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Tony Dokoupil may be an expert at breaking down the day’s news and scoring prized interviews as a co-anchor of CBS Mornings, but sometimes his job can take him somewhere fun — including to one of the country’s most iconic food festivals.
“When you go to an event like this, I don’t think you appreciate how many other food lovers attend,” Dokoupil told Travel + Leisure following his time at the recent Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. “People don’t get into this to get rich, they get into it because they want to connect with the thing they are really passionate about.”
And reporting from the field isn’t too hard when you’re sent to the famed Colorado mountain town, which Dokoupil referred to as a “movie set.”
“Everything that you dream about Aspen to be true is also true,” he said. “The weather is gorgeous. The food is amazing. The drinks are amazing. Aspen has no bad angles. Everywhere you look is beautiful.”
With Tony Dokoupil
Best tip for beating jet lag?
“Skip a night’s sleep so that you get onto the clock of your locality wherever you’re landing. The hard part is whatever that lag time is between when your normal bedtime would be when you actually get to sleep, you’ve got to make it through without drinking caffeine and with drinking a bunch of water. If you do that the next day you wake up and you feel utterly restored as a human”
Dream trip?
“Return to Southern Italy with [wife and MSNBC anchor] Katy, where we went on our honeymoon.”
Aisle or window seat?
“I’m an aisle person, because I like to get up a lot. And I feel bad inconveniencing the other folks in the aisle”
Must-pack travel items?
“Jabra headphones, sunglasses, and a baseball hat.”
Go-to plane activity?
“I like to read and enjoy the lack of connectivity. I almost never watch a movie on a plane, I cannot remember the last time I watched a show or movie on a plane”
But regardless of where Dokoupil is traveling, the news anchor, who has visited all 50 states, is a packing pro.
“Roll things into logs, and stack them that way,” he said. “You can work with the grooves of your carry-on.”
While at the Food & Wine Classic, he reported on the 30th anniversary of New York’s famed Gramercy Tavern. (The restaurant’s co-founders, Tom Colicchio and Danny Meyer actually met during a the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in 1991.)
Dokoupil tells T+L he also spent time with celebrity chefs including Kristen Kish and Gregory Gourdet from Top Chef, Kwame Onwuachi from New York’s Tatiana, and Aisha Ibrahim, the executive chef of Canlis in Seattle.
Food enthusiasts and travelers looking to enjoy a future Food & Wine Classic will have another opportunity this year, as Charleston, South Carolina will be hosting a special event from September 27-September 29, 2024, and tickets are on sale now.
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