SmarterTravel.com Releases the Best Destinations for Food Lovers

Report Highlights the Best Culinary Travel Destinations Around the World
SmarterTravel.com, a comprehensive online travel resource, today released a detailed report that offers insight into the best destinations for food lovers, and to inspire culinary vacation planning. From Napa to Bangkok, SmarterTravel outlines the top places for eating, cooking, enjoying food festivals, sampling the best chocolates and more. The report features a series of articles, including "Summers Hottest Food Festivals," "Beyond Napa Valley," "Eight Great Destinations for Dessert," the "Freshest Destinations from Farm to Table" and the "Top Five Destinations for Culinary Travelers."

"Americans love to eat and Americans love to travel, and this report combines the best of both for people seeking destinations to enjoy all types of cuisine and food-related activities," said Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com. "From chocolate to wine, we have listed out destinations that are sure to get anyone excited about food."

In a look at the top five destinations for culinary travelers, SmarterTravel breaks down the places where any traveler who enjoys a meal and has an interest in cooking would find good-value food tours and cooking packages, including:

-- Provence, France. Referred to by the locals as cuisine du soleil et du coeur -- cuisine of sun and heart -- Provence offers a variety of places that teach authentic seasonal cooking amongst the small countryside villages.
-- New York City. While it would be great to experience the culinary offerings of all the city's different ethnic neighborhoods, SmarterTravel advises that it's best to limit your explorations to one or two areas at a time. Several tour companies host in-depth food tours of individual neighborhoods that highlight some of the location's top fresh-food markets, specialty shops, and eateries.
-- Oaxaca, Mexico. Located in the culinary heart of Mexico with thousands of years of indigenous cooking traditions, Oaxaca City and its surrounding villages host to numerous cooking schools run by locals and expat chefs. Many of these places offer extremely affordable classes and programs, easily comparable with those offered in Europe.
-- Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Thailand has some of the most diverse and flavorful cuisine in Asia, strongly influenced by its neighbors and resident ethnic minorities from India, China, Malaysia, and other countries. Bangkok, the nation's capital, is a good place to experience cuisine from the country's four distinct food regions, and several of the city's ritziest hotels offer Thai cooking schools that are open to anyone.
-- Tuscany, Italy. The demand for culinary travel in Tuscany is high and even though there are dozens of cooking schools and tour options in the region, spots in popular schools can sell out early and prices are steep. SmarterTravel advises booking a week-long package with a lesser known school or taking a shorter one- to three-day class with a top chef.

OTHER GREAT STOPS FOR "FOODIES

"The report also includes articles on dessert destinations, the hottest food festivals, where to get the freshest food from farm to table and the top five alternative wine trails worldwide:

-- "Eight Great Destinations for Dessert" offers an overview of the cities in North America and Europe that are guaranteed to provide a sugar high. The report includes the usual suspects, such as Paris; Zurich, Switzerland; Brussels and Bruges, Belgium; and Hershey, Pennsylvania; and some new additions like Bologna, Italy; San Francisco Bay Area, California; Oaxaca, Mexico; and Waterbury, Vermont.

-- Napa Valley may be the most recognizable wine region in the U.S., but it's not the only option anymore. In "Beyond Napa Valley: Five alternative wine trails worldwide," SmarterTravel lists interesting wine trails in other destinations, and up-and-coming wine regions all over the world worthy of a visit, including Chile's Colchagua Valley, New Zealand's Hawke's Bay, Oregon's Willamette Valley, Spain's Rioja region and South Africa's Stellenbosch Wine Route.

-- With the warm summer weather rolling in, food festivals across the country celebrate the season and its summer bounties. "Summer's Hottest Food Festivals," highlights the best of the best food festivals across North America, including:
-- Taste of Chicago, June 30 through July 9
-- Feast of San Gennaro, New York City, September 14 through 24
-- Gilroy Garlic Festival, Gilroy, California, July 28 through 30
-- Yarmouth Clam Festival, Yarmouth, Maine, July 21 through 23
-- Bite of Seattle, July 21 through 23
-- The Fisherman's Feast, Boston, August 17 through 20
-- Houston Hot Sauce Festival, September 16 and 17

-- "The Freshest Destinations from Farm to Table" discusses the growing trend of people getting involved with their food by visiting or staying on a working farm, taking outdoor cooking classes, picking produce ripe from a garden or learning about whole food production through tours and hands-on experience. Several destinations offer an abundance of "farm-to-table" getaways and events, including Charlevoix, Quebec; Santa Barbara, California and towns throughout Vermont.SmarterTravel's full culinary report is available at: http://www.smartertravel.com/special-reports/culinary-june-2006/

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