Foods of New York in the News
Traveling to eat: Food tourism grows in USA
Foods of New York Tours Inc., which charges $40 for the tour of Chelsea Market and for its other excursions around the city, is also drawing a growing crowd. After recent expansion of 30 percent yearly, ticket sales for 2006 totaled more than 14,000 -- up from about 2,500 in 2000, said owner Todd Lefkovic.
Companies following a similar model -- offering tours that alternate walking, talking and tasting -- have been springing up elsewhere around the country. Shane Kost, who opened Chicago Food Planet tours last year, said the company became profitable almost immediately. Kelly Hamilton said her New Orleans Culinary History Tours were fully booked within months after opening in 2004, although business has since slowed following Hurricane Katrina.
The tours, Hamilton said, allow people to go beyond the usual sightseeing to experience a destination more intimately, incorporating the senses of taste, touch and smell. In Chicago, Kost focuses on showing people spots that are local secrets, helping them feel like they're going off the beaten path.
Of course, for many tourists, culinary travel is less about education and more about finding unique eating and drinking experiences. More than half the travelers who seek out food and wine activities make a point of trying local cuisine and restaurants, according to the TIA study, which was performed by Edge Research and surveyed 2,364 leisure travelers between July 21 and Aug. 9.
The study respondents had volunteered to participate in online questionnaires, and results were then weighted to reflect the general population. Pam Hays, of Fayetteville, Texas, said she and her husband make sure to sample the local cuisine wherever they travel."In New York," she said, "at breakfast we discuss lunch; at lunch we discuss afternoon snack; at afternoon snack we discuss dinner."Hays, who was on the Chelsea Market tour, is a general manager at a restaurant, but plenty of others can enjoy such activities without that kind of expertise.
"We're not connoisseurs," said Mark Littlejohn, a merchant sailor from Long Beach, Calif., also on the tour. "This is to me more interesting than museums. ... You can actually experience it."
