This is the BEST food tour I’ve ever taken!
My wife and I travel frequently and have been to many countries to explore the food scene and try to avoid tours with uninformed, unprepared tour guides, and cheap food in small tastes.
A Chef’s Tour is different than all the others we’ve ever taken and here’s why:
1. Our guide is an educated “Gastronomist”, not simply a food blogger. What that means in Colombia is that he has a degree in food history, food science, and the culinary arts. What he shared about the culture, traditions, ingredients and cooking methods went DEEP. He was prepared for everything with a backpack filled with plates, napkins, utensils, even a cutting board and knife to sample the local fruit we purchased along the way. He even improvised during the tasting, adding tropical fruits to roasted pork and spicing up a soup with the dried chili powder he pulled out of this magic bag, adding flavors I wouldn’t have considered.
2. Everyone knew our guide. He was welcomed, hugged, and often kissed at every stop. He’s a TRUE local and not just someone the company hired for the day.
3. Being so well known, he took us to the LOCAL places, away from the typical tourist spots that you read about in blogs. We also tasted the local foods that surface-level bloggers may not even know about.
4. A Chef’s Tour, as a company, has their OWN guides, each vetted and trained. I’ve found most of the other tours I’ve taken are from companies that will take your reservation (and money), and THEN go about trying to find a tour guide, ANY guide they can find without concern for quality or consistency.
5. We had EIGHT stops and eight tastings. We were quite full by the end because they weren’t just small tastes created for the tour but the same size that you’d get if you were paying for it on your own.
6. Their communication before booking and during the tour is excellent. They reply to emails in english and our guide spoke perfect english as well. My inquires were replied to within 24 hours, all my questions answered, and upon booking I received an immediate confirmation spelling out exactly what the tour would include, asked about any food allergies, and showed concern for my likes and desires. I knew exactly where to meet and how long the tour would take.
7. All my expectations were exceeded. It was better than I had imagined.
And here’s the kicker. I’m a Chef and Certified Culinary Educator from the US. I’m REALLY hard to impress and I have an extensive education in food, but I learned more in four hours than I did in a semester of culinary college.
If you are really interested in LEARNING about Colombian food culture, history, ingredients and preparations, A Chef’s Tour is the way to go.
