I like to eat, but I am not a foody (whatever the definition of that may be!). I am, however, academic and studious. I study and investigate. So, when I’m travelling, I often have a list of places I want to go to. Here’s my go to sources.
Listen to the chefs
My favourite travel books always come from Taschen or Phaidon. My favourite food book, at the moment, is “Where Chefs Eat”- it goes from high end, Michelin star, all the way down to a falafel cart on a corner in Manhattan. It’s brief, to the point, and gives you a good selection of places based on food- rather than hype. There are no photos to lure or disgust you. Just text and talk from people who love food.
The only problem is, it’s massive! So photograph the page before you go anywhere. Or, you can get the app version. My favourite find in here so far was Koka in Gothenburg but I’m travelling to Tokyo, Osaka and Copenhagen before the end of the year and this book is helping me choose the places to eat on my travels!
Listen to the foodies
Another source of information is Instagram. Just type in the city and food into the search bar and you’ll get a plethora of photographs. I think there is some school of Instagram food photography. They all follow the same style. My own food never looks that appealing.
So a #bristolfood or #newyorkfood will put you straight into the Instagram feeds of the foodies of the world. Particular favourites are ClerkenwellBoyEC1 for London or hertastylife for Chicago.
Even when I’m not looking for something, I can waste hours trawling through their feeds and photos!
Listen to your friends
One of my favourite quotes is:
“People who love to eat, are always the best people”
Julia Child
I love it, because it is true. And if you have true foodies for friends (meaning, they care about the food, rather than just shovelling it into their gobs, like me), even better.
The best recommendations are always the personal ones. Hopefully, you trust them (and their judgement) and can simply take the list and go eat.
My trip to San Francisco is a great example of the foody friend recommendations coming to fruition. Good food. Good mood.
Discover
I like to study and make lists and ensure I am making the most out of a short trip anywhere. However, that being said, sometimes the very best finds come from…finding it. For a planner, that’s uncomfortable and ambiguous. However, sometimes no plan, is the best plan. Take the food trip to Seattle– the late night pizza was so welcome. Or just walking along the harbourside in Bristol and stopping somewhere. Those discoveries are sometimes the ones you remember the most- because they were so good (or so bad), because by the time you got there you were tired and hungry and desperate to eat, or because they just formed part of the big adventure.
Head over heart. When it comes to food, sometimes it can be best (figuratively and literally) just to go with your gut.
