About Me - Christina Barrueta

August 31, 2015 / Christina Barrueta

Although I'm currently a food, beverage, and travel journalist, I was a picky eater, as my parents like to remind me. My love affair with food started in my teens with PBS cooking shows, a subscription to Gourmet magazine, and joining mom in the kitchen. Traveling was the next step to expanding my culinary horizons. When I was 22, I spent three months in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. Memorable dishes included Moreton Bay Bugs (slipper lobsters) in Sydney, kokoda and kava in Fiji, poisson cru in Tahiti, meat pies and pavlova in New Zealand, and kalua pua'a and lomi lomi in Hawaii. Since then, I've also traveled to Mexico, France, England, Ireland, and Greece, and have a (first!) trip to Italy planned next year.

My husband and I lived in downtown Boston before moving to Arizona in 2008. While I miss Boston, especially the restaurants (our condo at Harbor Towers was on Boston Harbor and we could walk to Chinatown and the North End), I’ve fallen in love with Phoenix and our culinary scene here. From 2008 to 2015, I was the food and beverage writer for AZ Wine Lifestyle magazine. When it was sold in 2015, I became a freelance writer, but also wanted an outlet to continue supporting our amazing talent here in Arizona. Thus, WriteOnRubee.com was launched to document the places and people I love. I am not a food critic, so this site is to document my positive experiences.

In January of 2018, I signed my first publishing contract, so in addition to my current focus working with tourism bureaus locally (Experience Scottsdale, Arizona Office of Tourism), and nationally (DoNapa and other California destinations) and as a regular contributor to Phoenix Home and Garden magazine, I'm working on my first book spotlighting Arizona wine to be published in 2019. Update: I just signed my second contract for a cookbook spotlighting local Phoenix-area chefs, to be published in 2020. Stay tuned!

And a common question - why do I use Rubee? It stems from my many years as a regular in the early days of a food board called Chowhound.com, where Rubee was the name I chose for posting. I also used it for social media, and I was advised to keep it when starting the website. My intent is to showcase Arizona's fabulous culinary, beverage, and agricultural riches and the people behind them, so I just hope I continue to do them justice!

Experience

Inducted into the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame in 2016 as Food Writer of The Year
Winner of the Arizona Restaurant Association’s 2018 Foodist Award for Best of the Best Food Writer
Winner of Favorite Local Food Website 2016, 2017 and 2018: Arizona Foothills Magazine
Winner of Best Food Feed on Instagram 2017: Arizona Foothills Magazine
Winner of Best Food Blog 2017: Phoenix Magazine Best of our Valley
Nominated for Most Influential in Valley Food 2018 by Arizona Foothills Magazine
One of 10 Phoenix Food Instagram Accounts Guaranteed to Make You Hungry on VisitPhoenix.com
Write on Rubee instagram recommended as a 2017 travel resource in San Diego Magazine
Featured in Arizona Foothills Magazine December 2016 issue: A Day in the Life of Christina Barrueta
Guest contributor for ABC15 Arizona, travel website Mike's Road Trip, and AZLatinos.com
Profiled in 2011 for Phoenix New Times Christina Barrueta's Perfect Food Day
Recognized as a 2010 Phoenix New Times Valley Tastemaker
2008-2015: Writer for Arizona Wine Lifestyle Rubee's Restaurant Spotlight, Happy Hour Highlights and Cocktail Corner. http://azwinelifestyle.com/author/christina-barrueta/

My work can be seen in local and national online and print publications such as Time Out, Phoenix Home & Garden, Arizona Foothills Magazine, Scottsdale Visitors Guide, ExperienceScottsdale.com, Desert Dish, the Arizona Office of Tourism travel website Expedition Foodie, Paradise Valley Lifestyle magazine, luxury resort publication Montage Magazine, Four Seasons Resort Magazine, the Arizona Republic's Who's Who in Business, Lovin' Life After 50, Walt Danley's Portfolio magazine, and as a contributor to the book Where to Eat Pizza.

I have also served as a cocktail and culinary judge for events such as Taste of the Nation, Dish It Out, the Mac n' Cheese Throwdown, the Slider Throwdown, the Scottsdale Culinary Festival Burger Battle, Arizona Taco Festival, My Nana's Best Tasting Salsa Challenge, The Bacon and Beer Classic, Scottsdale Mac & Cheese Fest, United States Bartending Guild (USBG) competitions, the Devour Phoenix annual Bartending Competition, Sriracha Festival cocktail competition, Bar Brawl at Sanctuary on Camelback, the Chile Pepper Festival cocktail competition, the Marriott Bourbon Battle, Bloody Mary Mix Down at the AZ Hot Sauce Expo, Arizona Cocktail Week Last Slinger Standing preliminaries, and cocktail competitions for national brands such as WhistlePig Whiskey, Ketel One vodka, Azuñia Tequila, and the Hennessy Bartender Competition.

Guest on 3TV CBS 5 | Good Morning Arizona.
Guest on 12 News NBC Arizona Midday
Guest on My AZ Radio Now, Arizona Cocktail Hour, Restaurant Live AZ and Into the Soup
My winning Spanish burger was featured on the menu at Proof at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale Troon North
Speaker on the 2015 panel for the Southern Arizona chapter of the Public Relations Society of America
Invited as a participant in The Society of Professional Journalists Valley of the Sun Publicity Summit 2015, 2016, 2017

Featured in a Glenfiddich advertorial in Modern Luxury Scottsdale magazine:

Setting up for a TV segment on Channel 12 Arizona Midday

A guest on Good Morning Arizona (click photo below for video):

Click on photos to read articles:

The Roca brothers of Celler de Can Roca (2013 & 2015 Best Restaurant in the World) - Executive Chef Joan, Pastry Chef Jordi, and Sommelier Josep - at the Phoenix dinner on the El Celler de Can Roca & BBVA Tour. (photo by Debby Wolvos)