about my own transplant backyard of Brooklyn.  While I had originally been excited to write about the food and culture that I recently experienced in Berlin and in Panama, those places will have to wait as I think truly this month, MAY, Brooklyn has indeed called and with that calling I have witnessed some of the most amazing food and culture right here in my own backyard.

While certainly this month in Brooklyn has been inspired by the events that have led up to my new Culinary & Herb Center opening that we had in April,  its been the process of promoting, marketing and spreading the word on the center that has led me to meet incredible people doing incredible things right here in Brooklyn.  The amount of support and inquisitiveness from the local food scene we are experiencing has been incredible. 

I cannot deny either the repetitive theme that pops up in most my blogs and that is family and friends and sharing experiences with them, in this case my entire family coming to Brooklyn and many of my closest friends and colleagues in business traveling from all parts of the country and a few from far off in the world  to basically experience the food and culture of Brooklyn.  The irony for me is realizing that all I seek out in the world and all I want to share with the world about food and culture all around our globe can also be experienced right here in Brooklyn and in our case in our very own center. 

Brooklyn has been one of the greatest experiences of my life.  I moved here eight years ago to take a job managing the supply and sales of Israeli fresh herbs for an Israeli company with an office in Queens, NY.  A southern California native, with extensive travels throughout most of the USA and México and Central America, I had never been to the east coast before I moved here!  Moved here blindly, found a place right on Prospect Park in Park Slope (8 years later I still live in the same place!) and have been in love with the place since. It was the first place I ever felt comfortable really comfortable in my skin.  Despite the millions of issues that arose within me after moving here from California, TRASH FLYING THROUGH THE AIR, PEOPLE AGGRESIVLY DRIVING AND CUSSING, THE SHEER AMOUNT OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, PEOPLE PUSHING WALKING DOWN THE STREET, VERY LITTLE EYE CONTACT, I had never felt so at home.  I still cant get used to the trash issue, I love driving aggressively and cussing, I love the amount of people, I can be a little pushy walking down the street and I still make eye contact, but what I love most is that it was the first place I felt like I was living in a part of the world, versus living in a particular state or country for that matter.  The diversity of people, languages, opportunities and sheer location (an epicenter of the world), has made NYC one of the most intriguing places to live food and culture wise.  I will admit I rarely go into Manhattan.   There is little reason to in the end, Brooklyn offers everything I need and it fills my food and culture soul up so completely and I have only just begun to witness it all.  The evolution of change that is occurring in Brooklyn and particularly in the food scene will keep me occupied for a long time.

The basic point being that I learned a valuable lesson this past month in Brooklyn, I can travel the world and go off the beaten path and into people homes and witness the diversity spanning the globe, but I must not forget that I can also experience it wherever I find myself.  Its more than just keeping your eyes open its keeping the limitations to your own judgment open, which is the basic element I try to promote while speaking about food and culture of other parts of the world.  I have to admit I find myself prejudice to my own countries food and culture sometimes and forget what an incredible food and culture scene I live.  I will do my best to no longer take Brooklyn, New York and the USA for granted in this manner!!  Now this doesn’t mean I’m not heading out around the globe again, on the contrary I will travel the globe more than ever and when I am here you will not find me complacent, I will be out and about adventuring the food scene in my own back yard!