Hello Claus Lauter: and welcome to another episode of the Ywe Travel Podcast. Today our journey will take us to Spain better, to Barcelona, and we will dive into the world of food. [00:01:00] I have Anna Les with me. , she is living in Barcelona and. Our common hero between Anna, me is an Anthony Burda. So we talk about food inspiration, everything that comes with traveling the world and exploring food. And specifically about Barcelona. Ana is half American, half Spanish and grew up between kook. Both countries and finds comfort and curiosity through food no matter how far from home she may be. Her biggest food inspiration has said is Anthony Berto and she loves to travel the world and explore each region’s unique taste as he did based on Barcelona, Anna, she restaurant recommendations from street food to Michel restaurants on her block. And we will dive into that also a little bit. So let’s welcome Anna to the show. Hi Anna, how are you? Anna Mesalles: Thank you for having me. I’m so excited and honored and can’t wait to share with you guys some tips and tricks about Barcelona. Excellent. Claus Lauter: First question as always, what was your first childhood memory when it came to traveling? Anna Mesalles: , that’s a very loaded question in my life because as you [00:02:00] mentioned before, I kind of grew up between two countries. So every six months we moved back and forth in between Spain and the us. So my first childhood memory has to be us rushing down, O’Hare Airport in Chicago and try to make it home for Christmas. And for me it’s weird. Airports kind of feel very homey. I get this feeling of that all your problems kind of go away, at least not, airport problems of getting to your flight on time and this sort of thing, but everything else doesn’t really matter. And I get this overwhelming feeling of. Ah, this is so comforting, and I think that is just because of the amount of time I’ve really spent in airports, but there’s certain ones that feel more comforting than others, I would say. And so that one was one of my first core memories for travel, but, Second to that would have to be a trip we took to Mexico when I was about eight and this was the first time I tried the cilantro lime combination in a taco. Cause a lot of people [00:03:00] think Spanish food is similar to Mexican food. That is not the case. . I would like to advocate for that, but in this case, I had never had this sort of tany flavor along with the , cilantro. Just like zest I had never had it. And so my dad pinned me a taco and he said, you try this and this will be always engraved as a core memory for me. And I was probably about. Claus Lauter: Okay. That’s a great memory to start with. Now let’s talk about Barcelona. For the listeners that have not been to Barcelona, gimme a bit of, an idea. Where is it, how big is it? And , the general wipe of the city. Yes. Anna Mesalles: So Barcelona is in Spain. Anyone’s wondering on the Iberian Peninsula, we are located right on the Mediterranean Sea, so very close to France, Italy, Greece. It’s a huge destination for cruise ships because you can just start from Barcelona and then hit up and anything really on Italy, it’s very popular. It’s also the number one city for tourism, I believe, and we have our own language [00:04:00] called , which is very similar to Spanish and French, but it also comes with its own culture. So we’re very proud of that and despite it being a very internationally friendly, , city. I always hear English on the streets. I think you can definitely come here without speaking any Spanish or Catalan, , we also happen to have our own little culture that you have to explore once you get here and another added benefit of this city is that has kind of a microclimate, I call it, since we’re right on the water, we have the Spanish. Two hours away, even an hour and a half if you have a car. And then we have wine country another hour in opposite direction. So you get the best of all worlds I like to call it. And it’s very mild winters and very beautiful summers, , pristine beaches. So the only thing you have to really look out for is all the tourists during that season. Claus Lauter: That sounds very good. I love Barcelona. I have been there. It’s a great, , city. , you’re a foodie. , that’s absolutely clear. What got you into exploring the restaurant scene of Barcelona?[00:05:00] . Anna Mesalles: That’s a really funny story actually. So I was living in the US when the pandemic hit. I was doing my bachelor’s in North Carolina and I was looking for a place to do a master’s program. And because of Covid and how everything landed, I thought I should probably go back home, quote unquote, to where my family is. And they don’t live in Barcelona, but they live about an hour away. And there was this one program called isad. Was very high ranked for marketing. And so when I applied, I got all excited. And when I finally heard about if I got in, it was in the middle of a pandemic. So at that time, I didn’t really know what was next, like most people. And I thought, well, we might as well get a master’s out of these unprecedented times. And so I flew to Barcelona during that time, which most restaurants were actually closed. So what was interesting. We had a curfew at like 10:00 PM and restaurants were closed for dinner time and breakfast. You could only go from like two to 4:00 PM but [00:06:00] of course, being the foodie, I was, I couldn’t resist and I made it my mission to even go to restaurants. It felt more like a game like, oh guys, we only have two hours. We gotta get running . I happened to live with two girls from my master’s program that were influencer. At the time, I had not done anything like this, so I thought this is quite cool. And one of them was a YouTuber and the other one was more on TikTok and Instagram. And so I got to see the glimpse of what that kind of world and lifestyle looked like. And I remember the first time they took me out to, A meal that was an invitation and just how they just took their photos, they did their content, and that whole experience was another chord war memory in my brain where I thought, , some people do this for a living. This is so cool. And I always loved growing up watching YouTube videos and these kinds of influences. At the time, , TikTok wasn’t as popular as it was, but I had just finished my bachelor’s, like I told you, and I wrote my thesis [00:07:00] on TikTok as an app and how it was rising as a trend because of the pandemic. So I saw a huge potential market there. And in Barcelona, no one used TikTok yet, so it kind of became. , a weird thing that I was making these videos because no one here was on the app, but in the U us it was so popular and TikTok was still boosting it like crazy to try to get new people to join the app. So I think that really helped me growing my following. And one day we went to dinner with my roommates and I said, you know what? I’m going to film this restaurant that we’re going to, since it’s a lovely partnership, and it’ll give them more exposure and we’ll see if TikTok does its magic. And I just filmed it, , said my honest opinion about it. Explain how much each. , price was per person, the location. Just a very visually appealing way of showing a restaurant. Of course. Now looking back, I’m a bit embarrassed cuz my first video is very, obviously my first video and now I’m very picky with my quality. But that video blew up overnight[00:08:00] and it kinda. Hit something in me where I was like, wait, people actually like this and this could be something I could do. And I gave myself a couple months where I posted like part three, part four, and I think I made it part to part 10. And at that point I started to get a bit of comments from family and some classmates of mine being like, What are you doing? Why are you doing this? And they kind of got to me and I thought, I have no clue why I am doing this. Actually, maybe it is a bit embarrassing. So I went to my roommates all sad, and I was like, guys, this girl in our class told me this, and maybe I should be embarrassed. If we had a dollar for every time someone told, questioned why we were doing this and made fun of us or something, we would not be in this S We’d already be billionaires, then I decided to take that negative feedback. You could call it. As a challenge and say, I’m gonna start my first fitting challenge where every day this month I go [00:09:00] to a different restaurant and I rate it. So I thought, if this doesn’t work, then I can stop. But I just need to prove it to myself and to everyone if this actually works. And that’s when the channel really took off. , I’d utilized some of the restaurants I had already previously been to, and I had like the first two weeks covered and then I actually started filming in daytime. And once you start something like. Word gets around. Restaurants start to notice. They start inviting you, but at the same time, you start becoming more aware of the actual foodie scene in Barcelona. and your own curiosity sparks and other people say, Hey, you like food. Maybe you should try this Ethiopian restaurant. And I’m like, I’ve never tried Ethiopian food. Sounds lovely. So it kind of becomes a whole community without realizing. And long story short, after two years I’ve been doing this now, just fun. And I’ve had amazing opportunities because of it. Got to meet some Michelin star chefs. , I’ve also been on a few ads, which is cool. I’ve [00:10:00] just gotten to try so many different food, curious, , places in Barcelona and even in Paris, cuz I lived there for a bit because of my job. So it’s been quite the journey. Claus Lauter: Yeah, the channels called Why We Travel, and I think what you have there is also a travel through a city from one place to another. And connecting with the hospitality business with, as you said, with chefs, with restaurant owners. For sure. It’s a, very amazing environment to be in. Now, how’s the feedback from your followers , on your travels to these different restaurants? What have you learned , from your follow? Anna Mesalles: what’s really interesting, what I do in my videos is I make videos in English and in Spanish because as I mentioned before, Barcelona is such a international city, but it also has its own culture. So we have a huge expat scene that they love the English videos. It helps. Then me more relatable and English, I think is the language that I communicate myself best in. So I like to make videos in English first, and then I translate them into Spanish. And that’s a great [00:11:00] way to reach a wider audience. But at the same time, it’s my own niche and no one I know does this. And that could be, a bit confusing for someone that first joins the channel. But I think a lot of people say, they’d text me and they’re like, Hey Anna, I followed you because I wanna learn Spanish , or I followed you cuz I wanna improve my English. And I think that’s like the dual lingo of TikTok in a way. And so that’s a big comment. I get people wanting to learn new languages for a while. I even did the videos in Catalan, which is our local language, and people really loved that because it was trying to preserve the natural heritage of the city and it’s kind of a dying language. So that was really exciting. But the main feedback I get on the videos is that people just want you to be honest. There’s so many people out there filming recommendations and, oh, this is the best ramen, this is the best sushi, but who are we really to dictate that? So I’ve created this app on my phone where I take everyone’s opinion, so, I ask [00:12:00] people on five criteria, I ask, what was your gut feeling about this restaurant? What’s your take on the quality of the food? , the price, quality ratio, the service, and then the overall vibe of the restaurant. And we give it on a scale of one to 10 each a grade. And then I actually take the average of all of us, because maybe I had the ramen, but Susie had this not so good sushi. So that could impact your experience. And so we take the collect. Grade of everyone and it gives you a very oddly specific decimal. So everyone always loves to comment on how random this decimal is and say, you sound like my math teacher, cuz I’ll say at the end of the video and I give this experience an 8.735 outta 10 cheers guys. And it always gives you a bit of a shock. But I think that those decimals at the end of the. If you’re a true follower, you realize what dictates a good restaurant from a great restaurant, and there’s this lovely little Pentagon at the end that shows you what areas the restaurant excels at [00:13:00] and which ones it could be lacking in. So it’s not just a vague review, you get more of a feeling of the place then through the video and through my commentary. another comment. people always love to mention is they actually wanna give your feedback. They wanna say, oh, well you think this place was good? You gotta go try this one. And that’s what I think makes community so special in that. , there’s a never ending to-do list and of places to try. And the minute you think, well, maybe I’m gonna run out of restaurants to think again because there’s always a new cuisine to start a new chef that, that opened up a new place. I really love the community and especially being in the foodie industry. Of course, there’s some hate comments like in everyone, but I never feel personally victimized by them because they’re not necessarily about me unless I misspelled something or did an air. It’s more about people thinking, oh, I wanna try this too, because food really bonds us and Barcelona’s such a travel friendly city that it all just makes everyone more [00:14:00] excited. So that would be the general Claus Lauter: feedback. Okay, that sounds great. Now, for a first time visitor coming to Barcelona, coming to Catalonia, what would you recommend them , to taste? Is there any regional cuisine where you say this is what you need to taste and to start with? Anna Mesalles: There’s many dishes that are classic barcelo dishes, and the most popular one, I would say is the paella. And for those that aren’t familiar with it, is it’s basically a gigantic pan where you make a rice dish made with seafood. And even if you visit the sea, you’ll probably see it being made on some storefronts in this. But there’s one place in particular, I would go to always, if I have to impress someone for pa, and it’s right on the Barcelona, it a beach, it’s called Sheriff. And I’ve been going to this restaurant since I was about five years old because, well, my parents were also foodies and they were trying to get me to read more in other languages, like any good parent. And they said, if you read this many [00:15:00] minutes a month for five months, you’ll get to pick something fun to. and I always picked, well, I wanna go eat paella at Sheriff in Barcelona since I was about five . So this became my go-to place. And of course, it’s not as cheap as others, it’s about 30 euros of plate. But once you have one bite of this paella, you’ll understand why you can make them of all sorts of flavors too. There’s a squid ink one, which is black rice, and it leaves your teeth all black. , just phenomenal. There’s also the classic one, we call it the sea and the mountain pa, with some seafood and some meat in it. You could also have a vegetarian pa, which is veggies. Vegan as well. I mean, there’s no dairy in it, so it’s very versatile. And the dish originates from farmers in this country. When they didn’t have much to eat, they would go. Farm and they’re like, Hey, so I got [00:16:00] one pepper leftover, a couple snails, and I think we have a bit of meat in the like fridge from like the other day, let’s just put it in with some rice. And that’s dinner. So that’s how it started. , and of course paella in Spain, most people would say, comes from Valencia, which is about a two hour drive from Barcelona. But here in Barcelona, I think we do a really good job of it too. And you can take some PA making classes. They’re really fun. And another thing you have to try course, I would say is the classic like cro. There are these little fried ball thingies almost with the bechamel sauce, and they’re very creamy, but you can , , fill them with anything. You can fill them with Spanish ham, which on its own is already amazing. But you can also make them with cod, you can make them with mushrooms, with truffle, with, , any kind of special cheeses, spinach, whatever you want. And I think that combination is that you can just eat it with your. And it’s an explosion of flavor, so if you go to the right place for [00:17:00] Crookes, you won’t regret it. Claus Lauter: Okay. No, that makes me hungry now. But as I said, is a very touristy destination. I think it should be very to, , easy to get there from bus in Europe with all the cheap airline carriers. Yes. And you wrote a weekend guide about Barcelona. Anna Mesalles: I do my content in both English and Spanish, and I made this guide in both languages that gives you kind of the perfect itinerary for a weekend in Barcelona. Cuz most people when they fly in they say like, I have two days. And that was when I most asked questions on my dms and I thought, instead of constantly repeating myself. How cool would it be if you got a downloadable PDF in your email? And it kind of gives you a roadmap of where to go according to location and tourist attractions that I see being the most popular. So in this weekend Guide, I just ask you what language you wanted in and your demographics so that it goes to your email straight away. I’ll give you like brunch places, , special type of food that I think you have to [00:18:00] try once you’re here, whether it be classic tapas or a sangria place or a bar at night, or like a cookie along the way from the cathedral to the beach that maybe you’re hungry and you wanna try These little insider tips that I wish I had when I visited other cities and it’s just conveniently on A P D F, so you don’t have to do much research. Go and follow it along and put it on Google Maps. And actually on the guide, there’s photos of each destination as well. And if you click on them, it takes you straight to the review that I’ve made on TikTok so you can see what you’re in for ahead of time. And if you’re like, actually that’s maybe not what I want, then you can customize it yourself. But I think it’s very convenient, very easy way to travel. And in a way, I kind of map out a route around the city so that you can get the most of your time here in Barcelona in those two. Claus Lauter: Okay. Where can people find the guide? Where can they Anna Mesalles: download it? This guide is in the link of my buy on Instagram, and it’s on a website called [00:19:00] www.honestcase.com, if that’s easier. Claus Lauter: Okay, I’ll put the links in the show notes, then you just one click away before we leave. One question. Anthony Badar, both our hero. , what’s your plan there? Do you want to go the same route and extend your range going from Barcelona to other places and do the same what you do in Barcelona? Anna Mesalles: Well, it’s funny you mentioned that. I just recently had a trip to Turkey. And this was a bit of a test for me to see how this would go, and I tried all types of Turkish foods and filmed it and just basically showed my reaction. I said, I’ve been looking for Turkish coffee, I’ve been looking for Buffalo values. These are my favorites. And I tested out a whole new type of food. and it went really well. People seemed to really enjoy this kind of content and I had the best time traveling with it. So I could definitely can plan on continuing the journey and whenever I go on trips, maybe map out the foodie scene a bit more and share it as a regular human being because unlike Anthony Bourdain, I’m not a chef. I’m just a [00:20:00] very food curious person like most, and I want to share that experience. For sure. I see myself going to more countries trying out the food and giving my own take on it. But Barcelona, what I love is that in any street, you can find any cuisine in the world and you’ve transported for the night to like, I don’t know, Bulgar. Yeah, if I just entering a certain restaurant door. So I think I can definitely do that from here as. Claus Lauter: No. Sounds great. I think we as humans connect the best over food because everyone has to eat and everyone is proud about the food they have, so that’s a very good way to get in contact with other people. I know Thanks so much for your time on the podcast today. I think that was a great insight into Barcelona and the foodie scene there. And I said I will put the links in the show notes and people can follow you there and come and visit Barcelona. Anna Mesalles: Thanks so much. Thank you so much. I had a great time and I wish you all the best of luck.

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