faq
Q: What is a culinary tour?
A: A culinary tour explores a region's culture through its food. A culinary tour may include visits to farms, restaurants, markets or fairs. We go wherever food is being grown, prepared, sold or eaten.
Q: Why should I take an American Table culinary tour?
A: At the American Table Culinary Tours, we pride ourselves on creating immersion experiences that deepen your understanding and awareness of all the good eats our nation has to offer. Yes, you could buy a restaurant guide or scour online chat rooms for advice on where to find great chow. But we'll take you behind the scenes, chatting up chefs and touring production lines. And we always have experts on hand to help explain what you're seeing.
Q: What is included in the registration price?
A: The tour price includes your meals and all scheduled events, including workshops, lectures and seminars. We also handle all transportation during the expedition. Travel to the host city and lodging there is up to you, although we partner with independent properties to offer our participants discounted room rates.
Q: How do you decide which areas to tour?
A: There's no shortage of great spots in the U.S. to visit. Tell us where you'd like to go!
Q: What's the average size of a tour?
A: Tour activities determine the number of people we can accomodate, but we generally cap groups at 40 people to ensure an optimal experience for all participants.
Q: How strenuous are these tours?
A: Not very. Any walking is likely to be in urban areas, and we do our best to meet any special needs. Please let us know if you have any concerns.
Q: Will I have free time on the trip?
A: At the American Table Culinary Tours, we plan a fairly busy schedule, but always leave a few hours for you to enjoy the area on your own.
Q: Which forms of payment do you accept?
A: Checks, money orders, credit cards and PayPal. We require payment upon registration.
Q: Why do tours cost $675?
A: Our goal is to keep our tours affordable for a wide range of culinary adventurers. That's why we don't lump the cost of lodging into our registration fee: We understand our participants prefer to arrange accommodations suited to their budgets. But we recognize our fees still strike some prospective tour goers as unreasonably high. We hope you'll allow us this opportunity to explain our pricing.

The American Table operates as a non-profit, which means any money we make is immediately reinvested in the organization. So if nobody's getting rich, why do we require a three-figure check? Four primary considerations dictate our tour fees:
  1. Our commitment to creating a memorable and extraordinary experience for our participants.
    We don't believe in cutting corners. We refuse to compromise the quality of the food, drink and expert commentary we provide - and we provide all three in abundance. We carefully plan every aspect of our participants' experience, and strive to surpass their expectations.
  2. Our commitment to supporting food producers upholding vernacular traditions.
    The hard-working men and women who are working to sustain the nation's unique edible traditions form the core of our programming. We believe in expressing our gratitude and admiration by fairly compensating them for generously sharing their expertise.
  3. Our commitment to our participants' comfort and safety.
    We pride ourselves on providing a hospitable environment in which participants are free to focus on the tour topic, undistracted by discomfort or distress. In practice, that means we'll pay a little extra for a charter bus instead of a school bus, and seek out host venues equipped to welcome our group.
  4. Our commitment to educating the next generation of American chefs.
    Too many of our native kitchen artisans don't have a culinary heir. That's why we've created a program that apprentices culinary students to the cooks, farmers, and other food producers we patronize on our tours. A portion of every registration fee is used to underwrite this effort.
Q: What if I need to cancel?
A: Trip fees are refundable, less a $250 cancellation fee, up until 60 days before the start of the tour. After that date, no refunds will be issued.
Q: What if I still have questions?
A: Mosey over to the Contact Us page and get in touch. We promise a quick response.