Quick trivia: there are only two countries on Earth you have to cross at least two borders to reach an ocean from. Uzbekistan is one of them. (Comment your guess for the other — no cheating — I'll drop the answer at the end.)Part two of my Central Asia trip: three cities, one solo leg, and history that Western education just doesn't bother teaching. Samarkand, built to impress. Bukhara, built to be holy. Khiva, a walled old town that feels frozen in time.Also in this one:

• The empire of Timur, who conquered more territory than Napoleon and is barely known in the West
• How Uzbek bread is made in a clay tandoor oven
• Reflections on language, guilt, and letting go of how I thought this chapter of my life was supposed to go

If you haven't watched part one, Kyrgyzstan and the World Nomad Games are here: • I Went Back to Central Asia for the World ... —#Uzbekistan #Samarkand #Bukhara #Khiva #SilkRoad #CentralAsia #TravelVlog #Timur #UzbekBreadHang out with me: Food: @tastytrailstravelpod / tastytrailstravelpod Life in Korea: @wherewefindhome / wherewefindhome Identity & Belonging: https://substack.com/@wherewefindhome✨ Coming up next:More food & culture stories from around the worldIf you enjoy travel that’s centered around food, culture, and real experiences, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss what’s next

There's an Olympics you've probably never heard of — held every two years, made up entirely of centuries-old nomadic sports, and closed out by a goat carcass sport played on horseback. I went, and it was an EXPERIENCE! This is Kyrgyzstan — 90% mountains, home to the World Nomad Games, and the first stop of a longer Central Asia trip. I used to live next door in Kazakhstan so it was a lot of feels too! Inside this video: a chaotic 12-hour opening ceremony, a 3-day horse trek up to 3,200m at Song Kul Lake, and kokpar — the sport where two teams on horseback fight over a headless goat carcass to score. If you've ever wondered what a country where the nomadic rhythm still shapes daily life more than borders do — this one's for you.Hang out with me: Food: @tastytrailstravelpod / tastytrailstravelpod Life in Korea: @wherewefindhome / wherewefindhome Identity & Belonging: https://substack.com/@wherewefindhomeVideos mentioned:

• My first month Living in Kazakhstan: • My First Month Living in Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 | L...
• Leaving Kazakhstan: • #2 I'm Going to Korea. Here's What Finally...

✨ Coming up next:Uzbekistan and more Korea!

Part two of this Tasty Trails Travel Pod x Finding Korea crossover with Irene Yoo — chef, author, and Orion Bar co-owner — picks up where the drink itself left off and gets into everything that happens around it.We talk pouring order and who's allowed to pour for who, why saying no to a drink isn't really an option in most settings, and the corporate drinking culture that runs underneath a lot of it — including one story about a company that used to calculate Christmas bonuses by how many bottles of soju you could drink. We also get into gender and soju marketing, and a few myths Irene wants to put to rest for good.Missed part 1? Go back for the flavor and history side of soju first — this one hits different with the context.Part 1: https://youtu.be/6HMVnoxcs08🍶 Irene Yoo is the author of *Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat) Like a Korean* 📍 Find her at Orion Bar in Brooklyn 📷 @yooeating Hang out with me: Food: @tastytrailstravelpod Life in Korea: @wherewefindhome Identity & Belonging: https://substack.com/@wherewefindhome✨ Coming up next:More food & culture stories from around the worldIf you enjoy travel that’s centered around food, culture, and real experiences, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss what’s next.✨ If you know an adoptee who might resonate with this, pass it along! We want to make sure nobody feels alone

In part one of this Tasty Trails Travel Pod x Finding Korea crossover, I sit down with chef, author, and Orion Bar co-owner Irene Yoo — who literally wrote the book on this one, *Soju Party: How to Drink and Eat Like a Korean.*We get into what soju actually is: the difference between the traditionally distilled version (rice, nuruk, water) and the mass-manufactured version most people know, how flavored soju went from "tastes like cough syrup" to genuinely good, and danggeumju — infusing high-proof soju with herbs or fruit, which is basically Korean cocktail culture. Her samgyetang-infused soju recipe alone is worth the listen.Part 2 drops in two weeks — that's where it stops being about what's in the glass and starts being about everything around it.🍶 Irene Yoo is the author of *Soju Party: How to Drink (and Eat) Like a Korean* 📍 Find her at Orion Bar in Brooklyn 📷 @yooeating Subscribe to Where We Find Home on YouTube for Tasty Trails Travel Pod, Finding Korea, and more.Hang out with me: Food: @tastytrailstravelpod Life in Korea: @wherewefindhome Identity & Belonging: https://substack.com/@wherewefindhome✨ Coming up next:More food & culture stories from around the worldIf you enjoy travel that’s centered around food, culture, and real experiences, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss what’s next.✨ If you know an adoptee who might resonate with this, pass it along! We want to make sure nobody feels alone

Is there really a difference between gelato and ice cream? Gianpaolo Grazioli — the "Giapo" behind Auckland's Giapo — has a strong opinion on it, and it's not the one you'd expect.

Gianpaolo and his wife Annarosa have been running Giapo for almost 18 years, dropping a brand new flavor every single week.

Their kitchen leans hard into New Zealand — grass-fed dairy, local fruit and nuts, hazelnuts from a Christchurch farmer they've worked with for years — with only a handful of ingredients sourced from just outside the country.

What started as a small shop on Queen Street has grown into something closer to an art practice: ice cream you can wear, sculpt, and experience, not just eat.

We talk about:

- Gelato vs. ice cream — is there actually a difference? (You'll want to hear his answer.)- The real, possibly-Italian origin story of Hokey Pokey- Why New Zealand's grass-fed dairy makes such a difference- Turning ice cream into sculpture and full sensory experiences- His pick for the most underrated flavor out there — and why

Giapo:

- Visit

- Website

- Instagram: @giapokitchen

Ze Long was born and raised in Germany to Cantonese parents from Guangzhou, and grew up speaking both languages at home before he could speak either one fluently outside it.

Now living in Almaty, Kazakhstan, he joins me to talk about Cantonese food and culture — not the version most of us know from Chinese restaurants abroad, but the real regional differences, the history behind it, and what it means to carry a cuisine across three countries and counting.
We get into the actual differences between Hong Kong and Guangdong (colonial history included), why congee became a survival food during hard times in China and what it's become since, the family soup tradition he avoided for years, and the fusion cooking his parents built at home using local German ingredients with Cantonese seasoning.

We also talk about living in Beijing versus the south, and the very real north-south stereotypes that hold up more than you'd expect.
If you can, watch this one instead of just listening — there are maps and photos throughout that add a lot of context.

The Food I Take With Me: https://substack.com/@wherewefindhome/note/p-196644782?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=7usnd0

Hong Kong with Tess Cheng: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2j1eFF29Uua84rom1kQF3c?si=ee65895878094f5f

Hang out with me: Food: @tastytrailstravelpod Life in Korea: @wherewefindhome Identity & Belonging: Substack

Sources:

Map: "Guangdong in China (+all claims hatched).svg" by TUBS, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guangdong_in_China_(%2Ball_claims_hatched).svg/ License Link: creativecommons.org

Map: "Guangdong2.png" by User: (WT-shared) Cacahuate at wts wikivoyage, PhiLiP (svg base), Shaundd (2019 modifications), used under CC BY-SA 2.0. License Link: creativecommons.org. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guangdong2.png

If Part 1 was about who the Basque people are, Part 2 is about how they celebrate. Edgar Carranza is back to walk us through the food and drink culture that comes alive at Basque festivals — including kalimotxo, a drink with an origin story that genuinely made me lose it, and the bocata tradition that feeds the cuadrillas who show up every year for their town festivities.

We also get into the great Basque cheesecake conversation — where it comes from, why Bilbao has feelings about San Sebastián getting all the credit, and what makes that burnt, creamy, slightly chaotic cake so different from anything else.

From there, Edgar explains txoko gastronomic societies: private spaces where Basques have been gathering to cook, eat, and preserve their culinary traditions for generations — and why they might be part of the reason the Basque Country has more Michelin stars per capita than anywhere else in the world.

This one ends with big feelings about food, home, and what it means to eat somewhere that is truly yours. Find Edgar on Instagram at @edgarkarranza.

Subscribe for new episodes every week — and if you loved this one, share it with a friend. This podcast exists to share cultures and get more curious about the world we live in.

Hang out with me: Food: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tastytrailstravelpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Life in Korea: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@wherewefindhome⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Identity & Belonging: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠✨

✨ Coming up next:More food & culture stories from around the worldIf you enjoy travel that’s centered around food, culture, and real experiences, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss what’s next.

The Basque Country sits between Spain and France, but it doesn't fully belong to either — and that's kind of the whole point. In this episode, I sit down with Edgar Karranza, a Bilbao-area native currently living in Almaty, for my first-ever in-person podcast interview.

Over a very good bottle of wine, we dig into what it actually means to be Basque — the deep roots, the fierce community identity, and a language called Euskera that has no known relatives anywhere in the world.From there, we get into the food.

Edgar walks us through the foundational flavors of Basque cuisine — bacalao (and why that word is Basque, not Spanish), chipirones en su tinta, chuleta grilled over open fire, and the cider culture that shapes how Basques gather and eat together.

We spend a good amount of time on pintxos — not just what they are, but the entire social ritual around pintxo pote Thursdays, the txikiteo tradition in Bilbao, and why food in the Basque Country is never just about eating.

This is Part 1. Part 2 covers Basque cheesecake, txoko gastronomic societies, the Michelin star legacy, and Edgar's last meal.

Find Edgar on Instagram at @edgarkarranza

**Subscribe** so you don't miss Part 2 — and if you loved this episode, share it with a friend.

This podcast exists to share cultures and get more curious about the world we live in.

Hang out with me: Food: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tastytrailstravelpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Life in Korea: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@wherewefindhome⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Identity & Belonging: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠✨

✨ Coming up next:More food from around the world!If you enjoy travel that’s centered around food, culture, and real experiences, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss what’s next.