Mediterranean foodie adventures: Introducing the ‘Illustrated Travel Stories’ blog series

For me, travel is all about the details: Beautiful signage adorning an Italian trattoria’s doorway, vintage Levantine windows with lots of character, and a delicious bite in a new town or restaurant that tantalises one’s taste buds.

As an illustrator specialising in Mediterranean culture, I’m always on the lookout for small details that carry the soul of the place in a meaningful manner. My multicultural roots have also given me a bird’s eye view on the Mediterranean, allowing me to further appreciate its cross-cultural nature.

I believe in the unique flavour that comes from illustrating a food story or a particular place one has experienced first-hand. Creating illustrations of a ceramic bowl found in a small shop in some Levantine souk, a hand-printed linen napkin spotted at a handcrafts market, or a rustic wooden street sign while on the road from one town to another can transport us to a different place in an instant.

That is why I have been carrying a sketchbook with me on most of my recent trips. This has enabled me to capture some of the most interesting details I’ve encountered in boutique hotels, parks, and souvenir shops, all in my own visual language. You can read more about the power of travel sketchbooks in this post, under section entitled, “Keeping a sketchbook: Travel illustrations chronicling real journeys.”

When I’m not illustrating or painting, I’m almost always on the lookout for articles about Mediterranean kitchen tools and historic pottery, images capturing the intricate patterns adorning cultural heritage landmarks, as well as food recipes and natural remedies known to indigenous and immigrant communities in the Levant.

I have travelled to Italy more times than I can remember. This includes the trips I had taken before getting hitched, both with my family as a kid and later on as part of an EU-funded journalism training course (if you’re curious about my past careers, you can check this post out).

This said, past travels to other sun-kissed countries across the Mediterranean and the Levant, as a solo female traveller and as part of various music groups, include: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey (Türkiye), Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

To document past and present adventures, I started an Illustrated Travel Stories blog series, an online journal where I share my Mediterranean foodie adventures, illustrated maps, and travel illustrations and observations.

Essentially, this is the first post in the series; sort of an intro, if you will.

This series is where I will be sharing some thoughts and details about the craftsmanship, patterns and motifs that inform my illustration style.

Through the art of illustration, I hope to record some of the authentic dishes, places, and patterns that emerge from the Levant (Bilad al-Sham), North Africa and the Mediterranean.

However, I do plan on introducing food and travel illustrations from my trips to countries outside the Mediterranean region – in Eastern and Western Europe and Central and Southeast Asia. These include the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.

And since I am forever mesmerised by the rich heritage of South Asia, including the lasting legacy of the Mughal empire, I plan on introducing illustrations and artworks in that direction, even if I’ve never been to India or any of its Indian subcontinent neighbours (so far).

If you’re interested, I write about my infatuation with cultural illustration in my About page, and give further details about my illustration journey and love for traditional art and illustration supplies in the first post on my Illustration Blog.