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About Eat Drink Travel—A Food and Drink Magazine in Canada

lisa jackson

I’m Lisa Jackson, the founder and editor of Eat Drink Travel Magazine—a food and drink magazine based in Hamilton, Ontario. I launched this website in 2013 as an outlet for my love of food and travel. But before long, it soon ballooned to more than 30 contributors and thousands of readers.

So I’ve spent the last decade following my nose and belly, and then writing about it. I don’t just write here either: I’m a regular contributor to the Food Network Canada and the LCBO Food and Drink Magazine. You may have also seen my bylines in publications like The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Independent, CAA Magazine, Saveur, and more.

lisa jackson

Hungry AF in the Azores.

As a journalist, I’ve been lucky enough to interview top chefs like Michael Smith, Chuck Hughes, Curtis Stone, Catherine Fulvio, and Massimo Capra and become a regular contributor at the Food Network Canada. And I’ll do what it takes to get a juicy story: from drinking a dead toe cocktail to taking a bacon-themed food tour to venturing to Palestine for the Taybeh beer festival.

So yeah…I’m a food-obsessed.

True story: I’m even related to the chef who invented Irish coffee  – a fun story you can read on The Food Network Canada.

Our Contributors

  • Alicia Vandeweghe

    Alicia Vandeweghe is a freelance writer who has been featured in Hip and Urban Girl, This Beautiful Day, and official publications at her day job. She enjoys adventure travel, green space, hiking, food, and good wine. On her travels, Alicia has boarded with a Francophone family in Eastern Quebec, lived and worked in Dublin, experienced the World Cup in Berlin, toured the red wine regions of Napa, and slept in Costa Rican cloud forest. She has travelled to 16 different countries (and counting).

  • Amanda Lee

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    Amanda Lee is a freelance writer, specializing in travel, parenting and life. Her travel writing has appeared in The Toronto Star, Vitamin Daily, Urban Adventures, Flight Centre, Today's Parent and Travel+Escape Magazine. Originally from Australia, comes by her wandering honestly (her father jumped ship from Britain to Melbourne and never left), and is raising the next generation of adventurers.

  • Crystal Lahan

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    Crystal Lahan is a Canadian freelance writer raised in the multicultural tapestry of Toronto. With adventures in more than a dozen countries to date, travelling continues to teach her about the power of human kindness and the value of authentic connection.

    In her previous career, Crystal worked as corporate trainer in the health sector who grew tired of the rat race, and decided to make travelling the world her cheese. She has successfully made the leap into online entrepreneurship and runs a private life coaching practice for passionate people who want to find more freedom and peace in their everyday lives.

  • Darcy Rhyno

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    Darcy Rhyno is a travel writer/photographer who has published stories and snaps about family travel to Paris, romance in a Spanish castle, fall colours in China, volcanic spas in Costa Rica and cooking lessons on the Magdalen Islands. He's the author of six books, including two short story collections and two novels. His most recent book "Not Like the Stars At All" is a memoir about life in the former Czechoslovakia.

  • David Ort

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    DAVID ORT is a freelance food, drink, and travel writer who published his first book, The Canadian Craft Beer Cookbook, in late 2013. He’s drawn to travel by the search for delicious, local food and great beer to wash it down with. His work has been featured in Post City Magazines, Rickshaw Magazine, TorontoLife.com, and Eater Toronto.

  • Gabby Peyton

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    Gabby Peyton is a freelance writer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She writes about food and travel on her blog The Food Girl in Town and has been published in Eat In Eat Out. Gabby has travelled through 15 countries and believes eating is the best way to experience culture. Her appetite for travel has lead to many adventures including a summer on an archaeological dig in Turkey. If she could eat one thing for the rest of her life it would be cheese.

  • Michelle Holmes

    Michelle Holmes is a freelance writer and Assistant Editor of Eat Drink Travel Magazine. She has worked in both the private and public sector with a focus on treading lightly on the planet, while being dazzled by all that Mother Nature has to offer. Her knapsack is always half-packed, her passport sits anxiously by the door, and her camera is locked and loaded, ready to shoot. Whether it’s wandering through a market in the mountains of Tanzania, or searching out ‘hairy coos’ in the highlands, Michelle is happiest in her hiking boots, defeated by unruly hair and desperate to know what’s around the corner.

  • Gregory George

    Gregory George is a writer, traveller, and Editor-in-Chief of the followsummer.com travel blog, which he co-founded in 2003 with his husband. For a year, they jetted around the globe with two suitcases, a computer and camera bag in tow, sharing incredible travel experiences with readers. A former actor, current shower-singer and non-hipster foodie, Greg loves his week-end house in St Marys, Ontario. Gregory is happily married to John and Dad to Sophia and Ariel, two of the best cats in the world.

  • Heather Lawless

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    Heather Lawless is a Toronto-based food fanatic who dishes on vegan grub that's good for the body, soul and planet. Follow Heather on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @thelawlessvegan.

  • Jennifer Allford

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    Jennifer Allford is a regular contributor for Toronto Star travel, writes a monthly column in the Calgary Herald and talks travel every other week on QR77 in Calgary. She pops up at CBC.ca, Swerve Magazine and lots of other places. Jennifer was a journalist in CBC newsrooms across Canada for 15 years before running a couple of big, noisy marketing departments in Calgary (SMED International and the Calgary Herald). She’s been working from her kitchen, or a hotel room, ever since.

  • John Costa

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    John Costa is a government policy professional and freelance writer based in Toronto. Between writing briefing notes and policy papers, he enjoys travelling, photography and spending time with his niece. John has visited 24 countries and is looking forward to visiting his 25th one day soon.

  • John Zada

    John Zada

    John Zada is a writer and photographer based in Toronto. He interests include remote regions, adventure travel, culture, and the Middle East. His work has appeared in the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, CBC.ca, Explore, Outpost, Maisonneuve and the Los Angeles Review of Books. John also works as a writer at CBC News Network. He’s currently working on a travelogue about his journeys in Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest.

  • Joyce Yam

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    Joyce Yam is a lifestyle blogger who lives in New York City.

  • Karolyne Ellacott

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    Karolyne Ellacott is Senior Editor at local Toronto rag, Post City Magazines, where she oversees food, fashion and cover stories. While born in Ottawa, she spent her formative years in Vienna (following a brief stint where she penned ‘I hate Austria’ in each and every room of her parents’ home) and was exposed to the travel bug early. Stints studying in Copenhagen and teaching in South Korea helped cement her adoration of travel, resulting in the now 37 countries under her belt. (Admittedly, there may be slight confusion about how to count the former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.)

    Most recently she visited Jamaica, where she learned the wonders of breadfruit (think buttered toast). When she’s not plotting her next trip abroad, she can be found exploring Hogtown’s vibrant food scene, pedaling around town on her jaunty bike or getting real, real mad at people who don’t recycle.

  • Kate Palbom

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    Kate Palbom is an Ottawa-based freelance writer and Associate Editor of Eat Drink Travel Magazine. She has visited over a dozen countries (and counting) and specializes in adventure travel and international cocktails. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post and on Samuel Adams Canada. An enthusiastic traveler, Kate has surfed in Costa Rica, survived a car crash in Bangkok, stayed up late in Ibiza and climbed mountains in the Yukon. She is a shameless beach-bum. When not travelling, Kate works as a copywriter and digital communications specialist. A self-proclaimed Bon Vivant, Kate is an avid cook and wine enthusiast who loves to share food and experiences with others. Mantra: "Enjoy Yourself. It’s Later Than You Think."

  • Kathleen Steeden

    Kathleen Steeden is a Brighton-based writer, editor and bibliophile. Her editorial portfolio has included work for Reaktion, PCCS Books, Karnac Books, Oxford University Press, Discovery Animal Planet, St Christopher's Inns and several UK charities but her only real criterion for taking on work is that it must be interesting! Her writing has appeared on We Love Brighton, the Metro website, Cultbox and Matador Travel.

    She has recently decided to put all the time she spends daydreaming about food to good use, and as well as regularly writing about the local food scene for We Love Brighton, she has written features for Sussex Food and Drink Guide and the British Curry Club's Chaat! magazine.

    She is on a mission to drink beers in as many exotic places as possible.

  • Kelsey Knoedler

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    Kelsey Knoedler is the Content Marketing Editor at DuVine Cycling & Adventure Company. Born and raised in a town of 4,000 people in central Wisconsin, Kelsey is a self-proclaimed Wanderlust. She owes her roaming heart to her alma mater, Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, for giving her the opportunity to study abroad in Ireland when she was a sophomore. During her year abroad, she also traveled to Italy, Germany, Sweden, Spain and the UK. One of her fondest memories in Europe is sharing her first taste of Moscato with an Italian host family in Asti — as her host-mother Giusi described it with the little English she knew: “zweet-ah, white-ah, wine-ah.” But a year in the pubs of County Kildare made Irish whiskey Kelsey’s wine.

    Kelsey worked most recently at a water park hotel in the northwoods of Wisconsin and moved to the Boston area after receiving her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Just like the main character in her young-adult novel who runs away with the circus, Kelsey will always be a traveler.

  • Keph Senett

    Keph Senett is a Canadian writer whose passions for travel and soccer have led her to play the beautiful game on four continents. When not writing about football (soccer), human rights, travel, LGBT and gender issues, and/or her own folly, Keph's on the road. She spends her free time trying to figure out how to qualify for a soccer squad in Asia, Australia or Antarctica.

  • Laura Paquet

  • Lisa Jackson

    Lisa Jackson is a freelance journalist and the editor of Eat Drink Travel Magazine. She contributes to The Globe & Mail, The Toronto Star, CAA Magazine, Travel Life, The Food Network Canada, Eater, Huffington Post Canada, Islands Magazine, and many others. Lisa is a proud member of the Yukon's Sour Toe Cocktail Club , which she joined by letting a dead toe touch her face.

  • Louise Hudson

    Louise Hudson

    Louise Hudson is a ski and travel writer for many Canadian, US and UK publications including Ski Canada Magazine, Calgary Herald, Canada.com, LA Times, The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, USA Today Travel Guides, and Silver Travel Advisor. She is also a prolific blogger from her own website. As well as skiing all her life, she is also a fan of eating and drinking, particularly gluten-free food and French wines.

  • Megan Chochla

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    Megan Chochla is a food and wine enthusiast who has spent time rambling around vineyards and studying wine in some of the most renowned wine regions of the world: Bordeaux (France), Stellenbosch (South Africa), the Barossa Valley (Australia), and the Mendoza Valley (Argentina). Megan is a student of the Professional Chef program at Gateau Dumas College de Gastronomia in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She’s happiest when she’s creating masterpieces in her kitchen, although she’s also known to make the effort to check out foodie hot spots all over the world. Megan has lived on four continents and has visited more than 40 countries.

  • Michelle Blackley

    Michelle Blackley has almost 15 years of professional writing experience behind her. Besides having the pleasure of calling New York home, she is a globetrotter at heart; and in addition to being a columnist for Niagara Frontier Publications she is the blogger-in-chief of City Girl Country. She is also the host of “Niagara Now” on LCTV and WLVL.

  • Miriam Porter

    Miriam Porter is an award-winning travel journalist whose articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Fodor's Travel, The Toronto Star, Travel + Leisure, Today’s Parent Magazine, Eater, Mental Floss, Grok Nation, Ensemble Vacations Magazine, CAA Magazine, Yahoo, and many more. She writes about family travel, social justice issues, and veganism. She has lived in New York City and Los Angeles and currently resides in Toronto with her son and many rescued furry friends.

  • Nicola Brown

    Nicola Brown is an award-winning writer, editor and communication strategist based in Toronto. She is Editor-in-Chief of Anew Traveller, a publication that digs deeper into the world of authentic and inspiring travel. She has travelled to 19 countries and counting and still can’t decide whether Canada or the UK is home. Nicola revels in the visceral, experiential side of travel, and will passionately argue for its psychological paybacks, especially after a few glasses of wine. She lives for opportunities to illuminate the life-changing power of travel through words for as many people as possible.

  • Nikki Fotheringham

    Nikki Fotheringham is the Editor of a leading green living blog, Green Moxie, and has worked as a freelance writer for over 15 years. She was born and raised in South Africa and began life as a reporter for various local newspapers, most notably the Mercury. She has spent the last seven years traveling the world and chronicling her adventures for a variety of magazines and blogs on a freelance basis. During this time she has also written children’s books in Taiwan, taught English in the Middle East, Kindergarten in Korea and grammar to German Bankers in Frankfurt. Nikki has recently joined the ranks of Toronto’s downtown rabble where she lives with her husband and a very bad dog.

  • Allie McLaughlin

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    Allie McLaughlin is an energetic goofball, who blogs about nutrition, yoga, and her travels around the world. Being a Registered Dietitian from Canada, Allie travels the world looking for the weirdest edible things and learning about new cultural aspects of food. She also has no shame striking a yoga pose on her vacations.

  • Katie Adamchick

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    Katie Adamchick is a high-school art teacher and lifestyle blogger. She has written for VividLife.me, The Baby Spot, The Bridal Guide, The Hip + Urban Girl's Guide and her own lifestyle blog, The Rustic City Dweller. Katie loves to experience new situations, both near and far, cooking (and eating) good food, taking on new projects and spending time with her husband and her dog. She travels as much as possible and has been all around the USA, South America, parts of Europe and Japan.

  • Robert Hudder

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    Robert Hudder is talented amateur cook who writes about his adventures in all sorts of rotten monk foods -- cheese, beer, pickles, wine and bread. If it's going off, better taste it to make sure. With a collection of over a hundred cookbooks and an insatiable curiosity, there is not too much he won't try to do at least once. If it wasn't too much work, he would have started a brewery or maybe a cafe or maybe a restaurant but instead he writes about it.

  • Ryan Edwardson

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    Ryan Edwardson is a photographer, videographer, traveler and author based in Toronto. His specialties are on-site photo shoots in remote locations and portraits of people in their natural environments. Having photographed in over two dozen countries, notable moments include documenting the political struggles in Thailand for Amnesty International, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi on her election campaign in Burma, being dressed in royal clothing by the Prince of Ubud Bali to photograph a private ceremony, and dragged into a rooster-fighting ring to photograph a victorious Nicaraguan. He is the Researcher on travel television series Departures, Descending, and Over the Horizon, and recently published several photo spreads in Outpost Magazine.

  • Scott Anderson

    Scott Anderson

    Scott Anderson is the Editor of U of T Magazine, a quarterly magazine featuring the people, events, and ideas connected with the University of Toronto. Prior to joining U of T Magazine in 2004, he worked for several years as the editor of Quill & Quire, the national trade journal of the Canadian publishing business, and frequently commented on the book industry for radio and television, including as a member CBC Midday’s monthly televised book club. He also writes regularly for Lola, a Toronto visual arts magazine.

  • Sharanya Sooriyakumar

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    Sharanya Sooriyakumar is a lifestyle blogger in Toronto, and regular contributor to Eat Drink Travel Magazine.

  • Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare

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    Sophie Ibbotson and Max Lovell-Hoare are perpetual travellers. Since 2006 they have run Maximum Exposure Productions, a business and PR consultancy for emerging markets, and they specialise in post-conflict zones. They have lived and worked in more than 40 countries, from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan (not quite making it to Zimbabwe or Zambia yet), and hope to add some more to that list in 2015. They’ve written extensively about many of the places they’ve travelled and are the authors of five Bradt Travel Guides (Kashmir, South Sudan, Sudan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), as well as numerous articles.

  • Natalia Dziubaniwsky

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    Natalia Dziubaniwsky is a freelance writer and a professional in the not-for-profit. An avid traveller, Natalia has explored 20 countries to date and is forever searching for a new adventure, fresh experiences and delicious eats. She has taught English in South Korea, gone sand boarding in Peru, journeyed solo through South East Asia and Australia, volunteered with elephants in Thailand and learned to scuba dive in Indonesia. Her work has also been featured on The Hip + Urban Girl’s Guide.

  • Tammy Burns

    Tammy Burns is a Toronto-based writer, editor and clumsy adventuress with a lust for travel and a taste for more red wine than she should probably admit to. (Other addictions: coffee, documentaries about Mount Everest and talking about Iceland.) Her travel writing has appeared in The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The Hamilton Spectator, The Circumference, Taste & Travel and Travel+Escape Magazine, and she is the content marketing specialist for Urban Adventures.

  • Waheeda Harris

    Waheeda Harris has been a freelance journalist since the beginning of the millennium, a traveller from childhood and will always be obsessed with pop culture from ’80s music videos to graffiti. As a lover of spicy food, she’s always the person tasting to see how hot it really is – and never says no to dessert.