Hello and Welcome to The Illustration Blog of a Nomadic Mediterranean Foodie
I’m an illustrator and artist with a passion for world and tribal cultures + botanical and culinary stories. My artist alias is Yaansoon, and I’m a nomadic Mediterranean foodie with multi-cultural roots that include Moroccan, Lebanese, Jordanian, and European ancestry. Married to an Italian gastronome who shares my passion for culinary exploration and cultural travel, I’m also the descendent of a long line of Sufi teachers and travellers, who made it their life’s mission to conduct spiritual and physical Safar in keeping with their spiritual journey.
So thrilled that you’ve stumbled across my food and travel illustration blog!
FOR A PROFESSIONAL BIO, PLEASE VISIT MY PORTFOLIO.
Yaansoon means Aniseed, and just like me, it has roots in more than one culture. A Southern-European and Mediterranean herb, this flowering plant makes a nice cup of tea packed with splendid healing properties. Botanical, aromatic and a food ingredient, I chose this soothing and therapeutic herb to denote my creative persona.
Most blogs offering culinary travel coverage focus on photography as the primary medium for capturing their gastronomic creations and wanderlust experiences.
On this Blog, my main medium is the art of illustration.
I basically started this virtual journal to develop my food and travel illustration style. I’m very passionate about travel, and also have a strong knack for reconnecting with my food heritage. I thought why not draw inspiration from these two aspects of my life for my illustration blog?
In here, there’s also a strong focus on women, especially the kind of matriarchs who have taught me valuable life lessons about inner strength, kindness, and compassion. To learn more about this aspect of my blog, check out my blog series titled, “Illustrated Women Who Can,” featuring resilient women from the 20+ countries I have been to.
An Illustration Blog in Love with Storytelling
Having served as managing editor of two Mediterranean publications in a previous career stint, I thought I’d bring some of that editorial fun into my blog.
Instead of basing my post entries on general categories that say things like Food, Travel or Lifestyle, I decided to sprinkle my recipes and narratives across an editorial calendar consisting mainly of three or four “Illustrated Blog Series.”
My husband is the inspiration behind the first series on this blog, dubbed “Illustrated Middle Eastern Recipes.” That’s basically why I have tag-lined it: “Food Stories by a Multi-Cultural Couple.” He is a wonderful Italian man, who also has origins south of the Mediterranean. His unique and mouthwatering recipes come from obscure towns and cities in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
I also have a travel-oriented Illustrated Blog Series with an exploratory edge, dubbed “Illustrated Travel Stories.” As mentioned earlier, I have been to over 20 countries, signifying a myriad of cultures and exciting culinary flavours – across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Please join me as I chronicle some of these wonderful adventures using travel illustration and illustrated maps as my main visual story-telling tool!
I feel blessed to have experienced so much and I can’t wait to share some of these stories with you!
To contact me for commissions and collaboration please visit my Contact page. Please also feel free to visit my Portfolio for more about my professional background.
And before you go, check out my latest illustration news, art projects and inspiration over at Twitter, Pinterest, and Flickr, where I hang out most!
First Posted on 10/10/2016
