How to Choose Food Tour Company for an Authentic Taste of Your Next Travel Destination
When traveling to new locales, one of the first things my husband and I do is go on a food tour. It’s something we started doing a few years ago, and honestly, I only wish we had started booking them sooner. A food tour is so much more than just grabbing dinner or lunch in a new spot. You’ll learn I’m going to quote Anthony Bourdain a lot, but I think he says it best a lot of the time.
“Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.”
That sums it up. When you find a true local, authentic, and ethical food tour you get to know the stories of a place and its people. Plus, taste the real local flavor at spots you likely wouldn’t have found on your own. They allow you to eat like a local, with a local, while learning the stories of a destination. You can also ask for tips for the rest of your trip! The food tour guides usually have the best restaurant suggestions. No surprise there!
What is a Food Tour?
But first, what is a food tour? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You stop at multiple locations, led by a guide, and taste bites of local cuisine at each stop. On the extra special tours, you get to know the chef or owner, learning their story (check out my video from a Bangkok food tour here!). Many will share authentic dishes with the reasoning behind why it’s so popular, and how that ties to local history and culture. Each stop will offer a portion of the dishes chosen by the company so you can get a taste without filling up at one singular spot. In many cases, you can try almost a week’s worth of tasty spots in just a few hours!
4 Reasons Why You Should Go on a Food Tour
So, why should you consider booking a food tour when you get to a new destination? Here are just a few of the many reasons:
You Try New Things You Otherwise Wouldn’t Have
Would I order insects for lunch or shark for dinner? Probably not. But food tours push you out of your comfort zone, forcing you (in the best way) to try new things! That’s what life’s all about, right?
It Gives You Ideas for the Rest of Your Trip
We never leave our food tours without asking the guide for tips. A lot of the time they’ll give you an eater’s guide to the city. So, by the end of the tour you have a list of local, authentic spots to try for the rest of your trip!
It’s a Fun Way to See the Sights & Meet Locals
A lot of the food tours you find will either stop or pass by local sights and landmarks. The tour guide will stop and give commentary without getting too into the nitty-gritty details. I’m not a huge fan of museums, I get a little bored, so I like this best of both worlds approach!
At many of the stops, they’ll introduce you to the vendor or chef, as I mentioned before. You learn about their inspiration, how they learned to cook, what the dishes mean to them. It’s a beautiful way to get to know other people! This leads to my next point…
You Meet People from Around the World
The last food tour we took we joined people from Belgium. The tour before that was with a group from the U.K. You never know who you’re going to meet. We’ve made many friends on food tours and learned about other countries and cultures, too, not just the spot we’re indulging in at the moment!
Plus, I think this is a great opportunity for you to be an ambassador of sorts for the United States. We get a bad rap for a lot of good reasons. We’re loud, we’re picky, we’re not as cultured as other countries in many cases. Or so they think. Meeting people from places across the globe gives you the chance to break those stereotypes and to be frank, show people that not everyone from America is a self-consumed asshole!
4 Ways to Choose the Best Food Tour in a New Place
So, how do you find a food tour when getting ready to explore a new city? Here are a few things to consider:
Check Out Their “About Us” Page
Typically, if a food tour company is really authentic and operating ethically, you’ll be able to tell by their website. They’ll talk about the vendors they work with and share their personal stories; their mission will be front and center; they’ll introduce you to their “why”; you’ll get to know their team. Don’t be worried if they don’t share the spots you’re going. None of them do. That’s part of the fun!
Use Google & Airbnb Experiences
A lot of people default to using Viator or Expedia or places like that for booking tours. While I have nothing against those, I think to find truly authentic food tours, you want to check out Google first. Use terms like “local food tour in Mexico City” or “woman-owned food tour company in Madrid”. See what pops up! And go past the first page of the search results. Some of the smaller companies don’t have the money or time to invest in SEO or marketing, their focus is on offering stellar tour experiences. So, while they’re incredible, their search rankings, not so much.
We’ve also had a ton of success with Airbnb Experiences. Airbnb allows locals to use their platform to create tours of their city without having to set up their own company many times. Some companies offer their tours here too though. So, if I do see that they’re a local food tour company in the tour description, I’ll go book direct through their website if they offer that function, so they save on commission fees.
Other sites you can use to connect directly with locals are WithLocals and Tours by Locals. Both usually have some sort of basic food tour option with local guides. Or you can work with the guide you choose to customize your adventure with foodie finds!
Consider the Group Size
Food tours that are really bringing you to spots that locals love won’t allow more than 10 people on a tour. They don’t want to disrupt the ambiance of a place and honestly, a lot of the best spots are tiny little hole in the walls that can’t accommodate a ton of people. The best tours we’ve been on have been super small groups of 5 or so people!
Look at the Reviews
This is common sense, but it has to be said. Reviews typically don’t lie, friends! If it says it was overpriced for the amount of food you get if someone says they stopped at a chain if they share there was really no good food, etc. look out for those things and skip the ones you’re unsure of! You’ll be able to tell the difference between a good food tour and a bad one pretty quickly.
5 Food Tour Companies I Love, Across the Globe
These five companies served up authentic eats from local spots, introduced us to locals, explained customs, and more. We can’t recommend them enough!
Eat Like a Local – Mexico City, Mexico
My favorite food tour company in the entire world is Eat Like a Local Mexico City! It’s woman-owned and operated and they use their profits to do good for local people. From adopting girls who work in the market to show them the world to providing fair wages and benefits for their female employees, they’re the epitome of a sustainable, ethical tour company.
Devour Tours – Sevilla, Granada, & Madrid, Spain
We fall in love with Spanish culture and food every time we do a tour with Devour Food Tours, and we’ve been on many! Our favorite was a food tour followed by a flamenco show in Sevilla.
Spain Food Sherpas – Malaga, Spain
This was a tour we did during the COVID era, and they took a ton of precautions and made us feel really comfortable. It felt good to be giving business to restaurants that so desperately needed patrons to stay open!
La Mesa Food Tours – Cartagena, Colombia
We did a coffee crawl with them where we tried a few different coffee spots, each showcasing unique brewing methods and coffee sourced in various Colombian coffee regions.
Bangkok Food Tours – Bangkok, Thailand
We did the Bangkok Best Eats Midnight Food Tour by Tuk-Tuk and it was so freaking fun. Zooming around from spot to spot in a tuk-tuk added a certain cultural element that was really fun. Plus, we ate some of the best Thai food we had on our entire nearly 3-week trip!
Have you been on a food tour before? Share your favorite food tour company in the comments!
