Travel has always been about sights. Icons. Landmarks. Skylines. Places, in other words. And while they continue to matter a great deal to many people going places today, there is an evolving group for whom the most meaningful experience of a city may no longer be the insight they offer (be they ever so genuine and intimate) into what that place is like. These people, or, more to the point, we, are becoming at least as excited about experiences that explore how a city is actually experienced. And it is through food — from what it is, to how it is prepared, to how it is consumed, and by whom, and when — that they, or we, are able to most effectively get at the character, the qualities, if not the actual contours, of how a city is.
Why Cuisine Tells a Deeper Story Than Sightseeing
Food is not like monuments. It is personal, and it changes. Recipes change through generations, through migration, through trade, through cultural shifts. To eat what a local eats is to experience a sense of taste, a sense of smell, and a sense of conversation. It is a connection in a way that site visits rarely offer. It opens a window where eating transforms from a biological need to cultural appreciation.
Osaka: Understanding a City Through Its Kitchen
In Japan, the city of Osaka styles itself as the ‘nation’s kitchen’, a tagline originating from its boisterous local-food culture and rows upon rows of vendors plying their trade. But the truth is, you can learn a lot when you embark on a food tour in Osaka. Eateries and markets in town will give you a glimpse into the boisterous, hospitable, and distinctive lifestyle of Osaka’s residents. All these will more than acquaint you with the city that lies beyond its temples and food-lit boulevards.
Buenos Aires: History Served on a Plate
Buenos Aires is the product of a fusion between European and South American culture, and nowhere is this more fun to discover than in its kitchen. A food tour in Buenos Aires takes you to neighbourhood parrillas, bakeries, and cafés and provides you with more information about immigration and social life in the city. Everything you will try will introduce you to the whole history of the city and illustrate the deeply rooted traditions that are still lived in Buenos Aires.
Guadalajara: Regional Identity Through Cuisine
There is no part of the world where a history of regional food is separate from a history of regional culture. A bite through the streets on a food tour in Guadalajara tastes of innovation, tradition, meaning, and place, allowing us to ingest Jalisco’s agricultural, historical, and culinary identity. The food that we eat is of the place: it is cultivated in the surrounding fields, processed here, prepared by the people that live here, and meant to be shared with the people that live here. You can’t really know a place until you know what’s for dinner.
A New Way to Experience Cities
As the world becomes less centralized and more experiential, food has become one of our best ways to explore the world and to explore the city. When people of all sorts and from all places come together at a table and break bread, we become part of the story. So too when we travel to distant new places and find ourselves with strangers at a great communal table in a downtown that we’ve never been to: for just one night, out of 6 or 8 billion, we’ll be part of that city’s history.
