Julia Holland

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Location
Austin, Texas
School
University Of Texas - Austin, New Mexico State University
Expertise
Mexican Cuisine, South American Cuisines, Gastronomy And Travel
  • Julia lived in a 100-person housing cooperative for four years while attending college, during which she cooked dinner for the entire co-op once a week and planned breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus for two years.
  • Her mother was a pastry and dessert chef and caterer, instilling in her a love for cooking, recipe developing, and adventurous eating from a young age.
  • One of Julia's favorite books and movies is "Like Water for Chocolate," which she has read in Spanish and English, and seen countless times. She used passages from the book and scenes from the movie in a grad school research paper and oral presentation as part of a deep dive into the subject of aphrodisiac foods.

Experience

Julia has been a travel and food writer since 2019 in conjunction with a career as a professional circus performer. She worked as an anthropologist in the Mexican state of Chiapas during her master's program and developed a special bond with Mexico, which drew her back to live off and on for the past 15 years. After graduate school, Julia spent a decade traveling around the world to perform circus acts. Performance and training contracts required her to live for months at a time in various countries on the American, European, and Asian continents. Her extended stays in exotic destinations allowed her to experience everyday life like a local, shopping in open food markets, sampling native cuisines, and cooking with local ingredients and recipes. She began writing a travel blog for a European travel site about her experiences living and traveling around Mexico. Most articles were dedicated to the vast and elaborate subject of Mexican food, delving into detail about regional dishes, snacks, spirits, and street food culture. She then began writing SEO articles and blogs for numerous clients through a writing agency, specializing in niches like food and drink, recipes, restaurants, and bar scenes. She joined Tasting Table in 2023, where she continues using her travels and cross-cultural experiences as inspiration for her research and writing on gastronomy.

Education

Julia has a bachelor's degree in anthropology and Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's degree in anthropology from New Mexico State University.
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Stories By Julia Holland