Jess Thomson

It turns out there are a few key differences.

This month we’re looking at the way our mothers fed us. We interviewed five women about how their body image was formed or affected by their own mother, and how their approach to food has (or hasn’t) changed over the years. If you’ve been reading food blogs for some time now, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Molly Wizenberg, writer behind the award-winning site Orangette and co-owner of the Seattle-based restaurant Delancey.

Rachel Yang has become a household name in Seattle food circles and beyond. Together with her husband and business partner, Seif Chirchi, she has three restaurants in Seattle and a fourth in Portland. Their first restaurant, Joule, earned the pair a James Beard nomination and a nod from Bon Appetit (the magazine ranked the Korean steakhouse #9 on its annual Best Restaurant in America in 2013).

And especially for summer vacations.

When Renee Erickson opened her first French-inspired restaurant in Seattle, Boat Street Café, she was barely out of college, winging it in a major way with the support of friends and family, but not much else. Fast forward a few decades, and she has become a cornerstone of Seattle’s food scene, with a James Beard Award and heaping platefuls of national accolades.

Maybe you already know Seattle by heart. It’s that famous Pike Place Market sign, with a passenger ferry gliding peacefully along Puget Sound just beyond it, or a glamour shot of the towering Space Needle, with snow-capped Mt. Rainier boasting its 14,000-plus feet in the distance. It’s fat, tender salmon, roasted perfectly, and exquisite coffee at Starbucks’ flagship roastery. It’s a good bar with a serious water view.

From salmon and crab to berries and wild mushrooms, the Seattle region’s natural resources make it an eater’s paradise. For visitors, a week eating here can feel like a fantasy — but how do you capture all those magical bites and take them home? I can’t beam you back to your favorite restaurants, but I can tell you that some of Seattle’s best bites actually do travel well.

Airport food is tough. You’re often lucky to pick up an overpriced, pre-packaged salad or sandwich. The same goes for food souvenirs. They’re usually the most appreciated by friends at home, but when it comes to convenience, they’re not ideal — edibles are often hard to pack and even harder to get through security.

From a pragmatic standpoint, it makes zero sense to purchase kitchen equipment in Europe if you live in the United States. If you’re buying more than a few linens, it’s either heavy to haul or expensive to check in the belly of an airplane. I know from experience that people stare at you if you walk through security with a fine mesh strainer. Depending on the exchange rate, it can be expensive. And, well, don’t you already have silverware?

Seattle is undoubtedly a city of neighborhoods, from the shady streets of Pioneer Square, to the cozy cafés in Capitol Hill, to the family-friendly brick streets of Ballard, to all the mini neighborhoods in between. It’s in those little corners that you’ll find the city’s most amazing food — the delicious evidence that Seattle’s become a cornerstone of the national food scene. Here are my favorite neighborhoods, and what I can’t miss when I’m there.

Michelle DiBenedetto-Capobianco’s life sounds awfully romantic. During the school year she lives in Port Washington, New York, and each summer she packs up her husband and three sons — ages 9, 10, and 12 — and moves to a tiny town in the mountains of Italy for the summer, where she runs a cooking school and tour company. The village, called Salle, where her father grew up, feels frozen in time. “There are no stores in Salle,” says Michelle.

Ann Mah, a D.C.-based writer and author of the novel The Lost Vintage, tends to move around a lot because of her husband’s job as a diplomat. They spent four years in Paris, and bought a small apartment there to have as a home base —which means that now she spends each summer there with her 4-year-old daughter. She also happens to be a friend of Kitchn (and you should check her work out here).

We all know green vegetables are good for you. Sometimes, though, it feels like the preparation process can take forever — especially at the end of a long day. We often skip greens altogether, which means dinners are less nutritious or, more importantly, less delicious. Chef, restaurateur, and mom Alex Guarnaschelli, author of The Home Cook: Recipes to Know By Heart, is big on greens. At home, they love green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, and kale.