The Traveler’s Cookbook

The Traveler's CookbookRecipes for Wanderers (or How to Cook in a Hostel Kitchen)

The Traveler’s Cookbook is a 44-page interactive e-cookbook or a 48-page paperback book for people who love to travel and love to cook, and who would love to do both at the same time. It’s a collection of 31 recipes and 10 menus that are compatible with the always-on-the-move travel lifestyle. It’s a new way of looking at cooking—and travel—and it’s full of tips and techniques to show you how. Buy it now!

Buy the E-book! Buy the Print Book!

Travel and Cooking—Together?

I love to cook. I also love to travel. Until recently, the two seemed incompatible: How does one deal with unfamiliar kitchens, missing cooking implements and the lack of a stocked pantry when putting together recipes? It was during my last trip, an extended one during which I started to long for a home-cooked meal—or, perhaps, a self-cooked meal—that I got the idea to put together this book.

When I arrive in a new place, I usually make it a point to seek out the local market. I love wandering through the stalls, marveling at the foreign fruits and vegetables, watching the transactions between sellers and buyers, and discovering how to use both exotic and familiar ingredients in new and novel ways. It was during my frequent wanderings through the markets around Europe that I realized my twin loves of cooking and travel were not mutually exclusive.

The Answer: A Cookbook (or E-Cookbook) for Travelers

Tropical Fajitas from the Traveler's Cookbook

The Cookbook is my answer to all of the questions I had about cooking and traveling, and doing both at the same time. It’s a collection of matching menus (10) and recipes (31) designed to eliminate leftovers and put you at ease in the kitchen, no matter where that kitchen is and what is in it. The recipes are all put together as single servings (which makes them easy to double and quadruple), and are written with leftovers in mind—specifically, how to avoid them. The recipes are easy to read and to cook, and they use minimal ingredients and minimal pots, pans, utensils and dishes, which is important when your kitchen isn’t as fully stocked as it should be.

More than just recipes, though, the Cookbook includes tips and hints on shopping and on cooking: How to buy single or smaller servings of just about everything, how to use ingredients you would normally have to buy in large quantities, how to cook when you’re missing important cooking elements, and shortcuts to cooking quickly and efficiently. It also includes notes on measurements, specifically on how to measure without measuring cups or spoons.

The Cookbook also includes a description of how to assemble a spice and oil kit, which will work for every recipe and is easy to put together and carry. Because it’s difficult to cook without oils and spices, and recipes made without either are often tasteless, the spice kit is an essential part of the cooking traveler’s repertoire. I came up with a small, easy-to-carry kit that includes oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and a few important spices that will work in all of the recipes in the book. The Cookbook details what to include in the kit and in what quantities, and how to use them when you’re cooking.

Who Travels, and Cooks?

Spice Stall at French Market

I wrote the Cookbook with long-term travelers in mind, specifically those who stay at hostels (hence the subtitle, How to Cook in a Hostel Kitchen). However, it’s not just for hostelers or even budget travelers. It’s for anyone and everyone who shares my twin loves of cooking and travel. Families spending a week at the beach in a vacation rental. Couples in a ski cabin for the weekend. Solo travelers at guest houses. Budget-conscious travelers who don’t want to spring for a restaurant meal every night. Even business travelers with mini-kitchenettes in their hotel rooms. Anyone who likes to cook, and who travels. Anyone who loves going to foreign markets and farmers markets, anyone who misses a home- (or self-) cooked meal once in a while, anyone who wants to save their restaurant money but still have a great meal. It’s for you.

While I was traveling and wishing I could cook, I searched for recipes and tips that would make the two compatible. I scoured foodie sites on the web, cookbooks, and cooking magazines, and picked the brains of my family and friends, but it was apparently a new request. Had nobody ever asked this before? Clearly, the dearth of information on the subject meant that I needed to fill the void, and so when I arrived home and had the use of a “test kitchen” once again, I set out experimenting and creating, and figuring out how to shop. (Read more about the progress of the cookbook project.)

Unfortunately, this step was virtually impossible to perform during my travels, as it required the use of a well-stocked refrigerator and pantry, plenty of cooking utensils and pots and pans, and a few willing volunteers to sample the results of my brainstorms. However, the fruits of the “test kitchen” phase are accessible and useful to everyone who is beyond experimenting and just ready to cook.

Support for Heifer International

I believe in tithing and in giving back, and since The Traveler’s Cookbook is all about food, it seems natural that the way it will benefit others should also have something to do with food—namely, helping those who do not have enough of it, preferably in a sustainable and responsible way. As my way of giving back, I’ll be donating 10% of the profits to Heifer International, a charity devoted to fighting hunger and poverty in the developing and the developed world. Please read this blog post, Giving Back, to find out more about how I’ll be donating to Heifer.

Buy the Print Book Today

Now available through lulu.com, the print book is a 48-page, 8.5 x 8.5-inch, full-color paperback book that you can take with you while you’re traveling, or use in your own kitchen when you’re wishing you were on the road. It also makes a great gift for the traveler/cook in your life. $21.95, plus shipping. Order through lulu.com.

Support independent publishing: Buy this book on Lulu.

Buy the E-Book Today

Now available at Amazon, you can download the ebook version to your Kindle for just $2.99! Download the Kindle Version