A Bite of the Big Apple: Going on a culinary tour of New York
The best way to experience the culture of any place that you are visiting is to partake of the food that is local there. The native dishes of a place is always prepared in a way that is unique to that place alone and always has a distinct taste and flavor that you will not find anywhere else.
Getting a taste of the local food can be something to look forward to when going on a holiday. If your holiday destination, however, is New York City, you can gleefully make food the focus of your holiday and not miss anything else. New York City is famous for its world-class cuisine, and the prospect of going on a culinary tour of the city is enough to make one’s mouth water. The city will always have something to offer even the most discerning of food experts regardless of tastes and preferences.
The simplest way of going on a culinary tour of New York City is to go restaurant-hopping. If you want to sample the best of the best, your best bet is to do the rounds of Manhattan; there you will find the five-star restaurants clustered around Central Park. The resident celebrity chefs of these restaurants are sure to whip up something surprising and delectable that will send your senses swimming in bliss. Always make your reservations in advance so you will not find it hard to look for a table in the restaurant of your choice.
If what you have in mind is to sample New York City’s take on regional specialties, you can wander around Little Italy, Chinatown or Little India. You will not be disappointed at what you will find.
You can make the experience from your culinary holiday more insightful and memorable by enrolling in a cooking class for tourists. There is no lack of restaurants and schools in New York City that offers short-term cooking classes and cooking demonstrations by their resident celebrity chefs. Classes can take as short as half a day or a full month, depending on how long you want to spend learning how to cook on your culinary tour. You do not have to worry about not knowing the basics of cooking when you enter a cooking class for tourists; they will teach you what you need to know in these classes. Getting into a cooking class and learning how to cook a great dish or two can be one of the best souvenirs you can bring home when the holiday is done.
Another great way to enjoy a culinary tour is to schedule it in time for a festival. There is always the New York Restaurant Week, held every January and June, where the best of the best restaurants in New York City include set lunches and dinners for a fixed price, regardless of restaurant. Other food festivals worth attending to in New York City are the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival, held every May, the Chocolate Show, and the Feast of San Gennaro every September.
To have a sampling of the local dishes offered in the place you are visiting is always something to look forward to. But when that place happens to be New York City, you had better forget about dieting while you are on vacation.
