As a tourist, do you plan your trips around food?

Question

I'm curious as to how many of you plan your vacations around food/restaurants. The reason I ask is I see a lot of threads where NYers recommend Difara's in Midwood, Brooklyn for tourists to NYC. Being from NY and having eaten (and loved) Difara, I can easily say that if I was a first-time visitor to NY for about a week, I would not be schlepping my butt there because I feel that there are so many other things to do and a trip to Difara would just not fit in my schedule. I'd gladly go to a lesser quality (but still good) pizzaeria if it's more central or near other tourist destinations.

Many things drive me, and food is definitely one of them. One of the reasons I've held off so long visiting Costa Rica is that I've heard the food is pretty bland. However, I don't find food to be the most important component of my vacation (and life) -- probably not the most chowish statement to make. Food's up there, but I like to find a balance between food and other things. What do you guys do?

Answer

Always,

I research for months ahead of time, making a list, and doing a rough schedule of where we are eating for what I consider the important meals of the day(lunch & dinner). Breakfast is a rarity, since on vacation I rarely am up in time, and typically recovering from the previous nights festivities.

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Why else would you go somewhere?

Don't be afraid of Costa Rica, yes, there's beans and rice with every meal, but they have a great variety of simple tasty foods.

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I have planned the occasional trip around food, solely for the food. NYC is one of those kinds of destination. But for the most part, I go to a destination for a conference or to see friends, and then once I know where I am going, I plan out a lot of food-related stops along the way. I will definitely schlep out to a distant part of town to get something special (like donuts, fried chicken, soup dumplings, chocolate, etc), and I often find that I discover new fun places on the way. The food may be the destination, but there are always other things to look at too.

I also love stopping in places that look interesting or good. Some of our favorite eats have happened because we happened to drive by, and I made my poor hubbie stop and go back. We've had some really great tacos and pupusas, soul food, Asian meals, pastries, candies, etc. this way. My hubbie claims I have a sixth sense for places to eat. I must say, we've been awfully lucky so far. 

I have posted on this before, but I really love the fruit tourist thing, where you travel to a destination in time for a fruit season, like peaches in the South, cherries in B.C. There is nothing like tree-ripened fruit. Again, there are always other things to do along the way, but the fruit is the goal.

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I think food is a legit, motivating reason to visit a place. Sometimes, I plan my vacation destinations around the best rock climbing or the best skiing or the best beaches; other times, I go for the best food. 

My most recent vacation involved a long excursion in Singapore. There aren't a lot of reasons to visit Singapore other than for the food, if you're not going for business. (BTW, it did not disappoint: I got to try fresh mangosteen for the first time and sample an almost infinite variety of fantastic street fare.) 

And all those weekend trips my then SO and I made down to Baja California when we were living in L.A.... He thought we were going for the cheap booze and neverending parties; I was going for fish tacos, eaten on the beach the next morning to salt air and sun.

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Yes.

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I accept or try to get out of work trips around the globe in part due to food.

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I plan my trips around scenery first, but as soon as I know where I'm going, I start to plan the meals for the trip by determining the regional specialties, then researching to draw up a short list of restaurants for the places I'll be visiting. 

If I don't have a list of places, I'll walk around, reading menus, but unfortunately, the description often sounds better than what ends up being served. I'm very specific when I ask a concierge for recommendations now, after being sent to a tourist trap when I asked for a "good psarotaverna" in Crete last year. For the rest of the trip, I asked slightly more specific questions like, "where would you eat, if you wanted traditional food, and you weren't able to get it at home?" or "which restaurants do the locals eat at, if they want a good, home-style cooked meal?". 

I'll also check to see what's in season, before I go, and try to order seasonal specialties if I can. 

Depending on what country I'm visiting, sometimes I'll review my vocabulary, so I won't accidentally order rognone (kidneys) again. I usually bring a phrase book, just in case I encounter a word I don't recognize.

Right now, I'm researching restaurants in Brittany and the Lakes District. Cartmel sticky pudding, kouing amann, and possibly the best lobster in the whole wide world? I can't wait!

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I definitely enjoy researching restaurants, markets, and local foods, before traveling. Once I arrive I'm not really scheduled though, in a city I prefer to walk about and work in as many foodie highlights as reasonable as I progress, with a car I do pretty much the same thing.

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When I was a kid, my family vacations to the gulf coast of Texas were always scheduled to hit a certain restaurant in Menard, Texas (now sadly closed) at a meal time. That's probably where I got it from.

Now I wouldn't say I plan my trips around food, but if I'm going to a city I've been to before, there are certainly meals and foods I'd like to have again while I'm there!

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Nope, we never plan a holiday destination around food. But once a destination is agreed, I enjoy researching restaurant using sites like this one and other surfs. More of an issue when we are touring rather than staying in one place - if you're in one place, you are likely to hear of somewhere or come across it while out and about. When touring, you never come across "the great little place round the corner", unless you research.

J

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Yes and no. Yes in the sense that I travel to eat, but no in the sense that I will always set aside time to to explore, where I throw away the guidebooks and recommendations and just hit the ground cold to see what I stumble upon. There's nothing like serendipity.

Regarding the schlep to Di Fara's, I certainly wouldn't make a recommendation for great chow that is out of the way on a regular travel board. But on chowhound.com, when I make recommendations, I always do so with the assumption that the people asking about where to eat are hardcore chowhounds who are willing to go the extra 10 miles for serious chow. Assuming otherwise would be a serious sign of disrespect.

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I don't plan a trip specifically for the food, but once I find out where we're going...

The search begins.

I drive Mr CF nuts. ;-)

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It depends on who i'm travelling with. I have a couple of friends and relatives who are all about trying all sorts of new and different things out there, some more reserved but still willing to spend some $ on maybe a good steak (but nothing ethnic), and others who just want a good cheap meal. 

Have to kind of work around it sometimes.....one fellow great travel companion I have a blast with, but won't go there when it comes to trying out unusual restaurants, and can't tolerate really spicey stuff. So sometimes i've had to do some take-out on the road with her, but i don't get to try some of the fantastic restaurants and cuisines i've heard of in the city. I have dragged her to some very large farmer's markets though too. I insist on trying these out in any large area i visit. On a side note, if wineries count, i will drive off into the wild blue yonder to suss one out...and have...

Before i go anywhere however, i'm googling away to find restaurants i want to try. Even when i return to my home area, i plan out a few meals in old haunts i have to visit. I am planning a trip the end of June , and have already investigated several restaurants in the area to hopefully try, as well as the market. I am travelling with the somewhat unadventurous eater, so i'm trying to find places to make everyone happy !!

On another note. ...i tend to travel back from where-ever i go, with an awful lot of extra baggage containing food items :)

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While we don't travel somewhere exclusively for the food, is it always a *major* part of the planning -- I spend days on the internets (and since Nov 07 this wonderful place) checking out restos. Once I am in town, I follow my nose, or very often just 'happen' upon places, like the Marché du Vieux in Montreal, where I spent a good 45 minutes just looking around. Whenever we go to the city -- be that THE city, Philly or Bawlmer/D.C., at least one night is spent at a resto I've researched and we've agreed on.

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is there any other reason, besides food, for actually going somewhere? ;)

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To a degree. We travel on business, and I always research the location for food and wine. When we actually vacation, it is to places that we love, and they *happen* to have great food.

This is not exactly what you are asking, and I understand the differences. Still, the only way my wife can get me to accompany her on a trip to Las Vegas, is if I get to pick the restaurants.

So, food figures prominently into our travel plans. We seldom have time to do a trip, not around business, that we get to plan, just because of food. Fortunately, most of our travels are TO food cities, New Orleans, San Francisco (and its wine-country environs), London, Paris and even Las Vegas.

We do plan "long weekends" for food events, tastings or chef's specials, so that might qualify under the terms of your question. We've been known to fly in, across the country, for one night of wine tasting, or a certain chef's event. We also subscribe to several wine/dine newsletters from places that we've enjoyed, like Blackberry Farm in Waland, TN. We hope to get back for some of their vintner's dinners, even if it's fly-in/fly-out.

Hunt

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I've got to admit- my trips are frequently based around food. A trip last year was centered around a 1 week cooking class in Provence. I also once finagled a 2 year assigment in Japan because I wanted endless access to fresh good quality sushi and shabu shabu!!! My sister in law says that I am the only person that she knows that literally lands in a new town and then heads straight for the local food markets.....

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I guess Scouting stuck with me in "be prepared". Food always is a fair aspect of a trip. Some it is the primary reason, sometimes it is the only highlight in a trip required for more mundane reasons. I will travel many hours out of the way for an amazing food situation. I research possibilities for food located near the area that non-food activities have been planned. Sometimes they are used, sometimes it doesn't work into the equation, other times my 6th sense & serendipity bring us to a new discovery. But a little research pays in knowing what seasonal & regional specialties await...just in case! As an aside, one of my most frustrating travel experiences was with a companion in Paris who would not stop to explore the food shops (we don't have a kitchen so why waste time). Consequently my next trip there will be all about food! Hopefully with an apartment with an equipped kitchen too.

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Definitely! The only time I ever had bad food in Paris is when I failed to research restaurants (for a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip from London). And it was definitely bad food, so I learned my lesson! After I book the airplane tickets, I spend all available time researching restaurants, markets, and other food possibilities. I barely leave enough time to pack. 

I'm currently trying to plan a trip to Portugal around the availability of fresh sardines. Tips, anyone?

Anne

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Trips are planned around food and/or sports. I love good food and good sports and good drink. My husband proposed on the third date......LOL

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Like some others I don't solely plan my trip around food but it certainly plays a large part. I WILL go out of of my way to try somewhere that is supposed to be excellent as opposed to somewhere that is similar but not as good. So yes, I would visit Difara in your example.

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Clearly. Being married to a chef has meant glorious forays into the food cultures of many cities while on Eating Trips. Although two dinners every night can get to be a little much...On our own time, we tend to wander a bit more, but with foreknowledge of the area's bounty. This board is my bible for overseas research.

How many of you have become beacons for your friends? I can't tell you the amount of calls I get that start with "I'll be in XXX for a conference, where should I eat?" I'm on the board today researching best hits in Amesterdam for a friend's business trip.

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In a recent trip to Austin, I learned the geography from studying at length the Austin Chowhound site. Our daughter was very impressed (not an easy feat) that not only was I able to take her to new, inexpensive restaurants, but I could jump behind the wheel and drive us there w/o a map in a city I had never been before. 
A hearty thanks to the Austin hounders!

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For the original poster, the food in Costa Rica is not bland (at least not in Nasara). They put garlic in everything! The bakeries are really good too.

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I would say food is always on my mind in some way when going on a trip - sometimes it's more or less but in the end it's always a pretty substantial consideration and generally takes up a lot of my attention with planning. The one thing I try to do is consciously prepare myself when I know the food isn't the reason for why I am traveling. This came in handy when I was at a recent company meeting in AZ and one of the planned dinners was at Dave and Buster's. I did a bang up job at skee ball but wow that food was terrible. Terrible. 

My SO and I two years ago started a tradition where we pick an underrated or under the radar city in the US to see what their urban life is like - especially their food - so those trips are food focused. We had utterly amazing meals in Kansas City and did an okay job in Pittsburgh (the highlight of that trip was the Strip District). Austin and Portland, OR are on the short list for the '08 trip. 

I'm going to LA in June to see my brother graduate from film school so that's the reason getting me out there but I am super focused (some might say obsessed) about the food and figuring out the meals for the 5 days I'll be there. I haven't really thought of the sights in any way, just the food. I've been lurking on the LA board for about a month now doing my research and grilling my brother on places he wants to have his graduation dinner - which is over 3 months away - and he thinks I'm nuts but I have to be prepared.

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Food is important to me when travelling. I always scope out the restaurant scene before flying to my destination. Having said that, I don't base my choice of vacation destination solely on food (but it is important). After all, I have to have something else to do in between meals and street vendor snacks. ;-)

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Since I stopped working, I now mainly travel for marathons.

I spent a lot of time on extended working trips in Manhattan so I know the New York food scene pretty well.

We are fortunate enough to live about an hour outside Charleston, SC so are able to eat there a couple of times a week.

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we don't pick a destination for the food, BUT once we have our destination chosen, i immediately start researching where we can eat when we get there. :)

that being said, with our recent move from the south to the midwest, we're really looking forward to making some food centric trips. i'm trying to figure out just how long we need to stay in chicago to eat at all the places i want to eat there... and just how many meals i can fit in my belly in a day...

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Like others, while I might not choose a location necessarily for its food, after a destination is chosen, I then figure out the best dining experiences I can have while there. For instance, last year a friend and I went to Cancun (because it was the most accessible beach place for a detour between LA and Boston), which isn't necessarily the hotbed of great dining - but we managed to find some awesome meals while there. 

Next up, though, are Vancouver, Paris, and Edinburgh. I'm rather confident on the good dining in the first two cities, but the third... maybe I should start my research now.

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Food does not dictate where I vacation, but once I get there, finding the best places/foods to eat is one of my highest priorities. The one thing I consistently do is search the chowhound boards for references to the city I'm going to for recommendations and consolidate them into a single document I take with me, especially overseas. If I'm just going to a US city on business, I'll search the board and if I can't find what I'm looking for, I'll post a question. I rarely have to look beyond Chowhound for the information I need. However, i would never let a reputation for bland food stand between me and Costa Rica. Hell, the worst food in the world is found in Mongolia. I'd go back in a second and just pack more power bars and peanut M&Ms.

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The food available at my destination is first among the qualifications for my choosing it in the first place, but I cant let it be the sole qualifier. There is one city in particular known as a food destination (I wont name it for it is beloved on this website, and I dont want to have to answer all of the "how could you NOT love it?" posts that are bound to follow) that I visited recently. Except for meals, I was not enjoying myself at all. After about a day and a half, I realized that the only reason to stay any longer would be to eat at more restaurants, and I left.

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Absolutely. In fact, until I was old enough to travel on my own or with friends, I thought everyone did! Unfortunately, my overseas vacations have been few and far between over the past few years, but even a quick trip out to San Diego last summer became a "taco quest" :) What I remember most about New Orleans (mid '90s) was brunch at Commander's Palace and touring Emeril Lagasse's kitchen at his first restaurant. A more recent trip to Sicily was preceded by months of research on farms, vineyards and wine estates, fish and produce markets, and of course, pastry shops. I am really a traveler at heart, and would never turn down the opportunity to experience a new place based on food. That said, I would never go anywhere without exploring all resources for food info first, and planning a good amount of time around satisfying my foodie curiosity!

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On our last trip to Rome, I got into an argument with Ms. PG about my wanting to take a train to Naples just to have two espressos (two different places) and a pizza (from a highly regarded recommendation). It would've taken most of the day and the train would've been about 10x the cost of the food.

Turned out there was a garbage strike in Naples and there were some fairly strongly-worded advisories to not travel there if you didn't know anyone.

So I didn't get my espressos or pizza. But I'd still say, "Yes", food goes hand in hand with travel itineraries at the PG househould.

Since the advent of the internet and review sites, we've traveled to numerous countries. The only one where I didn't research food extensively was a two-month stay in Sofia. There simply wasn't much published on it, so I relied more on the locals - and I found a lot of pretty interesting food.

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We travel specifically for food . I mean , it's sunny everywhere sometime , right ? Stay home in the summer and enjoy our awesome summers and food and produce , and get the hell out of Dodge in the winter and go somewhere where the food is good . If the sun is shining , thats a bonus . New Orleans when the crawfish are running , it don't get no better than that . Except maybe Oahu for wild uni . Florida for grouper sandwiches , Thats just North America . Mountains are mountains , paintings are art , even the Pyramids are just big piles of rock that ain't going anywhere . I hate all winter activities so skiing is out , I'll stay inside thanks , cold sucks . Food , clothing , shelter ? Whatever. Most modern Americans have a different list . Sex ? OK first . Then food . Good food . Then more good food . Then I worry about my house . Clothing is somewhere between doing laundry and high speed internet access . So yeah , I have planned entire trips around food events . Next up is the last weekend of the pork farmers at Eastern Market , I gotta score me some fresh hams !

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My husband and I are vegan and I'm gluten-free so being able to find food is important when we plan trips or he gets sent on business trips. If we're going somewhere where we know it will be difficult to find our kind of food we plan ahead and take some with us. One of our frequent travel breakfasts is chips and salsa with juice. We've also stayed in a couple B&Bs which could accommodate our dietary needs. We begin our research by consulting www.happycow.net . We don't go somewhere specifically for the food, but we certainly take food into consideration when planning where to go. We have also opted for train travel recently for several reasons including that we can bring our own food more easily on the train than when flying.

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Wifey just found out that her company is sending her to Beijing on 4/19, of course she's taking her personal resto spotter along (me, yay!). Our first discussion was "where do we _have_ to eat?"

Building locations into Mapking GPS software as we speak, will gladly take suggestions. Studying China board scrupulously.

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We tend to travel to places for 1. food and 2. theater. I hate to go to a new place without knowing at least a couple of good places to eat. Just returned from NYC from a conference; hubby came down for weekend and we visited Donut Plant, Pickle Guys, Gus' Pickles, Zabars, Union Square Market, and ate street food. Saw Patrick Stewart in Macbeth as well. Yay. At work, I tend to be the "entertainment director" and research restaurants at every price level. I love to go to local markets and frequently travel with a cooler to bring goodies back. My ideal vacation is to go somewhere and stay in an apartment with cooking facilities so I can shop and cook. Only way I'll do Italy now.

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We definitely plan specific food stops when we travel back "home" to visit family and friends in Western PA. When traveling to other destinations, it's catch as catch can for meals, unless we've had specific intelligence about a place. Discovered a wonderful pizza in Flagstaff just by serendipity.

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I find myself planning my trips around what I can see in each city. But once I get to each place, my day definitely revolves around food. I make decisions on what to do that day based on various restaurants that I hear good things about. If a great restaurant is out of the way or in the outskirts of town, I make that day into an out of town exploration. But I don't research specific restaurants in each city until I am where I want to be!

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Miss Needle, I miss your posts. Hope you are well, wherever you are!

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My only take is that I go to where things are that I want to see and do. Wherever I go, there's bound to be local folks who I can get to know, by having some coffee or beer with them. Get to know them, you'll often get the best food for the money in whatever place you happen to be. Making friends is pretty easy most places. They'll tell you where to eat. Hasn't let me down yet.

I just want to eat what locals like, and it always turns out good.

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