When I was a kid, I wanted to be a food reviewer when I grew up, similar to the likes of Guy Fieri on “Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives”. I spent a lot of time watching Food Network with my mom, and I’ve always loved eating and cooking. My Nonna immigrated to Canada from Italy when she was a child, and being Italian has greatly shaped my relationship with food. Food is sacred; it brings people together and creates joy and connection. And food is delicious!

In 2025, I backpacked through East Asia with my fiancé, Noah. We ate so much food throughout our trip; I felt like I was in food heaven. We ate our way through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea! So I decided to create a food blog (https://just8this.wordpress.com/) to rate and post pictures of our delicious, unique meals throughout our travels. I realized it was much harder than I thought to rate food, and at that point I wasn’t even writing reviews; I was only rating the food out of 10.

For my free inquiry project, I want to build on that blog and meet my childhood goal of becoming a food reviewer by learning how to review food and practicing food reviews for meals I cook or don’t cook. I’ll need to create metrics for reviewing food and learn more critical, analytical ways to taste. I can’t wait to embark on this delicious journey, so follow along!