Culinary Tourism

Culinary tourism is travel primarily centered around food.

Understand

While everybody who travels has to eat at their destination, some places are significant enough that people travel specifically to eat there. The idea of traveling for food dates all the way back to the early 20th century, when the Michelin Guide designated any restaurant granted 3 stars as being worth an entire journey. While culinary tourism was historically just about fine dining, it's become a lot more common to view culinary tourism as a way of engaging with the local culture by experiencing food as they experience it. This immersive form of dining has a lot of overlap with agritourism, and many travelers will do both at the same time.

Prepare

For culinary tourists who just want to eat good food, the Michelin Guide is the preferred resource for finding good restaurants, since they have a world-class reputation for quality and have budget options for travelers who don't want to break the bank. For culinary tourists who want to immerse themselves into the local culture, that's almost the exact opposite of what you want to do. Many restaurant guides (particularly the Michelin Guide) have been accused of being biased in favour of French (or broadly European-style) restaurants. Instead, travelers looking for an authentic experience will usually be better off eating street food and at more low-key restaurants that are frequented by average locals.

Drink

Many travelers think that culinary tourism is about eating, and it is, but it's just as much about drinking, too. What you'll be drinking depends on where you'll be going. Wine is a common drink for people traveling to Europe, and it's well-known that France and Italy are both highly regarded for their vineyards. What's less well-known is that California, Australia, and Canada are equally well-regarded among wine critics. In some parts of Europe, like Germany, beer is the drink of choice and well worth checking out. Asian cultures (especially Muslim cultures, which typically ban alcohol) tend to focus more on tea, while African and South American countries are usually more known for their coffee.

Respect

Because food is an important part of every culture, there's usually certain rules and expectations around how you should eat it. At its most extreme, eating can be a complex ritual where the consumer is meant to perform a series of actions, like the traditional Passover meal in Judaism. Failing to obey these often unspoken rules can be anywhere from a minor faux pas like having your elbows on the table in America to extremely offensive mistakes like leaving your chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice in Japan. People are usually understanding of mistakes by foreigners as long as it doesn't violate deeply held taboos or religious values, but it's important to know what to do and what not to do when it comes to eating.