Food is a top reason to travel the world.
A recent survey by Booking.com found that more than half of American travelers (51 percent) said they pick a destination for its great food or drink, and 70 percent of travelers are motivated to vacation to experience new cuisine, according to MMGY Global’s Portrait of American Travelers study.
TripAdvisor recently released its Travelers’ Choice Awards for Global Food Experiences, which ranks 345 of the world’s best tours, experiences and activities related to food, beer and wine. Tuscan Farmhouse Cooking Class ranked No. 1 worldwide.
And just two experiences in America made the list: New Orleans Cooking Class (No. 2 on the global list) and Little Havana Food and Walking Tour in Miami (No. 5 on the global list).
New Orleans Cooking Class at New Orleans Cooking School
The school, opened in 1980, offers daily hands on classes where guests prepare and eat authentic Louisiana meals and dishes, like crawfish etouffee, shrimp creole and pralines.
“We share our kitchen and heritage with our guests who relax, learn, laugh and share a table and a meal with people from around the country and the world,” New Orleans Cooking School owner Gregory Leighton tells CNBC Make It. “Each of our instructors bring a different ‘flavor’ to the table, combining the technical and historical elements of the dishes while keeping fun in the mix.”
The class is three hours long and costs $139 per person.
Little Havana Food and Walking Tour
Led by Miami Culinary Tours in Miami, Florida, on this tour travelers have authentic Cuban cuisine while learning about Little Havana’s culture and traditions. Guests visit several restaurants for tastings, like El Pub Restaurant, try cocktails at Ball and Chain and eat the Cubano sandwich at Old Havana Restaurant.
“We bring guests to meet the people who actually make the food and roll the Cuban cigars, as opposed to just showing a place and talking about it,” Grace Della, director for Miami Culinary Tours, tells CNBC Make It. “Miami has a great influence of Cuban cuisine; folks get to try and learn about the Cuban culture with our tour.”
The tour also visits a cigar factory, a local food market and The Cuba Ocho Art Museum. It costs $56 per person and lasts 2.5 hours.
For its methodology, TripAdvisor used an algorithm that looked at a product’s reviews, opinions and popularity with travelers over the last year. Millions of reviews and ratings from travelers around the world were analyzed.
Here is the full list of TripAdvisor’s top 10 global food experiences:
1. Cooking Class and Lunch at a Tuscan Farmhouse with Local Market Tour — Florence, Italy
2. New Orleans Cooking Class — New Orleans, Louisiana
3. Rome Food Tour by Sunset around Prati District — Rome, Italy
4. Paris Food Tour: Taste of Montmartre — Paris, France
5. Little Havana Food and Walking Tour in Miami — Miami, Florida
6. Madrid Tapas and Wine Tasting Tour — Madrid, Spain
7. Colonial Tramcar Restaurant Tour of Melbourne — Melbourne, Australia
8. Tapas and Wine Experience Small Group Walking Tour — Barcelona, Spain
9. Brussels Chocolate Walking Tour and Workshop — Brussels, Belgium
10. Tokyo by Night: Japanese Food Tour — Tokyo, Japan
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