About Nicole Rupersburg, creator of 3D Tours

   I, foodie.

   I was recently at a business lunch with some fellow female foodies and they asked me the one question I have the most difficult time answering: "So, how DID you come to have such a passion for food?"

   I grew up in a household where Shake 'N Bake and Hamburger Helper was de rigueur.  Dining "out" meant a cheeseburger at Big Boy.  (And I still to this day love Big Boy.)  I was an extremely finicky eater, ordering only pizza, nachos, and cheeseburgers when my family would go out (and every one of them had to be plain, God help the person who put anything but cheese on my nachos).  Every family get-together my father and uncle would regale all of us with stories of how we used to go to Red Lobster where I would be given popcorn "chicken" (shrimp) and how, at two years old and not knowing the difference, I loved it.  And how, at 15 years old and obstinately picky, I refused to touch shellfish. 

They told this story at every holiday, as if for the first time, Every. Time.

And yet somewhere in all of that was a discriminating palate waiting to be discovered.  Even as a child, I KNEW what restaurants had the best food (Luigi's at 17 & Hayes--long since closed--had the best deep dish pizza EVER).  As I grew older, I continuously expanded my horizons.  Through chance, circumstance, and the adventures of adolescence, I was exposed to a whole new world of culinary appreciation.  I quickly surpassed my unwitting teachers in my consumption of culinary knowledge, and my education was later escalated by a significant other who exposed me to some of the finest dining in the world. 

It's a simple story, really: Girl meets boy. Boy gives girl food. Girl loses boy, keeps food.

From my early adult years, dining was an adventure.  Later, it became a journey--not a means to an end, but an end in itself.  For me, a perfect meal is any one that lasts four hours and involves good company.  Now I truly understand the difference between eating to live, and living to eat.

This passion bore a blog called Dining in Detroit, the first Detroit blog wholly dedicated to local restaurant news and reviews.  That blog begot food writing for a number of publications including Metromode, Real Detroit Weekly, Metromix, 944 Detroit, and more.  It also begot a successful continued partnership with Detroit Restaurant Week.  In addition to writing about food, I've been forcing people to eat food as the Project Lead for Detroit Synergy's Supper Club since October 2008, organizing and promoting all my own monthly dining events and introducing countless many newbies to some of Detroit's most fabulous dining destinations.  

The way to my heart is most definitely through my stomach.  I'm a person with food constantly on the brain, and I DO love to hear myself talk.  Discover Detroit Dining was simply a natural culmination of all of these things.

Allow me to show you my wonderful world of food.  We'll laugh.  We'll cry (but only from laughing).  We'll gain a few pounds.

Bon Appetit!