When a rider hops in the back of Kreskin Torres' car, there's a solid chance the conversation is going to turn toward food.
"If I'm in Austin Texas, where is your favorite place go?" he asks one rider in a video posted on his social media page, The Rideshare Foodie.
Its where he takes his tens of thousands of followers on this epic road trip that he started seven years ago, logging more than 400,000 miles on his car.
"When I started, I would spend a month in each state, and I would take a week in each major city," he said. "I’ve been to all 50 states already and now my focus is small towns that nobody knows about."
To fund this cross-country journey, Torres works for Uber and Lyft, driving people around in whatever town he's calling home at the moment. Its often his riders who give him recommendations of what restaurants to try or they'll offer to show him their favorite dishes and drinks.
The example he gives is when he met a man in Kentucky who showed him how to make "Kentucky wine."
"He takes a paper cup, 2 ice cubes, he adds in the Seagrams and guess what the secret ingredient is? Water. That’s Kentucky wine," Torres said with a laugh.
He said the top five food recommendations from riders are pizza, tacos or Mexican, burgers, barbecue and Italian. He's fine to try any and all of those, but what he's really looking for are dishes that make a state or town special.
"If I’m going to Nebraska I don’t want a taco, I want chili and cinnamon rolls, which has been my favorite dish out of the 50 states."
"If I go to Montana, I want huckleberry everything or a patsy."
Torres also serves as an unofficial ambassador for Baltimore. He takes every opportunity to tell people about his hometown and the foods that make it special, from crab cakes to Smith Island cakes.
"It's kind of great to learn about somebody else in exchange they get to learn about me and where I’m from," he said. "By experiencing different things and different towns, you have more of an appreciation of where you’re from and where you live."
Torres is working on several projects to showcase what he has learned on the road, including an app, a book and an event that he says would be like a national potluck, representing the 50 states.
You can follow him on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook by searching The Rideshare Foodie or check out his website here.
