Eat Ask Embrace Chill

CELEBRITY CHEF SAMIN NOSRAT HAS SPENT HER LIFE SEARCHING THE WORLD FOR FLAVOR WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK. HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TOO.

- Kaitlin Mulhere

WHEN SAMIN NOSRAT touches down in a new city, she heads straight for the supermarket.

“I’m obsessed with grocery stores in different places,” Nosrat, the star of Netflix’s Salt Fat Acid Heat, says. “It gives me a view into life there.”

She likes to wander the aisles, taking stock of what’s popular: the types of baking accessories in Britain, the terra-cotta cookware in Spain, the store brand of pesto in Italy. On the four-part series, she’s often jet-setting from one stunning international vista to another. But sometimes it’s the normalcy of day-to-day activities that brings a trip alive.

The professional chef and author has used food as a lens into people’s lives for the past 18 years. Though Nosrat was no stranger to those in the food industry, Netflix’s adaptation of her cookbook—in which she explores the titular four elements central to all good food—has brought her to the masses.

Each episode is a neatly packaged class: one part history, one part science, two parts practical grocery shopping and kitchen tips. The result will leave you feeling über confident that you can braise short ribs with the best of them. But it will also make you want to hop on a plane to Italy, Japan, or Mexico. (Okay, who are we kidding? You’ll want to go to all three.)

Oozing with an energy that’s bubbly and infectious, Nosrat bursts into laughter in person as often as she does on camera. She often switches seamlessly between the role of expert and student—she may have trained in a famous restaurant and written a James Beard Award–winning book, but she can also gush about the deliciousness of a $3 package of Trader Joe’s frozen tamales.

It’s that attitude that made us want to grill Nosrat about her key elements to great travel—and how you can get the most out of your experiences and money.