Food Tours

Has anyone done any food tours, or cooks tours, where you go to a destination city and take a class or two on local cuisine? Or can you recommend a tour that takes you on a food tour of the best the city has to offer? I'm a single traveler with an interest in ethnic cuisines. Seems to me that a tour might be right up my alley..if I can figure out some good ones.

[alwayscooking]

Santa Fe School of Cooking offers demos, hands-on lessons, and eating tours. They specialize in Southwestern and Mexican foods. We're heading there next month!

[orangewasabi]

I would love to do one of these tours: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/trip...

In particular I like her attempt to cut out the fussybudgets:

"These trips are not for everyone. Food is an important part of the trip and participants must love spicy Thai food. They are designed for independent, physically active people in good physical condition who enjoy spicy Thai food, rice and fish, eat food of all kinds, don't mind rising early occasionally or roughing it when necessary to see beautiful sights. We cannot accept anyone who has special dietary needs – including food allergies, strong food preferences or not eating a specific food be it animal (pork, chicken, fish, shellfish), vegetable (such as onions or peanuts) or grain (wheat, for example). . . . They are especially designed for Thai food lovers who love to eat everything – we feast on Thai food every day of the trip. "

[Louise]

And she has week long cooking intensives in the SF Bay Area. Some people make a vacation of it, coming from different parts of the US or even internationally.

Of course, anyone who reads my posts knows I'm a huge Kasma groupie.

[RGR]

Savory Sojourns offers culinary tours of different NYC neighborhoods. It's owned by Addie Tomei, who conducts many of the tours herself. One of the tours begins with a light breakfast in her own Greenwich Village home. Another involves shopping and hands-on cooking. And, btw, she is the mother of actress Marisa Tomei.

http://www.savorysojourns.com/index.htm

[MsMaryMc]

In Seattle, the Pike Place Market Foundation offers a series of Chef's Tours. A local chef takes you on a shopping trip through the Market, and then demonstrates the preparation of a meal from the ingredients they've bought (which you'll then get to eat). The proceeds go to the Market Foundation's social service programs.

They're a little late getting the new schedule up, but it should eventually be available here (click on "Events")

http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/

Marilyn Tausend, hands down, the best person to take you to Mexico! Check out culinaryadventures.com and call her. You won't be sorry.

Another internationally oriented tour group that has cooking tours is Imaginative Traveller. Well-run and organized tours.
See the link below.

Link: http://www.imaginative-traveller.com/

Check out intrepid travel's "gourmet traveller" series. I enjoyed the China one, and at way too much, but they also do Japan, SE Asia, and i think India. About two weeks each.

Tours in San Francisco:
http://www.fineliving.com/fine/adventure/article/0,1663,FINE_1403_2347271,00.html
(last year we did the Augustin Gaytan tour of SF's Mission neighborhood and enjoyed the afternoon - the groceries and produce were of special interest to me)

http://www.wokwiz.com/
Shirley Fong-Torres

GraceAnn Walden
http://sanfrancisco.about.com/library/weekly/aa080300a.htm
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_storie...

I've never taken her SF tour, but Shirley Fong-Torres was Martin Yan's Chief Sidekick on a food tour of Hong Kong about ten years ago, and we all remember her as being both a very sharp and very personable guide. Funny, smart and friendly. Yan was that way addressing the whole group, but not at all outgoing up close, whereas Shirley was always ready for some conversation. It was she who initiated us into the mysteries of dim sum, for which I will be forever grateful.

Shirley Fong-Torres is a rock star! A great way to explore Chinatown for neophytes.

Then why couldn't her brother (Ben Fong-Torres) get her on the cover of Rolling Stone?

Link: http://eatingchinese.org

[weebly]

We have taken Shirley Fong-torres tour - she does two. Try the eating your way thru chinatown one. It started with breakfast and ended with post-lunch beers at the Buddha Bar. She is knowledgable, entertaining, and food was great, especially if you don't get to visit a Chinatown locale often. Hubbie won Shirley's prize of a pink plastic walking pig because - you guessed it - he ate the most.

You don't say where you live, so if it's in NYC, this may not be what you are looking for.

The Institute of Culinary Education ("ICE") offers "Cooking in NY: A Five-Day Culinary Adventure." I've linked below to the description on their website.

Link: http://www.iceculinary.com/recreation...