Zavoir Global

03/09/2026

Sea, Land, & Butter (salted, of course). 🧈

Brittany (Bretagne, Breizh) region in North West France is a beauty. Known for their buckwheat galettes, seafood, and of course, salted butter, it was the perfect place to visit this Summer. 😎

We came across this little bakery on the side of the road amd I noticed each time someone ordered a loaf of bread the girl working would take a large brush to “dust” the flour from the top before handing it over. I loved that little tradition - like giving it a little pat before sending it off to the table where it will be adorned with salted butter. If you happen to find yourself in Brittany one day get the Kouign-amann (again featuring salted butter).
We got 3 different types of butter: seaweed, vanilla bourbon and regular salted.
Butter can absolutely be part of a healthy balanced diet. Quality> quantity. I’ve been using the seaweed one lately for late Summer corn on the cob. A little spread of vanilla bourbon butter on toast is so pleasurable in the morning. 🍞

14/02/2026

has dipped his creative genius into the world of chocolate, and while it may appear on the top of tourists to-do list I can attest that locals also enjoy the sweet taste of Monsieur Grolet’s edible crafts.
Just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Original Pâtisserie, I felt as though I had stepped into a modern day W***y Wonka factory. Streams of silky molten chocolate ran down the wall used as a backdrop to the chocolatiers assisting customers in their search for a Valentine’s gift for their lovers, or perhaps for themselves, an act of self-love.
Oversized chocolate creations made into statues of a peanut, a lemon, a cacao pod, oh my, adorned the street window for on-lookers to “ooooh” and “aaaahhh” and drool over.
After providing one of the staff my click & collect number she wistfully disappeared, approaching a few moments later, lighting up when she found me amongst the sea of people posing for photos next to bars of chocolate like they were little George Clooneys. She motioned to a glass dome next to the computer that a moment ago was empty but now contained a small brown bag of my box of chocolates that had been zoomed up from below. I imagined Oompa Loompas hard at work (but not too hard) handing the sacred box of dark chocolates from one to the other until they reached the throne and were suspended up up up, oh so perfectly timed, to be presented to moi. ❤️🫶🙏

14/02/2026

. has dipped his creative genius into the world of chocolate, and while it may appear on the top of tourists to-do list I can attest that locals also enjoy the sweet taste of Monsieur Grolet’s edible crafts.
Just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Original Pâtisserie, I felt as though I had stepped into a modern day W***y Wonka factory. Streams of silky molten chocolate ran down the wall used as a backdrop to the chocolatiers assisting customers in their search for a Valentine’s gift for their lovers, or perhaps for themselves, an act of self-love.
Oversized chocolate creations made into statues of a peanut, a lemon, a cacao pod, oh my, adorned the street window for on-lookers to “ooooh” and “aaaahhh” and drool over.
After providing one of the staff my click & collect number she wistfully disappeared, approaching a few moments later, lighting up when she found me amongst the sea of people posing for photos next to bars of chocolate like they were little George Clooneys. She motioned to a glass dome next to the computer that a moment ago was empty but now contained a small brown bag of my box of chocolates that had been zoomed up from below. I imagined Oompa Loompas hard at work (but not too hard) handing the sacred box of dark chocolates from one to the other until they reached the throne and were suspended up up up, oh so perfectly timed, to be presented to moi. ❤️🫶🙏

19/06/2025

Dear Throwback Thursday,
🇦🇲
In 2017 I flew to Yerevan, Armenia to meet with the lovely - in my quest to meet other dietitians and nutritionists around the world and to learn about them and their food culture. I got more than I expected out of that trip, including a family dinner and private concert at the table. I am always so grateful for Vardanush and her kindness 🙏
🎶
My updated article about this venture is up on Medium, linked in bio. ✍🏻

30/01/2025

Throwing back to le marché in Aix en Provence.
November, 2022
I never scrubbed a mushroom with such precision before, and the work was worth it. I remember during French class in high school the markets were one of the first French cultural things we learned about. I never imagines at that time that I would be living in France and the French market would be part of my lifestyle (and also a French lesson). Nor did I imagine I would be eating leeks as much as I do now or that bread and cheese would be so sacred they should come with a manual (break the baguette with your hands like this… cut the cheese like this…).
You don’t have to live in another country in order to enjoy some of the cultural foods from that country. Leeks are grown and sold around the world. Curious about that weird looking mushroom you see at the local grocery store or market? TALK to an employee and see if they have suggestions on how to prepare and cook it. Instead of sliced bread opt for une baguette, or trade cheddar for Camembert on Friday night. 🥖🧀

18/09/2024

“The more books I read, the more conversations I have, and the more places I travel to, the more my vocabulary bank has blossomed into a more powerful vault than my 401K. The words deposited into my linguistic investment account contain within their syllables definitions that flutter hearts and tingle brains. Often one non-English word will translate into an entire phrase, or better yet, there is no translation, turning the word into a secret language, a souvenir to talk about.”

18/09/2024

https://www.zavoir.com/little-word-big-feelings/

"The words deposited into my linguistic investment account contain within their syllables definitions that flutter hearts and tingle brains. Often one non-English word will translate into an entire phrase, or better yet, there is no translation, turning the word into a secret language, a souvenir to talk about."

Quote: "Colors fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure." —Edward Thorndike There's a word for that The more books I read, the more conversations I have, and the more places I travel to, the more my vocabulary bank has blossomed into a more powerful vault than my 401K.

09/08/2024

“Imagine for a moment that a new drug comes on the market. It’s super-addictive, and in no time everyone’s hooked. Scientists investigate and soon conclude that the drug causes, I quote, ‘a misperception of risk, anxiety, lower mood levels, learned helplessness, contempt and hostility towards others, and desensitization’......That drug is the news.”
~Rutger Bregman, Humankind: A Hopeful History, 2019

19/07/2024

“Healing is figuring out how to coexist with the pain that will always live inside of you, without pretending it isn’t there or allowing it to hijack your day. It is learning to confront ghosts and to carry what lingers. It is learning to embrace the people I love now instead of protecting against a future in which I am gutted by their loss. Katherine’s experience and her insight sit with me. She went through something she thought she could never survive and yet here she is, surviving. “You have to shift from the gloom and doom and focus instead on what you love,” she told me before bed. “That’s all you can do in the face of these things. Love the people around you. Love the life you have. I can’t think of a more powerful response to life’s sorrows than loving.”
~Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, 2021

10/07/2024

Pulling self-care out from under the rubble of a billion-dollar wellness industry and restoring the essence of what it truly is.