You’ll Want to Try One of These 8 Food Tours in the USA
Nothing captures the true flavor of a city like its food. Can you really travel to Memphis without eating BBQ, or Key West and not have Key Lime Pie? To me, spending time with a local expert on a food tour is one the best ways to truly learn about the rich cultural heritage of a place. Not only do you come to understand how foods become regional favorites, it’s also an opportunity to learn about history and local traditions. Best of all, you enjoy a sampling of foods that take you to the roots of a city, while socializing with fellow travelers. I’ve reached out to family travel bloggers in the USA to round up some of their favorite experiences.
Old Pasadena Food Tasting Tour – Melting Pot Food Tours
California
California
Photo: Courtesy of Everything Mom
Cafes down artsy alleys. Sweet treats in refurbished warehouses. Mom and pop shops for local flavor. Melting Pot Food Tours is the local friend who knows the best spots to eat while sharing a glimpse into the area’s culture and history. My tip: plan a tour at the start of your trip to get a lay of the food land in Pasadena.
Contributed by Carrie at EverythingMom | Grabbing a Bite in Old Pasadena
Wooster Square Tour – Taste of New Haven
Connecticut
Connecticut
Photo: Courtesy of Family Travel Magazine
New Haven, CT may be known as the home of Yale University, but it’s also famous for its delicious food. On a press trip to New Haven, I had the opportunity to go on a food tour of New Haven with the Taste of New Haven. Their Little Italy Pizza Tour makes stops at Sally’s Apizza, Frank Pepe’s, and more. Our knowledgeable tour guide provided us with lots of colorful commentary about the city’s history. It’s definitely worth a trip to the city to sample all of these delicious foods.
Contributed by Jodi at Family Travel Magazine | A Weekend In New Haven: Things to Do
Key Lime Pie Hop
Florida
Florida
Photo: Courtesy of Along for the Trip
Each year around the 4th of July, Key West celebrates with their annual Key Lime Festival, and part of the festival is the Key Lime Pie Hop – a must for anyone in love with this zesty dessert. Participants are led on a guided walking tour of Old Town Key West where they sample pie entries from local businesses. It’s a gluttonous affair that’s totally worth it!
Contributed by Carrick at Along for the Trip | Things to Do in Key West with Kids
Downtown Southern Food Tour – Atlanta Food Walks
Georgia
Georgia
Photo: Courtesy of We3Travel
The Downtown Southern Food tour with Atlanta Food Walks (now Unexpected Atlanta Tours & Gifts) is the perfect way to combine learning about the Civil Rights Movement in Atlanta with sampling delicious southern specialties. The tour starts out at Paschal’s, where Civil Rights leaders like John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr. used to meet to plan rallies, marches and eat their favorite fried chicken.
We also sampled BBQ, meat pies, soul food, and pralines, all while learning about the African, Native American, and Creole influences on Southern food. And, to show that not all greens need to be cooked with pork fat, we even visited a healthy juice bar for amazing green juice and kale chips. When we were done, it was a short walk over to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site to continue our history lesson.
Contributed by Tamara at We3Travel
A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours – Brooklyn Pizza Tour
New York
New York
Photo: familyTravelsUSA
Who doesn’t love pizza, and what better place for a food tour than Brooklyn, New York! From the moment you board the bus in downtown Manhattan, A Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour is an entertaining few hours sampling pizza, taking a few Instagram-worthy photos and learning some history about this well-known city. Compare the flavors of the Neapolitan-style pizza from Grimaldi’s with the Sicilian-style at L&B Spumoni Gardens. Watch the famous John Travolta walking scene from Saturday Night Fever while visiting the movie location and stop at the boardwalk at Coney Island to round out your tour.
Contributed by Kath at familyTravelsUSA | Why You Should Add a Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour to Your NYC Bucket List
Sweet Stroll Through Over-the-Rhine – Cincinnati Food Tours
Ohio
Ohio
Photo: Courtesy of MommyTravels.net
Take a Sweet Stroll in Cincinnati, Ohio is a walking tour around the popular Over-the-Rhine neighborhood highlighting sweet foods. From the most popular donut destination in town to hidden gems only a local would know, you will make many stops to enjoy treats while learning the rich history of this part of Cincinnati. This tour is incredibly informative and tasty. The tour guide has lived here her whole life and can tell you the history and future of almost every building you walk past.
Contributed by Meagan at MommyTravels.net | Take a Sweet Stroll with Cincinnati Food Tours
East Nashville Food Tour – Walk Eat Nashville
Tennessee
Tennessee
Photo: Courtesy of We3Travel
We recently took a food tour with Walk Eat Nashville of East Nashville, which was recently named one of the coolest neighborhoods in America. Since this neighborhood is across the river from downtown Nashville, it is probably an area many visitors would skip, and they would be missing out. We sampled everything from fine dining to street food, southern specialties like pimento cheese biscuits in a restaurant that started the food movement in East Nashville, to locally made ice cream “Mondays” at a shop owned by a YouTube star. When you go to Nashville, there are two things you can’t miss — country music and good food!
Contributed by Tamara at We3Travel | Exploring the East End on a Nashville Food Tour
Gourmet Seattle Tour – Savor Seattle Food Tours
Washington
Washington
Photo: Courtesy of Lisa@obsessedwtravel
Seattle is culinary delight just waiting to be explored and there is no better guide through this food town than joining a Savor Seattle Food Tour. My family and I couldn’t believe the quantity and quality of the various gourmet dishes this tour provided, and for the adults we loved the wine and cocktail pairings (don’t worry, the kids aren’t left out – they try fun bubbly and fruity concoctions). Our highlights included ORFEO Restaurant’s slow-roasted wild boar with grilled polenta, Serious Pie’s roasted mushroom truffle cheese pizza & margherita pizza, Cha:n’s spicy Korean pork slider and braised short rib, Noi Thai Cuisine’s crispy garlic chicken, Steelhead Diner’s Razor clam chowder with truffle oil and so much more!!!
Contributed by Lisa @obsessedwtravel
