The Road Less Taveled
My exposure to wine was largely non-existent prior to 1996 or so. White Zinfandel, I’ll admit, was about the only wine I distinctly recall drinking. I suppose I just wasn’t a “wine” person. Yet. At 28, I met “Gigi” who had been a chef at several noteworthy places in San Francisco. During the 2 years we were together, she taught me more about food than I had any right to know without having gone through the same rigorous training she did. While teaching me how food works, she also unwittingly ingrained the notion that food and wine are inseparable. Years later, I got to experiment with that combination of food and wine as I traveled on a robust expense account. Part of my job was to travel and take potential "influencers" out for a good meal. Hey, someone had to do it. However, as I've learned from Jeffrey Steingarten, we must sometimes "unlearn" before we learn. One must overcome prejudices in order to appreciate food, travel, or even other human beings for ...