Meet Kristin Welsh of Diary of a Food Addict (Personal Blog) in McKinney

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Welsh.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
One of my favorite quotes was said by the greatest food philosopher, Julia Child: “People who love to eat are the best type of people.” I have that quote hanging in the center of my house, the kitchen. I love to cook and share great food with all of the people in my life. I’m happiest when my dinner table is full, we’re laughing and eating a home-cooked meal with a great glass of wine.

I’m a New Yorker by birth but have lived in the Plano area since elementary school. I’ve always grown up around food – good food – and that has made me want to explore new cuisines and cultures. My earliest experience with food was when I was four years old and I single-handedly polished off the twin lobster special in Cape Cod all by myself. I’m a mix of Italian, Polish and Irish, so I learned a few important lessons growing up in my family: how to make manicotti by hand, that it can’t be Easter without kielbasa, pierogi and homemade sauerkraut and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day must have Irish music, soda bread and lots of corned beef and cabbage. I’ve been lucky to have my family members who represent each of these cultures teach me how to cook and instill their love of food in me.

In college, I met my husband Mark and he helped open my eyes to travel and the joy you can feel exploring a new country and culture. Once I got the travel ‘bug,’ I’ve never stopped planning our next trip. Traveling has allowed me to take my love of food to the next level by exploring a new culture through the cuisine. I love eating my way through a country, asking people why they eat the food they do, tasting as much as I can and learning about the long history and traditions steeped in the food we eat.

Once we started traveling more often, friends would often ask me how I plan our trips and find the restaurants we experience when we’re exploring a new place – so I finally decided to start a blog and Instagram account to share my travel tips and the delicious food I find along the way. That’s how diaryofafoodaddict.com was born.

I’m lucky that my love of food has taken me around the world to places like Italy, Thailand, Canada, Hong Kong, Iceland, Norway, the U.K., Greece, Israel and Ireland — and the entire trip is always planned around food! I’m also lucky to have a wonderful husband who not only loves to travel but puts up with me prioritizing restaurants and food markets on our sightseeing itinerary rather than museums.

I hope my blog can help spread the joy and passion I feel for food and encourage people to taste new things and see the world.

Has it been a smooth road?
Simply finding the time to pursue my passion project has not been an easy task! I’m blessed to have a full-time career in public relations in Dallas where I can solve challenging communications problems and tell the great stories of my clients during my day job. Outside of work, I try my best to intentionally set time (even during the busy workweek) to relax by writing and sharing the stories of traveling and the delicious bites along the way. Remembering those trips and the great times we had actually helps put me in a better mindset during the week. And since I can’t travel all the time, I love sharing what I’m eating here locally in the Dallas area too as it helps me find new places to explore and better understand the different foods and cultures that make Dallas a truly unique place.

The second hardest challenge my husband and I have is not selling all our possessions, buying plane tickets and starting a life of nomadic travel and new experiences around the world!

What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
One of the goals I had, when I started my blog, was to try to be as genuine as possible. I’m not an influencer and don’t try to be. I’m not glamorous, nor do I heavily edit my photos – I’m just a regular person who happens to love eating and traveling. I’ve learned there’s such a desire for authenticity in this space so I try to take that approach and be as authentic as I can. I won’t shy away from the frustrations that can happen when you go on vacation. A lot of times travel is sitting in airports, flight delays, walking around the streets of a foreign country sweating in the middle of summer, getting lost driving through Italy (full disclosure: this may have happened once or twice…), or walking two miles to see a plane wreck in Iceland that was so not worth it (again, this happened). I’m not going to post about a restaurant, place or experience that I didn’t love. If someone is following me and takes the time to actually read what I write, I want them to be able to put themselves in my shoes and daydream about going to that place and feel what it’s really like to be present there.

What are the lessons you learned along the way vs. industry trends?
I was intimidated for so long about writing because I was afraid it wouldn’t be good enough. Would people even want to read about a stranger traveling and eating? Would I get hateful comments from people who didn’t understand my passion? I wish I would’ve decided sooner to not let the fear of rejection on social media hold me back. I finally decided that it’s enough that I enjoy doing it and I shouldn’t worry about living up to stereotypical Instagram influencers because that just wasn’t me or what I wanted to accomplish. My ultimate goal is to have fun on this journey and hopefully inspire a few people to get outside of their comfort zone and reconnect with their family’s culture, try a different food or visit a new place. In today’s world – we all need to step outside our comfort zones to better empathize with others.

Contact Info:

• Website: diaryofafoodaddict.com
• Email: diaryofafoodaddictblog@gmail.com
• Instagram: @diaryofafoodaddict
• Facebook: Facebook.com/foodaddictblog

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