Any trip will involve food, so why not take in a culinary tour! It’s not uncommon to sample new, different, ethnic, or cultural foods when traveling and it doesn’t have to be a secondary mission. Culinary tours make food and dining the feature!
When I watched Sydney’s food sampling trip around Chicago in The Bear, it made me want the full experience. While watching the food on a screen was beautiful, I wanted the smells and tastes too. Now, a version of her tour is available for all of us to experience.
Chicago Food & City Tours offers Yes, Chef!: A Bear-Inspired Food Tour. The tour lasts approximately 3 ½ hours and is suitable for all ages (13 +) and fitness levels. Transportation between restaurants is aboard a bus. At $129 per person, it may seem expensive for those of us on restricted diets because substitutions are not allowed.
But that’s not the only option for a culinary tour. City Experiences’ New York Signature Dinner Cruise features a chef-prepared buffet with a wide range of options that may work. A dinner menu can be viewed on the website. Gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options are clearly marked.
The cruise leaves from Chelsea Piers and has a live DJ on board. Dine and dance for 2 ½ hours at a price of $109 per person (+ cash bar). There are also holiday bookings for this cruise at additional cost. Watching New Year’s Eve fireworks on one of these cruises would be a spectacular way to welcome a new year!
City Experiences also offers culinary tours in Boston and San Francisco as well as London, Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Barcelona, Madrid, and more. Available dietary accommodations are listed on the website and the tours welcome those who need special accommodations (with some limitations).
If you have an RV or like to travel by car, pick up a copy of Roadfood and create your own culinary tour or check out the hand-picked restaurants on roadfood.com. Based on the book’s recommendations, you might end up eating tamales at Doe’s Eat Place – something I’ve done in two Doe’s locations. I wasn’t on a specifically culinary tour at the time, but I always enjoy walking through the kitchen.
On one of those trips, I got stuck in Greenville, MS where the air traffic controller watched TV in the tower and I lost so much money at the casino I haven’t played blackjack again. Those details are not important to this post, but seem like the kind of thing I shouldn’t leave out because they absolutely contributed to the flavor of the experience.
That’s what I’m looking for in a trip – flavor – a taste of the most interesting things around me. If that’s inspired by the culinary world, I’m thrilled. If someone else does the planning and I just get to enjoy, I’m thrilled. If I get to taste wonderful food, I’m thrilled. So I’m thinking, why not take a culinary tour!
Travel Tip #25 – Excite Your Tastebuds – in thriver words (cooking2thrive.com)
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”