Walking and eating are two of my favorite pastimes. And knowing that I’m not the only one who feels that way, I thought in today’s post it would be fun to share a second-act idea that combines those two passions – food tour guide.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a food tour guide leads groups of people around a city to educate them about the local food, history and culture. Sometimes the tours focus on one specific type of food, like cheese or chocolate, and other times they focus more on the locale.
As an example, if you take a look at the website for Foods of New York tours, you’ll find a wide variety of tours in different NY neighborhoods, with titles like The Best of Brooklyn: Half-Day Food & Culture Tour or The Original Greenwich Village Food and Walking Tour.
Or if you look elsewhere online, you’ll find tours with titles like KC Barbecue Tours, The Chocolate Tour of Washington DC, Beer, Cheese and Chocolate Tour or Venus Bites Food Tours. Is is just me or are you getting hungry yet?
So what makes someone a good food tour guide? In addition to sharing a love of food, culture and history, the best guides tend to have very outgoing personalities. On the Foods of New York website they describe their guides as follows:
“We employ a team of culinary enthusiasts, cultural experts, and comedians who are extremely proud to share their knowledge and discoveries with you. Our tour guides work exclusively for Foods of New York Tours and many have been working with us for over 10 years. We consider ourselves one big happy and hungry family. On a monthly basis we dine together at the establishments on our tours, thus living and breathing (and eating) our work and ultimately, supporting the quaint little Mom & Pop food shops and the unique restaurants that make NYC so special.”
Sounds like a delicious option, no?
Of course, you don’t need to live in NYC to be a food tour guide. People all around the United States, and overseas, are starting their own tour businesses and/ or working as guides for established entities. So how can you learn more about getting started in this second act? Here are three helpful resources to get you rolling:
Food Tour Pros offers a variety of courses for people interested in creating their own food tour businesses.
TasteTrekkers.com is the website for foodies who love travel and travelers who love food. Lots of helpful articles here (even if you don’t want to become a food tour guide).
GoodFoodJobs.com While not specifically about food tour options, GoodFoodJobs.com is my favorite website for learning about all sorts of interesting food-related jobs. You’ll find a wide variety of inspirational stories and ideas on their Gastrognomes blog.