Taste As You Go

Until Michelle Judd started Taste As You Go in August 2008, the pinnacle of her amateur culinary career was receiving the Home Economics Award in eighth grade. She started writing about her passion for cooking while in college, at first only sharing her recipes online with friends via a private blog. Not only was Michelle apprehensive about putting her thoughts out there for others to criticize, but she was also afraid of not having anything meaningful to contribute to the food blogging world. Clearly, she got over it!

As Michelle was just starting to learn how to cook, she was repeatedly told to taste after each step in a recipe (where feasible, of course). This was especially helpful when it came to getting the seasoning “just right” or to creating deep, complex flavors out of the simplest of ingredients. Eventually, she began to apply the advice of tasting as she went to the experimentation with new foods, the exploration of new cuisines, and the revisitation of those foods she had previously written off. Living in New York, Michelle didn’t want to limit her tasting to the confines of her kitchen, so she also set out to explore more of the city by trying as many new-to-her restaurants as her budget would allow. Therefore, each new recipe and each new dining experience allows her to continue to live by that early piece of advice that was passed on to her a long time ago: to taste as you go.