Biography
Photo by Kirk Condyles
Yes, but don't worry. You'll hardly detect an accent.
"And just how do you intend to eat the world?"
Glad you asked.
As a food and travel writer, I have been a full-time explorer. During my travels I've observed that most people turn first to food as a way of acquainting me with their culture. Offered with pride and profound generosity, this food transforms into something more than sustenance: pure love, I think.
My goal is to pass that love on to you. And so it undergoes another transformation into the written word.
But who exactly is this New York girl? My name is Nicole Cotroneo, I live in Spanish Harlem, and I'm a journalist. You name a topic, I've probably written about it for The New York Times: double homicides, E. coli at Taco Bell, Clinton-and-Clinton on the campaign trail.
I am a partner in Manic Media Inc, an online publishing company with travel websites including GloboMaestro.com and globorati.com. I am also part of a cast of columnists for Delta Sky magazine that includes Samantha Brown and Andrew Zimmern. I have been a guest judge on The Food Network.
Somewhere in the middle of my writing career I also worked for a really fine catering company that fed A-list celebs and presidents. (I can still rattle off a list of foods that Jerry Seinfeld feeds his kids.) During this stint I got to look over the shoulders of some of the most talented chefs I've known. Quicker than any man has ever inspired me to love, I fell for food in a big way — and the love affair has never ended.
I have traveled extensively through Europe and lived in Spain and Italy, my ancestral home. Mediterranean flavors pervade my cooking and, I believe, run through my garlic-scented veins. Recently I added some fenugreek and a bit more saffron to the mix: I married an English-Iranian writer who has further widened the world for me and my fork.
