Americans are travelling more in search of a good meal: According to a 2013 report by Mandala Research, a tourism research firm, 51% of leisure travelers want to learn about interesting cuisines or experience a memorable meal while on vacation, up from 40% in 2006.
Perhaps the rise can be credited to Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef whose culinary travelogues No Reservations (7 seasons on the Travel Channel) and Parts Unknown (on CNN) and best-selling books made sailing down the Mekong for a perfect bowl of noodles a hip way to show how far passion for good food can take you. He sold Americans a delicious idea when it came to travel: do it for the food.
It appears Americans listened as the popularity of culinary travel has been growing, though surveys by the World Food Travel Association have found the majority of food tourists don't think of themselves as gourmets. “From research we did in 2007 then again in 2013 we saw that while our consumer is better educated, he or she wasn’t necessarily any wealthier than other travelers," says Erik Wolf, executive director of the association. "Everyone likes good food and you don’t need to be rich to afford it.”
One of the latest flavors in food tourism is archaeological culinary tours, which provide travelers with an opportunity to taste, learn and understand a country and its food history in a modern culinary context. In Italy, Elifant Archaeo-Culinary Tours take travelers through Rome’s off-the-eaten track sites, such as seldom seen ruins of Portus, an ancient seaport constructed by Roman emperors to advance the city’s sea commerce, or an 1890s slaughterhouse. The tours, led by an archaeologist and a food writer, are paired with curated meals that focus on food provenance (for instance, a tour through the Roman Ghetto ends with a meal centered around the Jewish influence on Roman food).
Peru has become a hot destination for foodies. CondeNast Traveler recently declared the South American nation the new epicenter of modern gastronomy, thanks to an abundance of fascinating indigenous ingredients as well as European-introduced ones. The country’s capital Lima is a hub of hot restaurants manned with multiple-star chefs in the kitchen. Consider a day of sightseeing and eating (or cooking), or create your own DIY restaurant tour with the magazine’s recommendations.
Other closer-to-home opportunities, if you’re time- or cash-strapped, are state-focused culinary treks that highlight local bounty and food history. For example, there's the Breakfast Burrito Byway, New Mexico’s self-guided 50-restaurant tour over 43 cities, or the Kentucky Bourbon Train offered by the Kentucky Distiller’s Association (in 2013 it had a record 570,000 visitors).
