Our Family Food Travel Blog
I am Oliver. Natalia, Victor, and I keep recipes, places, and memory from the road so the people and flavours that shaped us stay alive for your table, not only ours.
Who we are — and how we publish
This is the Mayerhoffer family archive: recipes we cook, places we visit, and stories we refuse to flatten into generic travel copy.
What is the Mangoes & Palm Trees family food travel blog?
The Mangoes and Palm Trees family food travel blog is the Mayerhoffer archive of recipes cooked at home, places visited with a child in tow, and family memory kept for the next generation. Notes come from Oliver; Natalia reviews safety and heritage; Victor is the vote at the table. Currently traveling Southeast Asia, updated August 2026.
Deeper questions? Read our family food travel blog FAQ or browse Eat and Stay reviews.
A living memorial — told through food and place
Mangoes and Palm Trees began in 2018 after we lost Daniel Mayerhoffer and Julie Whipp, and after Natalia’s grandparents Valentina and Victor Moskalenko passed. We channel grief into something useful: recipes, guides, and honest notes your family can use.
I grew up between Cheltenham, Austrian kitchens, and Mediterranean holidays. At fifteen I crossed India by train. Later came Oman, sailing seasons in Spain, and years of moving with Natalia — Krasnoyarsk, Koh Samui, six heavy years in the UK, then back to Asia.
Natalia brings Siberian preservation and a careful eye for what is safe on a family plate. Victor, born in Nathon Hospital in 2016, keeps us honest. If a guide only works for child-free travellers with perfect weather, it does not ship.
In 2026 we are traveling Southeast Asia — updating street-food notes, island logistics, and the recipes we actually cook at home. One quality release per week.
Read Oliver’s archive, meet Natalia, or join the family newsletter.
Fifteen years of movement — one archive
- 2014Met on Koh Chang. Neither of us was looking for love.
- 2015Married in Krasnoyarsk. Siberian preservation enters our kitchen.
- 2016Victor born at Nathon Hospital, Koh Samui.
- 2018Mangoes and Palm Trees founded — grief turned into a digital legacy.
- 2024Vietnam chapter — French-colonial food divides.
- 2026Southeast Asia — travel notes from the road, weekly publishing.
Three voices, one house standard
Cooking, culture, and a nine-year-old who will tell you if the portion is wrong.
Oliver Mayerhoffer
Lead author · father · cook
I write what we eat and where we go. Short sentences. Real prices.
No credential speeches — just the table in front of us.
Read Oliver’s story
Natalia Mayerhoffer
Mother · Siberian heritage · safety voice
She guards cultural respect and food safety — when a recipe needs a preservation note or a 165°F checkpoint, Natalia says so.
Meet Natalia
Victor Mayerhoffer
Our son · reality check
Caring. Smart. Conscientious. Gentleman. If he will not eat it on a Tuesday after school, we do not publish it as family-friendly.
Start here — then go deep
These hubs back the family story with recipes and guides we actually use on the road.
Thai recipes for families
Curries, street food, and weeknight plates from Thai recipes we cooked at home.
Explore hubThailand food travel 2026
Travel notes from the country we are documenting this year.
Read the journeySiberian pelmeni
Natalia’s heritage dumplings — tested at home, not copied from a database.
Get the recipeRecipe index
Every dish we have cooked and written up, in one searchable archive.
Browse recipesUltimate guides
Long-form reference for ingredients, techniques, and travel logistics.
View guidesIngredient substitutes
What to swap when you cannot find the exact item abroad.
See substitutesThree standards behind every page
On the ground
We cook it, travel it, and note what broke — parking, spice level, whether Victor finished the plate.
Culturally respectful
Recipes and guides come from lived immersion and local relationships, not scraped lists.
Transparent
Affiliate links, updates, and corrections are declared. Read our editorial policy.
The people behind these notes
Oliver writes the kitchen and travel notes; Natalia reviews family and safety context. Victor is our son at the table when a dish was actually cooked for him. Read Oliver’s profile, Natalia’s profile, and our editorial policy.
Sources and safety notes
Lived family experience comes first. When food safety or heritage context matters, those notes are checked against the official references below.
FDA Food Safety
Food safety reference for family kitchen notes.
Read sourceHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Nutrition source notes for family plate context.
Read sourceKitchen notes from the road
Mayerhoffer kitchen testing while traveling Southeast Asia, 2026.
Explore next
How to use this family archive
Start with travel guides or recipes — we are traveling Southeast Asia in 2026 (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos; wider Asia and possibly India as the route firms).
Also browse travel guides, recipe index, family story, ingredients, editorial policy, and all destinations.
Family food travel blog — quick answers
What makes this different from a typical travel blog?
Where are you traveling in 2026?
Who writes the recipes and guides?
How is the site funded?
More answers on our family food travel blog FAQ page.
Cook with us. Travel with us. Keep the memory alive.
Whether you need a weeknight curry, a Koh Samui logistics note, or a pelmeni dough that survives freezer chaos — start in the archives below.