Roads & Kingdoms is dedicated to a simple idea: food can offer a tremendous window on humanity. We use talented local journalists, deep narratives, and the good things in life—food, music, booze—to inform and inspire about destinations around the globe.
R&K won a Primetime Emmy for our series with our partner Anthony Bourdain on eating through LA’s immigrant enclaves. In 2019, R&K won a National Magazine Award, and we were named the James Beard Publication of the Year in 2017. Our publishing projects include a book series with Harper Collins and Explore Parts Unknown, the digital home for Bourdain’s award-winning show on CNN.
Our new travel project The League of Travelers is the latest evolution of this storytelling, offering some of the world’s most connected small-group culinary journeys led by chefs, writers, producers, and raconteurs.
“Roads & Kingdoms” is cribbed from The Book of Roads & Kingdoms, a phenomenal early travelogue written in the 11th century by Abu Abdullah al-Bakri in Córdoba, now home to a middling football club playing in Spain’s second division.
THE CREW
Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018) was a chef, author and maker of television. He was Roads & Kingdoms’ sole investor and a creative partner on many R&K projects, particularly the Dispatched by Bourdain series on R&K and the Explore Parts Unknown project, for which he filmed with Roads & Kingdoms in Los Angeles, Catalunya, and throughout Asia.
Nathan Thornburgh (Co-founder/Publisher) is a former TIME Magazine senior editor and foreign correspondent who has reported everywhere from Russia to Myanmar to Iraq. Some of his favorite pieces he has edited for Roads & Kingdoms include Oliver Bullough’s ode to adjika and Supriya Nair’s elegiac World Cup essay. R&K’s League of Travelers is his latest attempt to marry travel, journalism and la dolce vita.
Matt Goulding (Co-founder/Publisher) is an award-winning writer and producer. His new documentary series Omnivore, created with chef René Redzepi, is now streaming on Apple TV+. His Eat This, Not That books sold over 10 million copies, and his R&K books with Anthony Bourdain’s imprint won numerous awards. He divides his time between the tapas bars of Barcelona and the barbecue pits of rural North Carolina.
José Andrés (Investor, Asturias Advisor) is one of the world’s most celebrated chefs. In addition to his many successful restaurants, he established the World Central Kitchen in 2010 to provide food relief in conflict and disaster zones. He has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, TIME Magazine, which named him one of the “100 Most Influential People” in 2012 and 2018, and President Obama, who awarded him the National Humanities Medal in 2015.
Maria Vallès Beneit (Marketing and Resident Somm) was born and raised on a vineyard outside of Barcelona. She has a background in business management, international education, and, naturally, winemaking. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Maria enjoys very niche memes, long sobremesas, and collecting hot sauces.
Charly Wilder (Senior Editor) is an award-winning journalist who grew up in Kansas City and now lives in Berlin after stints in Moscow and Mexico City. As a longtime contributor to the The New York Times, she followed the former Silk Road through Central Asia, traced her ancestry into the old Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe, covered doping in Russia and jaguars in the Yucatán, and has been paid to eat her way through numerous European cities.
Michael Jauregui (Head of Sales and Traveler Support) grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and studied at San Diego State University. He taught English in Prague for a few years before returning to the States to live in Denver. There, he began working with educators at an international travel company to give students opportunities to travel abroad. An avid Golden State Warriors fan, Mike loves going to live shows and arguing about almost anything.
Douglas Hughmanick (Co-founder, Chief Creative) is an award-winning creative director and designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area and co-founder of R&K as well as ANML design group. Also: as an MC, he has opened shows for hiphop legends MosDef and Talib Kweli.
Chris Rhee (Chief Developer) started making websites at age 13 and never stopped. As a freelance designer & developer, he’s worked with small startups, household names and a half dozen companies worth over a billion dollars. For R&K, he single-handedly built both ExplorePartsUnknown.com and RoadsandKingdoms.com. Chris only speaks one language, but with a lot of slang you never heard before.
Nina Pham (Travel Ops) is a proud New Yorker and second-generation immigrant whose parents were born in the midst of the Vietnam War. Though she now lives in another beast of a city (Las Vegas), Nina will tell you her favorite parts of the world are afar. A foodie who has visited 25+ countries, she is all about efficiencies and execution, all of which makes her a perfect fit to handle logistics and operations for our roving global organization.
Lauren DeAngelis Alvarez (System Ops) makes systems run smoothly with her background in operations for high-growth tech and web3 companies. She lives between New Orleans and Santo Domingo, which are sister cities even if they don’t know it. Lauren always seems to be on the road, hosting visitors from afar, or trying to make Viet-Cajun meals with Caribbean ingredients.
María José González (Marketing Intern) hails from Barranquilla, Colombia. Fluent in Spanish, English, German, and French, she’s pursuing a BA in linguistics at Universidad de Los Andes. She came to R&K while in New York for the Bard College Globalization and International Affairs Program and now helps out with social media, global host relationships, and trip logistics. We will all be working for her one day.
Kristi Daugherty (Controller) was born and raised in Houston, then studied political science at Texas State University in San Marcos, later going back to school for accounting. She spent two years in London as an international controller and has worked in accounting consulting since 2019, assisting diverse companies in various stages of growth. An avid gardener who loves camping and hiking, the only thing Kristi enjoys more than travel or live music is traveling to hear live music.
Andy Ricker (League Host) is an award-winning chef and best-selling author widely credited with introducing Northern Thai cuisine to the United States through his Pok Pok Restaurants. The two-time James Beard Award winner has worked as a pumpkin picker, DJ, house painter and construction contractor, ship’s cook, busboy, waiter, bartender, musician, commercial fisherman, outdoor store salesperson, maintenance man, and short order cook. Andy recons, guides, and hosts numerous League trips, but Chiang Mai and the Festival of Lights will always be his baby.
Eugenio Signoroni (League Guide) is perhaps the most qualified person in all of the Republic to know what to eat, at what time of year, and with whom. After a long editorial career at the iconic Slow Food, he branched out to write prolifically on Italian food culture in all parts of the boot. In addition to editing the authoritative Osteria d’Italia guide, he is the host of Lievito Madre, one of Italy’s top food podcasts. A perfect guide for our Italian journeys.
Alejo Sabugo (League Host) is a producer and fixer whom we met when he worked on the “Parts Unknown” Asturias episode. He has since become an integral part of the Roads & Kingdoms family and is now a frequent League of Travelers host. A tireless enthusiast for his native Asturias, he is an expert on the region’s bounty, from cider to fabada to gamoneu cheese.
Gonzalo Gil Lavedra (League Host) is a scout, gourmand, sometime poet, and resident of Peru’s Sacred Valley (at least at the time of writing) who came to us by way of Noma chef René Redzepi. His unassuming charm, curiosity, and ability to talk his way into and out of just about anything have made him a perfect addition to the League of Travelers and the Roads & Kingdoms family.
Katie Parla (League Host) is a native of what she calls the 21st region of Italy (that’s New Jersey) but always dreamed of moving to Italy. Some 20 years after she made the leap, she’s one of the foremost authorities on Italian food and drink (you may have seen her guiding Stanley Tucci around Rome for his CNN show or read one of her many books). We’re thrilled she’s helping us showcase the country.
Cláudio Silva (League Guide) was born in the Angolan capital of Luanda, grew up in the United States, then moved back to Luanda 20 years later to found LNL, Angola’s largest food & tourism platform, where he is the managing director. He’s written for a variety of travel, lifestyle, and economic publications, including CNN Travel, The Guardian, The Africa Report, The Continent, and of course, yours truly. He’s an avid traveler and doesn’t believe you can own too many cookbooks.
Rafael Tonon (League Host) is an award-winning journalist, writer, and researcher who lives between Brazil and Portugal and travels the world to eat and write. His work has been published widely, from Slate and Eater to The Washington Post and he is the author of books including The Food Revolutions (published in Portuguese and Spanish) and 50 Restaurants Over 50 Years Old – 5 Decades of São Paulo Food, about the traditional restaurants of Latin America’s largest city.
Rocio Vazquez (League Guide) is one of Mexico City’s most innovative travel hosts and entrepreneurs. One of the first food bloggers in Mexico, she is the founder of Eat Like a Local, a boutique, all-female tour group dedicated to responsible food tourism (she likes to say they offer “food tours for tour haters”). We’re fortunate to enjoy her deep ties not only to the city’s restaurants, vendors, and markets but also to the families that have lived and worked in them for generations.
Anissa Helou (League Guide) is considered one of the great culinary minds of the Mediterranean and Arab world. Born in Beirut to a Syrian father and Lebanese mother, she was Sotheby’s representative for the Middle East and amassed a legendary private art collection that she then sold to launch a new wildly successful life as an author (the New Yorker called her 2018 book, Feast: The Food of the Islamic World, one of the 10 best cookbooks of the century so far). We can’t believe our good fortune to have her guiding the League.
Daniel Nguyen (League Guide) is an activist, distiller, and researcher. Raised in California by Vietnamese parents, he came to Vietnam a decade ago to work with farmers in the Mekong Delta, work that eventually led to the co-founding of Sông Cái Distillery. His extensive work with farm communities in a country where two-thirds of the population is rural has also given him rare insight into the way Vietnamese actually eat—and live—today, insight that he tapped to help us build our extraordinary journey in Northern Vietnam. Read our interview with him here.
Ana Paulina García (League Guide) is the co-owner of the cult-hit Oaxaca bakery Boulenc and fermentation shop Suculenta. Originally from northern Mexico, she has made waves in Oaxaca’s rich gastronomic scene by transforming its teeming biodiversity into a wild range of ferments, from cardamom honey and mushroom pate to pumpkin relish and oil infused with local herbs. A perfect guide for our Oaxaca journeys.
Reuben Riffel (League Guide) is a celebrated South African chef, restaurateur, author, and media personality known for his innovative take on traditional South African cuisine. He has won numerous awards and appeared on many television productions, including The Martha Stewart Show and The Today Show. His popular culinary establishments in his native Franschhoek include Reuben’s, Franschhoek Brewing Company, and Let’s Frite.
Helt Araújo (League Guide) is a central figure in Angola’s recent culinary flourishing. Born in the western Angolan city of Benguela, the chef, researcher, and restaurateur oversees numerous high-profile projects, including Luanda restaurants Flor do Duke and Marina Baía, and the groundbreaking Ovina Yetu Foundation, which brings together a task force of chefs, scientists, and researchers to “unearth the hidden roots of Angolan culinary culture.”
André Magalhães (League Guide) is the legendary chef behind Lisbon’s phenomenal Taberna da Rua das Flores and Quiosque de São Paulo, the city’s oldest food kiosk. A significant figure in the Slow Food movement, Magalhães developed the sustainable food program at Omali Lodge, an eco-resort on the island of São Tomé in Africa, and is a celebrated writer, public speaker, and jury member at culinary events across the globe.
Jane Yang (League Guide) is a seasoned journalist who worked for Chinese publications Caijing Magazine and Tencent Finance before founding the bespoke travel company WayBeyond, giving her unusual depth of insight when it comes to understanding contemporary China. This, along with her passion for deep talk and cultural exploration, make her a perfect guide for our trip into the poetic heart of Yunnan.
Katy Cole (League Host) is the California-bred chef and restaurateur behind the popular Tokyo farm-to-table restaurant Locale and Kosa Kyoto in the city’s ACE Hotel. She spent her twenties working in Bay Area restaurants like Fork, Scott Howard, and State Bird Provisions, before uprooting her life to Japan, opening Locale in 2017 at the edge of the hip Meguro district. A dream addition to the Roads & Kingdoms family.
Clay Williams (League Photographer) is a James Beard Award-winning photographer who has been covering food, hospitality, and the people and places that define our culture for more than 15 years. He’s shot many League trips for us, including Angola, the Western Cape, Puglia, and Piedmont. Clay’s work has appeared in the pages of Food & Wine, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Travel + Leisure, as well as in cookbooks by Chef Kwame Onwuachi, the late Gullah Matriarch Ms. Emily Meggett, and Atlanta chef Todd Richards.
Beatriz Janer (League Host and Photographer) is our go-to for shooting in her native Spain. Known for her understanding of a chef’s mental process, she is adept at translating their culinary language into compelling imagery. In addition to her work for Roads & Kingdoms and the League of Travelers, Beatriz has shot for Conde Nast Traveler and major hospitality brands from Ritz Carlton to W Hotels.
Eduardo Leal (League Guide and Photographer) is an award-winning documentary photographer now based in Macau, China. He owes his oyster-opening and mussel-cleaning skills to years working in kitchens and bars in Edinburgh before starting his career as a photographer with an assignment covering election day in Venezuela for R&K. In the years since, Eduardo has worked for The Washington Post, Agence France-Press, Bloomberg, The Guardian, among others.