Foodie cities
and scenes
the serious cook and informative tours
for the rest of the group.
For more information, contact Visit
Napa Valley’s Corbie Smith at corbie@
visitnapavalley.com or go to visitnapa
valley.com.
What can you say about a smallish city
in the Smokies that has more than 250
independent restaurants (six of them
with James Beard-nominated chefs); 14
farmers markets, including the nation’s
first wild foods market; and 1,000 family
farms in the surrounding area?
You can say that Asheville’s vibrant
and robust food scene makes it deserv-
ing of its moniker, Foodtopia. That is,
when it’s not being referred to as Beer
City, the result of having the most brew-
eries per capita (1 per 41 residents) in
the United States.
Naturally, a city with this kind of
food cred has a lot to offer groups. For
starters, Eating Asheville offers walking
tours to give foodies an inside look at
Foodtopia. You can book your group on
the High Roller Tour to sample the cre-
ations of the city’s award-winning chefs,
or the Classic Tour, where they can enjoy
up to seven restaurants in a single after-
noon. And if you prefer, the company
Montford Rooftop Bar at the Hyatt Place hotel, Asheville
can tailor a private tour for your group.
Smaller groups (a maximum of 12
people, including the driver) can take
advantage of a discounted farm-to-table
van tour. These guided tours visit farms
specializing in produce, cheese, chicken,
beef, lamb and flowers, and they include
an opportunity to meet the farmers.
Most tours culminate with a farm-
driven meal prepared by a local chef.
If farm-to-table is too tame for your
group, book them on a forage-to-table
adventure with No Taste Like Home,
the only company of its kind in North
America. These tours take guests “off
the eaten” path into fields and forests to
learn about wild foods. Groups can opt
to cook their own foraged foods or take
them to one of the company’s partner
restaurants for a “find dining” experi-
ence. No Taste Like Home also offers pri-
vate, customized tours for groups, with
an option for a wild foods cooking class.
Foraging can be thirsty work, so you
might want to include a guided walk-
ing tour that takes your group behind
the scenes at some of those 41 brewer-
ies. Led by a certified beer expert, the
walks focus on how brewers shape raw
ingredients into their individual vision,
and tours include a lot of tasting along
the way.
For more information, go to explore
asheville.com or contact Beth McKinney
at [email protected].
Cotton Row Restaurant,
Huntsville
Huntsville, Alabama:
A food scene that’s out of this world
26
April/May 2018
Huntsville may be better known as
home to the U.S. Space and Rocket
Center than for its reputation as a city
for foodies, but according to Kristen
Pepper, marketing manager for the
Huntsville CVB, the culinary scene has
taken off in recent years with … well,
the speed of a rocket.
With a number of excellent restau-
rants in the historical downtown area,
your group will be spoiled for choice.
A good way to maximize their experi-
ence is to book them for Dine and Dash.
Held the second Wednesday of every
month from April through October, this
Asheville, North Carolina:
America’s Foodtopia