SAVORING THE WORLD
Eat Biotiful
Around three years ago, Málaga and Córdoba joined forces to create a common project focused on quality and healthy eating. Passionate about exploring and discovering, Claudia and Elisa’s blog, Eat Biotiful, is filled with cultures, experiences, and adventures. Their goal is to share their vision of gastronomy and its significance to them. Through their recipes, travels, tips, and hidden gems, they introduce us to new worlds, rich with memories and emotions. As they write, echoing a famous chef’s words, “Cooking is not a trend. Cooking is the most universal language and has no limits.”
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To know more about you two, could you introduce yourselves and tell us where you’re from and where you currently live?
We are Claudia and Elisa, from Málaga and Córdoba, but we currently live in London and Barcelona, respectively.
How and when did you meet each other? And how did the idea for this project come about?
About three years ago in Barcelona. After collaborating on several projects, we realized we shared a vision of the world of food, health, and hospitality, and decided to create something different; something fresh and personal that reflects who we are and our lifestyle.
How did Eat Biotiful come into existence? Has it changed or evolved since its inception?
It all began with the idea of writing about restaurants where you could find us anywhere in the world. We decided to offer an alternative guide featuring honest places that care about their products and are committed to providing a healthy and well-prepared option. Additionally, we wanted our passion for cooking simple and healthy recipes to be reflected on our website through a visually appealing and easy-to-follow recipe book. While chronicling our adventures around the world, we are gradually incorporating guides to international cities so that anyone can recreate our experiences.
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Do you work on anything else beyond the blog, or has it become your main source of income?
Yes, Claudia is a clinical psychologist but currently works for a television production company (she brings ideas from various directors to life in commercials, films, and music videos). Elisa is an urban planning lawyer and works as a consultant for a private company. So, for now, we juggle our jobs with Eat Biotiful.
What other hobbies and interests do you have besides gastronomy and traveling?
Lately, we’ve been really into Pilates and yoga, practices you can do anywhere with just a mat and some concentration. Photography is another hobby that has brought us together since we met, and it plays a significant role in our work. In fact, Elisa started using a camera because of this project.
What do you like to offer others, and how do you think your blog stands out from others?
Our way of living, thinking, and eating. If you know us and follow us, you’ll know where we’ll recommend you go, with no surprises. We love eating well, just like everyone else, but we particularly enjoy places that care about their products, balance in food combinations, and have some understanding of the nutritional value of their ingredients. All this, combined with the harmony of flavors and respect for raw materials, makes a dish perfect. We no longer believe in ‘eating for the sake of eating,’ so our main goal is to show that being healthy doesn’t mean eating a boring plate of lettuce.
Additionally, we place great importance not just on what we share but on how we share it. We are not food critics, so we try to convey our personal experience with the things we write about. If we talk about a place, it will probably feel like telling you a story. We also pay a lot of attention to photography: the quality, the composition, and ensuring the images genuinely reflect what we’re seeing. In this sense, we are our first critics and always believe we can do much better.
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We know the platforms you use most are Instagram and your website. How frequently do you post content, and which do you prefer to use?
We use Instagram the most because it’s the quickest tool to share a real-time experience and the most direct way to connect with our followers. However, we dedicate more time to the website content. Taking photos, editing them, writing the content, and our way of doing things requires a lot of patience, love, and hours of work—from writing on a napkin or having a thousand notes on the iPhone to writing while standing on the metro. Those are our best posts. Ideas come and often don’t return. You need to release them, but of course, you need to be organized. We organize our content weekly: recipes, restaurants, an event, or someone who inspires us, like a chef or a yoga teacher, etc.
How do you come up with recipes and decide what to show on the blog?
We always start with a base ingredient whose benefits we highlight, and from there, an idea develops. Something super nutritious, balanced, energizing, but also delightful in flavor and easy to cook. Does it exist? Just check out our recipes (under the lifestyle tab) to see that everything is possible.
What and who inspires you?
The Hemsley sisters, Deliciously Ella for their freshness, content, and philosophy. Visually, Petit Passport.
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How do you plan your trips and decide which places/countries to visit?
We usually go to places with a strong gastronomic culture or where new food trends are emerging. We immerse ourselves in information about our destination on all levels (gastronomy, cultural values, lifestyle, etc.), then select what fits best to provide our perspective on the city. As a result, what you see in the guides is more of a culinary journey through our eyes than just a travel notebook. Healthy food restaurants, honest cooking, or small personal projects where the enthusiasm and effort of a person or team are evident.
Which country is a must-visit? Any place you would return to as soon as you have the chance? And where did you have the best food?
Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Costa Rica. We would return to any of these three without hesitation. From Sri Lanka, we highlight the immense kindness of the people and their delicious cuisine, full of spices and new flavors for our European palate. Costa Rica is love and respect for nature in all aspects of daily life, which is very noticeable in the treatment of other people, cultures, animals, and food. If you like organic food, this is the place. And for Turkey, Istanbul is a gem in every sense, just look at our restaurant guide to want to visit.
So, without further ado, what is each of your favorite foods?
Is bread considered a dish? Because without a doubt, with artisanal bread (with unrefined flour if possible) and ‘good’ oil, you’ve won us over. We suppose this is a heritage of our southern roots. Apart from that, for Claudia, a good paella at any time of the day or Japanese cuisine for Elisa (though don’t expect her to share it).
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In Spain, which restaurants would you recommend in Barcelona or Madrid? And in another city that stands out from the usual two big ones?
In Madrid, we recommend La Vaquería Montañesa and Olivia Te Cuida. Celeri (though it is currently closed to our dismay, but we hope Xavier Pellicer will reopen somewhere else) and Casa Xica in Barcelona. And without a doubt, we would book a ticket just to have dinner at Restaurant de Kaas in Amsterdam or to try the meze at Aeste Pera (Istanbul).
Have you visited any place that you haven’t shown your readers to keep it a secret just for yourselves?
Jordan, a less exploited place, a hidden gem. We think that what we can explain in words or photos is not comparable to experiencing it.
They say less is more and too much can be overwhelming. You’ve been eating in great and beautiful places and traveling around the world for a while now. Do you think you’ll ever get tired of this lifestyle?
For us, traveling and eating is more of a passion than an obligation, so it’s more of a pleasure than a job. Therefore, the idea of getting tired of it seems far off. However, we are becoming more selective about the places we visit or share, as not everything fits or aligns.
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Related to the previous question, what future plans do you have for your page? If you ever do get tired of it, what’s your plan B?
Our plan A is our everyday work, so we believe we are already developing that plan B, which allows us to break away from routine life. But we are quite restless people and always want to do something different or do it as best as possible. In the immediate future: to focus more on our content, make it more interesting, improve the quality of what we share – texts and photography – and above all, convey more of who we are. And in the long term… we’ll keep that a secret!
Finally, what advice would you give our readers about starting and creating something they might love?
Consistency in what you do, honesty and coherence with yourself and your audience. Having a goal from the beginning and pursuing it without thinking about the competition outside. For us, being loyal to our ideas is key.