Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Lu.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Madeleine. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Food has always been an important part of my life. I basically grew up in the back of a Chinese restaurant that my dad waited tables at. After a couple of years of saving money, he was able to open up his own Asian grocery store, the only one in my small city. When I wasn’t playing on stacks of rice bags and helping bag groceries, I was over at my Godmother’s house helping her bake Filipino desserts for the community. As I got older and moved away for college, trying out new food was an integral part of moving to a new city and out of my parent’s house. Unfortunately, I was never really able to capture the art of cooking and baking, so I had to opt for eating out more often than I’d like to admit.
Although I’m particularly biased towards Asian food, I love trying out foods from all over the world. I’m lucky to have been able to eat my way through many different countries around the world. I initially started theglobalgrad as a way to show some of the travel content I was hoarding in my iPhone. However, as graduate school started taking more and more of my time, I ultimately had to put a lot of my traveling on the back burner to concentrate on my studies. Luckily, I could easily escape the grad school life by spending my weekends finding new coffee shops and places to eat. Thus, theglobalgrad eventually turned into a full-on Houston-food blog. While my food-blogging career has been short, I’ve made so many friends that share the same interest and have been fortunate enough to be able to help promote some amazing local businesses.
Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest struggle is finding the delicate balance between theglobalgrad and graduate school. Admittedly, I also had a travel blog that has gotten substantially less active since I stopped traveling as much. But, I’m okay with that because it means I can spend more time writing reviews for new restaurants. All in all, I can’t say I’ve had it too hard. Graduate school has been a challenge in and of itself, so food blogging and exploring Houston has been a great outlet for me. I think that in whatever you do in life, you should always try to have hobbies that are completely unrelated to your occupation. It’s helped me not experience burn out and I’ve actually learned a lot about managing my time, promoting and advocating for myself, and networking through theglobalgrad.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Theglobalgrad – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Theglobalgrad is where I try to showcase Houston food and Houston restaurants. I’ll still post my own travel pictures when I get the chance to go somewhere, but my feed typically only has food-related content. When I transitioned to food blogging, it was really important for me to showcase both Houston-based restaurants and Chinatown eateries. I’ve grown up around Asian food my entire life, whether it be in Chinese-American restaurants or Asian groceries, so I naturally gravitate towards Asian food. The newest food trends typically come from Asia, so the Houston Chinatown is always popping up with new cafes and dessert places. A quick scroll through my feed and you’ll notice I’m obsessed with boba tea and desserts. In Houston, I probably can’t drive 5 miles without hitting a boba shop. I’m hoping I’m one day known as the Houston boba girl.
At the moment, however, I’m just proud of keeping my feed and my content authentic and honest. I try really hard to create content that I think is relevant to my followers as well as content that I genuinely enjoy. I showcase food as it is, with no added frills. I don’t want someone seeing some constructed, off-menu item on my page to go to the restaurant expecting that. I’m also honest in my reviewing of food, but try not to be too critical of most places. Running a restaurant is hard and there’s a lot of kinks that need to be straightened out, especially if it’s a new restaurant. So, I also actively seek out small businesses around Houston to work with. They sort of remind me of my dad when he was starting a business, and I feel like I can empathize somewhat with the struggles of getting their feet off the ground.
Getting into the foodie scene in Houston has expanded my network to include all types of people I normally wouldn’t have interacted with had I just stayed in the sciences and academia. I consider a lot of them my friends and it’s really the concerted effort of multiple people that have helped any business gain some traction. Plus, it’s always just more fun to eat with friends. I think you can be unique with your content, but still work directly alongside people in your own field if you work hard at making sure your content is a reflection of yourself.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I think Houston is an underrated city. We have the most diverse population of people and some of the best food in this nation. You can find every single culture scattered throughout the city and they’re all completely authentic. Maybe Houston isn’t as trendy and hip as LA or as fast-paced and professional as New York City, but its got its own personality that I think feels genuine. There’s so many cool hidden spots to check out that keep the city exciting and new to me.
While I know everyone thinks traffic in their city is the worst, I can confidently say that Houston traffic is its own class. Learning to drive in Houston has been a great practice in being both diligent and patient. Another big complaint I hear a lot about Houston is the humidity, but I’m from south Texas so I feel like a fish out of water when I’m not in 90% humidity.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.madeleinelu.com
- Email: choimaddie@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theglobalgrad/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=s2l3z5_whjVWAe9vQqNDJw
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
