This was published 1 year ago
Food tours and travel experiences continue to grow
By Ute Junker
Intrepid Travel has 26 different food tours around the world.
A cool gelato on a hot day savoured as you stroll through Rome's Piazza Navona. Smoky lamb skewers in Marrakech's lively Jemaa el-Fna Square, or a piping-hot bowl of pho eaten on a Hanoi sidewalk. Food has always been part of the travel experience – but these days, travellers are looking beyond what is on the plate to learn more about the people who made it.
"There is this tiny nonna in the mountains of Sardinia, nonna Giovanna, who makes beautiful nougat. She toasts her own nuts, whips the egg whites by hand, and the warmth and joy she has in creating something so traditional for our guests is so wonderful," says Maeve O'Meara, who founded food tour company Gourmet Safaris more than two decades ago.
Back then, food tourism was a niche market; these days it's mainstream. More than ever before, food is integral to our travels.
"Food is the great connector," says chef Christine Manfield, who left restaurants behind to focus on food tours and events. "It is an immersive experience that lets you connect with the people and place wherever you are."
As with any industry, food tourism has its trends. A few years ago, many food-loving travellers were building their itineraries around restaurants that they wanted to eat at – a phenomenon driven in no small part by the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards which launched in 2002.
The awards have helped showcase the thriving dining scenes in a range of countries from Denmark, where chefs such as Rene Redzepi of Noma won acclaim for their new Nordic cuisine, to Peru.
These days, however, travellers are also looking for other ways to sink their teeth into a destination. Intrepid Travel's Erica Kritikides says that their food tours focus on "'real food' - street food, home cooking, proper local food markets and authentic culinary culture."
The 26 tours range across Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa with the most popular food tours including South Korea, Morocco and Mexico.
More and more travellers are also keen on getting their hands dirty with cooking classes. Viking Cruises, long known for including culinary experiences in its range of shore excursions, recently launched Paris: A Culinary Experience, a new four-day post-cruise extension that include workshops focused on croissant baking workshop and table etiquette as well as a visit to the city's first patisserie.
You don't have to leave the country to have a culinary adventure, with interest in homegrown experiences on the rise. "People are starting to become interested in Indigenous ingredients and where they come from," says Manfield, who is now focusing on Australia after years of leading tours to countries such as India and Cambodia.
Regional Australia in particular is in the spotlight. Emerging wine regions such as Queensland's Granite Belt and Victoria's Gippsland are building their profiles, and many of our most acclaimed restaurants are now found away well away from the big smoke, be it in Byron Bay, the Barossa Valley or, in the case of Gourmet Traveller's restaurant of the year, Tedesca Osteria, Red Hill in Victoria.
Australians are also interested in getting back to basics and learning more about where and how their food is grown. "People are wanting to have a hands-on experience, whether it be visiting farmers market, visiting food producers in the region, or having a farm stay," says Anthea Loucas, chief executive of Food and Wine Victoria.
Agritourism is about a lot more than chasing chooks. Book a stay at a property such as Margaret River's Burnside Organic Farm (burnsideorganicfarm.com.au) or Orto One in Victoria (villagedreaming.com.au) and you may learn about anything from harvesting honey or pruning grapevines to the basics of permaculture.
Another trend set to continue well into the future is the boom in plant-based dining. Large hotel chains such as Marriott and Hilton are incorporating plant-based meals into their menus while Ovolo Hotels (ovolohotels.com) not only introduced 100 per cent vegetarian dining into their restaurants – including Lona Misa in Melbourne, Alibi Bar & Kitchen in Sydney and Za Za Ta in Brisbane - but has also created a playbook to help other companies switch to a vegetarian offering.
"Throughout Australia and globally, we have received an incredible response from diners, and we look forward to maintaining this momentum," says Ovolo's Ian Curley.
"Sustainability in food is something we're appreciating a lot more," agrees O'Meara, who says that both her guests and the producers she visits are much more focused on it. "It's not about preaching, it's just an undertone that is there."
One thing that everyone seems to agree on: our hunger for experiences that give us an authentic taste of our destination will only continue to grow. Says Manfield, "If there is one thing we have learned over the last couple of years, it is to travel better. What's the point of staying in beige hotels and eating beige food, when travel is all about opening your eyes."
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