Sofia Levin

To me, food is a cultural barometer that helps people better understand both each other and themselves. It’s the simplest way to unite people and celebrate diversity; my raison d’être. Most importantly, it’s the way I most love to eat.

I launched my website and newsletter, Seasoned Traveller, to celebrate culture through food. It’s a platform to feed on restaurants that rarely see the limelight and read food stories with soul. This is the first time I’m taking it offline and inviting you to explore the best of Melbourne, my beautiful city, stomach first.

I’ve been a freelance food and travel journalist for more than a decade. You’ll spot my byline in Lonely Planet, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food, SBS Food, Domain Review, National Geographic, The Guardian, delicious., in-flight magazines, Broadsheet, Time Out and more. I’ve co-authored travel guidebooks and reviewed for Australia’s best food guides. Beyond the written word, I’m a regular guest on food shows and radio, while social media has allowed me to connect with people eager to #EatCuriously.

I can trace the start of my journalism career back to when I was 19 years old, staring into the unblinking eyes of a decapitated goat in Marrakesh’s Djema El Fna night market in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was a real-life version of Aladdin’s Agrahbah. I floated past vendors charming puff adders with pipes and was utterly hypnotised by fruit-studded mountains of couscous, pyramids of spice and murky snail soup. Never had I felt so far from home, or more myself. I suddenly saw the world through saffron-tinted glasses. I was awake.

And so I did what I always do when I’m inspired; I wrote. Those words resonated with friends and family who subsequently booked trips to Marrakesh – if not to eat goat’s head, then at least to soak up the atmosphere. This was well before Instagram and influencers existed, but I often think back to that moment when I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Back home in Melbourne, I continued my psychology studies and added journalism as a second major, eventually completing my honours. I became a published food and travel journalist before I graduated and have freelanced ever since. It has never felt risky to me. When I finished my degree, major mastheads were still reeling from the Global Financial Crisis. Whole offices were being made redundant and iconic magazines were collapsing like failed soufflés. Answering to a boss or applying for a cadetship weren’t viable options, so I started out on my own.

A couple of years in, thanks to equal parts chutzpah and naivety, I sent an email to one of Australia’s most respected food publications with links to student-y articles and a now-defunct blog. The timing was right: they agreed that smashed avocado was trending (I’m showing my age here) and needed more Good Food Guide reviewers. 

It was a new era. People were more connected than ever. Reality TV was making cooking great again. Readers were listening to bloggers as well as trained journalists. And there I was: a curious mixture of both. Still, the stories I wanted to share were not always shiny enough for the publications I wrote for. While that’s slowly changing, back then it gave me the idea for Seasoned Traveller. All I needed was time, and I got more of it than I ever bargained for when COVID hit. All my deadlines spontaneously combusted, so I launched the Seasoned Traveller newsletter. The website went live in March 2021. 

This tour is the culmination of more than 12 years of seeking out not just the best places to eat, but the most meaningful. It’s a deep-dive into the very fabric of what makes Melbourne such a wonderful place to both eat and live. I can’t wait to introduce you to the characters behind the cuisines, share multiple tables and toast to my insatiable city. If you’re excited by traditional and regional food from across the world, crave access to unbookable restaurants and have an appetite, this is the tour for you. There’s nothing else like it in the world.