Andrea Blum

Andrea
Blum is a journalist, writer and chef turned food entrepreneur. Born in
Pennsylvania and raised in California, her passion for food ignited
when as a 20 year old she took a year to study in France. There she
discovered the stories, art and cultural significance of food that would
quickly become part of a lifelong fascination.


Andrea
returned to Italy where she studied fresco painting and restoration.
However, her off time was spent exploring the cooking, farming,
and culture of the Italian food world, with mothers, grandmothers,
master cheesemakers, and artisans.
 In 2003, Andrea traded her
paintbrush for pen, graduating from Columbia University in Journalism
with awards in social justice reporting. She covered the
UN, immigration and environmental issues. She has since worked as
reporter covering the environment in Northern California. But she also
stayed close to her passion for food, writing for newspapers and
magazines such Gourmet and Saveur and hosting tours to
discover and indulge in Italian regional food worlds such as the Cilento
and Amalfi Coast of Campania.
 Andrea’s interests have always been
related to the geography of food; she seeks to discover the stories each
dish can tell whether it’s from the highlands
of Tibet or in remote villages in Turkey. She recently started an online
marketplace and aerial photographic project called My American Pantry
(MAP) creating an atlas of the American artisan food and drink
landscape. The start-up is an extension of her geographic
quest to follow food back to where it’s made. Only this time, she has
chosen to focus on American artisan food, its rebirth, its makers and
its terroir. You can learn more about My American Pantry at www.myamericanpantry.com.