“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”
James Beard
Travel is not visiting a landmark and ticking a bucket-list item. Making a destination attractive to the traveller encompasses developing the entire town, country and region. As I cover lesser known heritage, this reality hits me closer to home. The series ‘Vantage’ aims to explore viewpoints of experts who work around geography, making it a better place to live and visit. This ‘Guest Post’ publishes on ImageWrighter on the third Saturday of every month.
Savouring Heritage Through Food Walks
Whether you are a tourist, a traveller for leisure or just travelling on business, food features on your list of experiencing a place. And then there are people who do culinary tourism! I’ll surprise you by saying UNESCO recognises the culture of cuisines by inscribing cities on its List of Intangible Heritage as Creative Cities (Gastronomy). From India, they gave this honour to Hyderabad.
What makes the traveller look out for such experiences? And why is it so important for a destination? Fellow blogger, Vanita Visvanath throws some light on these questions by deconstructing food walks for us.
Vanita Visvanath – A Bio
Vanita is a Mumbaikar at heart but calls herself a global citizen. Armed with a Statistics degree and an MBA in Marketing, she has worked in advertising and marketing. She also teaches subjects related to creativity and writing. It is ironic that her office trips kindled her interest in travel. As part of her job, she has met consumers in all the nooks and corners of India, from temple towns like Varanasi and Madurai to glitzy metros like Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai to smaller towns like Pune and Lucknow. She likes to explore places, eat the local cuisine and for that moment live that parallel life. The experience of the journey and the newness of the destination both appealed to her, and her secret dream is to just travel and write. She loves collecting cotton bags, shot glasses and stationery from around the world and her interests include 19th century literature, theatre, and K-dramas.
Savouring Heritage Through Food Walks by Vanita Visvanath
Did you know Shantaram stayed in a nondescript hotel in Colaba called India Guest House? Did you know that there is a little Arabia in Colaba where the signages are also in Urdu? I came to know about these and other little-known facts in a walk titled Lin Baba’s Colaba, Shantaram tour. I always like to take such walks with local tourist groups–both in a new city and my own city. Most of these walks have allowed me to glimpse at the city from a hitherto unknown and non-tourist perspective.
You are a traveller or a tourist. A tourist has a checklist of all the must-see spots and does her best to see all of them. A traveller on the other likes to experience and soak in the sights of the city in totality. Experiential tourism caters to the latter and has gained a lot of popularity in recent times. These are not guided or group tours, which include a finite number of sightseeing spots with mandatory photo pit stops. In contrast, you visit beyond the oft-visited spots and the guide would regale you with stories around the place. The anecdotes form a very critical part of the experience. Formats could include heritage walks, food walks and other activities personalized and tailored to individual tastes, likes and preferences.
Eat While You Walk
Food walks have been a recent booming phenomenon, especially with the rise of food bloggers and Instagram influencers. You meet a local person who takes you to a specific area of the city and you walk and eat in 4-5 restaurants or street food joints. Peppered with stories and anecdotes, the walk is an experience to savour. In most cities, these walks take you to old markets or happen during specific occasions like the Ramzan food walks in Mumbai (Byculla, Mohammed Ali Road).
I recall a food walk which I took at Amritsar which led me to some fantastic food beyond the usual suspects of kulcha and fish fry. I walked around Golden Temple in the old market area and sampled offerings from a nondescript place that specialized in only one dish, e.g. paneer bhurji or only jalebi.
In case you are keen to learn the local delicacies, such options are also available. Thailand and Kerala have cook-along workshops where you literally catch fresh catch and cook it. In Tokyo, Japan, you can walk with the guide to well- known fish markets at the crack of dawn and watch goods trading.
A Boon
Food walks help you discover local delicacies and street food that you would normally not find in a standard restaurant. Run by locals, they are unique and happy to offer insights into the traditions and history behind the food.
Sometimes getting hold of a walk is especially useful when you don’t speak the local language of English. In Korea, there are English-speaking guides who offer a palace tour. They also offer you day trips to Nami Island and Petit France, which otherwise would have been a 2 train-1bus and 1 ferry trip.
Making Heritage Palatable
When we think culture and heritage, most of us think of them as very serious topics which are inaccessible. However, heritage walks bridge this gap by presenting this information in a more casual manner.
The Yellow Hostel in Rome has tied up with part-time college students who are genuinely keen to show tourists the enjoyable part of their city for pocket money. This may not be a very serious history lecture. Sample this. My guide in Rome told me, “You know there are 5000 churches in Rome so if you ask me which church this is, I may not know its name unless it’s super famous.” Most of the youth hostels in Europe offer interesting formats like cycle tours too.
Airbnb today also offers a range of experiences under its Airbnb Experiences. I have attended a Ghost Walk in Mumbai that took us through the cultural ethos of the area around Girgaon and Opera House while weaving a nice grisly tale. I have come across many an interesting walk from a Cantonment Snack Walk in Pune to Pooja walks in Kolkata to a Paratha Galli walk in Delhi.
So, the next time you wonder if it’s a good idea to wander off the beaten track, always say Yes. And as Tolkien said, “Not all who wander are lost.”
Modus Operandi
I have put together my modus operandi, the do’s and don’ts to be this wanderer.
- Read up on food blogs about the city. More often than not, these may conduct nuggets of information on eating spots where locals eat.
- Check the local tourism website for walks conducted.
- Follow travel specialists on social media like Rocky and Mayur of ‘Highway on my Plate’ fame for tips and hacks.
- Watch food and travel shows online to form a perspective on what you want to do in the city.
- And finally, believe in serendipity. You may just stumble upon it in a new city if you just talk to the locals.
- A word of caution for Senior citizens – Because of its format, would not recommend, unless you are absolutely sure.
Nostalgia and tips, doesn’t get better than that. Armed with this information, guess you are hungry for your culinary travel experience.
Your walk seems very delicious, and mouth watering.
How much you charge for a walk at Ahmadabad ?
Best Regards
Harry
Dear Harry,
Happy that you enjoyed reading about the walk. In Ahmedabad you can register for the walk at https://heritagewalkahmedabad.com/. I don’t conduct it, just enjoyed doing it 🙂 and wrote about it on https://imagewrighter.com/of-footsteps-and-food/.
This article was a guest post on my site by Vanita Vishwanath.