As one of the leading providers of adventure travel, Intrepid are paving the way with new and exciting adventures every year. This year they have introduced a new range of food adventure tours that span Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. These tours offer excursions to markets, cooking classes, homestays and dinners with locals. Intrepid know that the best way to fully immerse yourself in a culture would be to taste it. Whether you are trying banh mi by the road in Hanoi or sitting down for dinner with a Bedouin family in Morocco, one common theme between all humans is food and communicating through this common interest gives Intrepid travellers a language in which to communicate and a bond to share with locals.
Intrepid encourage you to give back to the community by using only local restaurants and encourage buying things from street-side sellers and using local guides. Their trips help support local economies and many of their itineraries incorporate visits to community projects. Intrepid are always looking for ways to improve, from carbon-offsetting their trips to putting a stop to orphanage visits and elephant riding.
Intrepid knows that with each culinary delight their travellers need to digest a cultural sight or adventure activity. From bite-sized trips to gastronomic odysseys, you will be munching, crunching, sipping and slurping just like the locals.
What makes a Real Food Adventure?
A passionate and knowledgeable food leader
Cooking classes and demonstrations
Street food tours
Home-cooked meals and authentic local restaurants
Visits to artisan producers and vibrant food markets
Beverage tasting: from mezcal to Malbec
Plenty of included meals
Travelling with like-minded food enthusiasts
All of the activities and attractions of a regular Intrepid trip
Intrepid Real Food Adventure Tours
Southern India Real Food Adventure >>
Discover the true heart of India through its food. Explore the ingredients, flavours and tastes of key southern Indian food in the regions of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. You will visit the Western Ghats and the distinct culinary traditions of the Kodava people in Coorg. You will meet the locals and discover Madurai’s street food, learn about Chettinad cuisine and visit a nineteenth-century mansion. By the end of your trip, you will be able to rustle up a Keralan banquet.
South Korea Real Food Adventure >>
As you try different South Korean cuisine you can try their version of KFC – Korean Fried Chicken – with a glass of Soju. When you travel to Jeonju you can try bibimbap then stay in a traditional temple with Buddhist monks and share a meal with them. Korean cuisine is very varied so you can try different sauces, garnishes and pickled side-dishes accompanying every meal. You will learn how to make green onion pancakes, spicy seafood breakfast soups and discover the real taste of Korea.
In Japan, food preparation and presentation is taken seriously, so each meal you have will be constructed painstakingly to provide you with the most delicious meal possible. You will venture to Takayama to try the succulent Hida beef, explore depachika for unique foods and stay in a monastery with monks in Koya-san and discover shojin ryori – vegetarian Buddhist food that seeks enlightenment through perfection in cooking. In Kyoto, you will learn how to cook and you will experience the simple pleasures of obanzai ryori – the traditional home cuisine. When you visit Osaka you can be adventurous with street food.
On your journey through China, you will embrace the tastes of four of China’s most important food regions – from the imperial cuisine of Beijing, Xi’An, the Sichuan flavours of Chengdu and Shanghai. You will try Peking Duck how it is supposed to be tasted, brave the heat of Sichuan at Chengdu’s spice market and learn to make dumplings in Shanghai.
Vietnam Real Food Adventure >>
Combine a trip of culture, history and food on this incredible trip to Vietnam. Learn all about central and southern Vietnamese cuisine at the country’s best cooking schools, take a street food tour of Hanoi that lets you sample northern specialities like pho, bun cha and the golden-yellow xoi xeo. When you arrive in Hue, journey through Vietnam the best way possible – on the back of a motorcycle. In Hoi An you will take a cooking class, cycle through herb gardens and be dazzled by the Ancient Town. You will also stay in a local home on the Mekong Delta and get an insight into rural life. You will also visit the Imperial Citadel in Hue and the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City.
On this spicy trip you will try everything from tacos to mole and beyond. Journey to Oaxaca for chilis, chocolate, mezcal and the surprisingly delicious chapulines (grasshoppers). After having your fill of tasty food you will be treated to a night of Lucha Libre (theatrical ‘freestyle wrestling’) in Puebla. Your visit would not be complete without trying fresh ceviche that is caught on your own fishing trip.
Intrepid Slovenia to Macedonia Real Food Adventure >>
Eat your way from Ljubljana to Skopje via Motovun, Plitvice National Park, Zadar, Split, Korcula, with stops in Montenegro and Macedonia. Journey through Istria trying a selection of foods (prsut ham, olive oils, wine, truffles) and Dalmatia (sheep’s-milk cheese, lamb, maraschino cherries).
On your expedition to Jordan you will get a true taste of a nomadic life as a shepherd, as you drink fire-warmed sheep’s milk and scoop bread into a pot of rich Galayah Bandoora. Gazing upon Petra will go down as one of your most memorable experiences, and you will savour the smells and tastes of a freshly prepared Bedouin zarb. You will try mansaf, delicious lamb with fermented, dried yoghurt sauce, and then sleep under the stars in a desert camp in Wadi Rum with Bedouin locals.