Life is tweet…

The Man Himself, Chef Mario Batali

or ” How Chef Mario Batali Helped Me to be Patient While Waiting for Water to Boil”

I love using twitter.  It’s a quick and easy way to keep in touch with our fellow local businesses.  I’ve used it to contact hotels to get help or to VIP a client.  I’ve used it to get attention from an airline when I couldn’t get customer service to return my calls or emails. And I regularly use it to get hotel and restaurant suggestions around the world for my personal travel and for clients.

While making dinner last night I was waiting for the pasta water to boil and I decided to open up TweetDeck to check out what was happening in the land of twitter.  I follow lots of different travel companies – hoteliers, airlines, cruise lines, tourism boards – plus fellow travel agents, travel bloggers, etc.  I also follow favorite wineries, other local Sacramento-based businesses, and some celebrities.  I saw that Chef Mario Batali had just sent out a tweet and I thought I’d tweet a question to him.

Everyone knows that Chef Batali specializes in Italian food, but he also did a great travelogue about food in Spain last year that I just loved.  And I know he’s a crony of Anthony Bourdain, star of The Travel Channel’s “No Reservations,” a program all about food and travel.  So I figure he’s got the scoop.

And, about 5 minutes later, he answered.

1. He answered me!  Chef Mario Batali (or one of his minions) answered me!  I wonder if he was wearing orange @Crocs while typing?
2. Interesting! Bologna, huh?  Kind of cool to know that, of all the areas of Italy, Chef Batali chooses Bologna!  Nice to see San Francisco included there – it’s almost home-town to me.  We know that New York City has some of the best restaurants in the country.  And my colleague Albert insists that there is no better place to eat on the planet than Barcelona.

I was just thrilled to have a tweet back from Chef Batali, and excited to share his answer with my clients and colleagues. But, this is when it got exciting.

Because people – other tweeters – people who follow me, who follow Mario –  the “twitterverse” started putting in their two cents!  And this is when twitter is at it’s best.

From @CapNMarko:  ”@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips Philadelphia hands down! Amazing ingredients, amazing food. Talula’s Table/Southwark/Le Bec/Paesano’s endless”  So cool!  CapnMarko’s profile says he’s a producer with New Jersey Institute of Technology, but he’s obviously a Philly fan, a Philly booster.  Loved hearing from him!

Then I got a tweet from @chefviveksingh, author and the chef of The Cinnamon Club in London.  ”@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips what about London chef? Surely one of the best cities on the world for food!!”

This was followed by a tweet from @Shgrad, from Toronto.  ”@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips Out of curiosity, what is your favourite S’pore dish??”  Perhaps she is a Singapore native?

Next was @playmaka34 who sent in his agreement with Chef Batali. “YES! RT @MarioBatali “@shipsandtrips: BEST city in the world for food?” NYC singapore sf Vancouver Barcelona Bologna”

@FreeHugsTommy, a food blogger from Canberra, Australia, chimed in “@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips Vancouver is an interesting addition to that list. Why so?”

At this point @Lazarraortho, an orthodontist from Jacksonville decided to add Chef Emeril Lagasse to the conversation.  ”@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips @Emeril What about New Orleans?”  Still haven’t heard from Emeril…

@DickBurns was concerned about the absence of Seattle in Chef Batali’s list.  ”@Mariobatali: “@shipsandtrips: NYC singapore sf Vancouver Barcelona Bologna” Really Van over Seattle? Seattles got Salumi!!!”

@PedroRuiBotelho, who’s profile is written in Portuguese but translates (according to Google) suggests he’s a foodie from the Azores living in Brazil tweeted “@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips Sao Paulo !!!”

Finally, @QUIRZE, a chef from a restaurant in Barcelona called Esplugues offered “@Mariobatali @shipsandtrips thanks Mario for said my city barcelona and of course catalunya spain great food wine and people saludo cordial”

So this is why I love twitter.  It’ a great tool for my business and helps me get the inside scoop for my clients.   And, like traveling, it helps me meet new people and get new perspectives from around the world.

All while waiting for the pasta water to boil.

... other posts by Christy Jourdan