- 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: 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: Which forms of payment do you accept?
- A: Checks, money orders, credit cards and PayPal. We require a 25 percent deposit upon booking, with full payment due 90 days before the start of travel.
- Q: Why aren't there any prices posted on your web site?
-
A: Our goal is to keep our tours affordable for a wide range of culinary adventurers. But since each tour features a custom blend of
tastings, talks and other unique experiences, every tour has its own price tag.
Three primary considerations dictate our tour fees:
- 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.
-
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.
-
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.
We understand most groups travel on a budget, and look forward to working with you to design an itinerary that's compatible with your bottom line.
- Q: How many people constitute a group?
-
A: We can create tours for groups of any size, and have found there are certain advantages available to both very small and very big
groups. While small groups are able to visit smaller operations that might not be equipped to accommodate busloads of tourists, large
groups are able to enjoy the spirited camaraderie that food and drink inevitably fosters.
- Q: Why can't I just buy a ticket for a tour?
A: Anyone who's dined out as a party of four knows how hard it is to reach consensus at table. Someone wants calamari. Someone's
allergic to seafood. One diner will insist on sampling the house-cured sausage, while another pleads for a meat-free dish. Rather than
subject our tourgoers to out-of-the-box itineraries that might not jive with their individual preferences, we work with group leaders to
develop customized adventures that are educational, entertaining and rewarding.
- Q: What if I need to cancel?
- A: Trip fees are refundable, less a 25 percent 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.
