Traveling gets people away from their everyday life and out into the world. They get to meet new people, see new things, and perhaps most importantly try new foods and/or restaurants.
Finding the best cuisine in a new town or city can be challenge. Sifting through all the corporate and chain restaurant can be difficult. That restaurant with the strange name you have been eyeing since you got there? It may very well turn out to be owned by a conglomerate, and you end up getting the same type of food you would at a major chain.
Look for the mom-and-pop owned places. These are people who have spent their lifetime creating dishes the way their customers like them. They have sourced local foods from farms. This is truly the way to go.
If you are ever in the Outer Banks North Carolina and want a fruit smoothie, check out Island Smoothie Cafe. Fresh fruits and other ingredients are brought in on the daily, and the owner is a local native. This place has been there for a decade, and the reviews are excellent. Visit the beaches, the local wild horses, or the lighthouse, but make sure to check in with Doug and his staff at Island Smoothie. You won’t regret it.
According to a 2023 compilation of global food tourism data, 70% of travelers report selecting a travel destination based on its food and drink offerings, making it a major influencing factor in their decisions.
This aligns with broader trends where culinary experiences are a top priority: for instance, a 2023 American Express survey found that 81% of respondents anticipate trying local cuisines as a highlight of travel, though not always as the primary driver. More recently, a 2025 Morning Consult study of U.S. adults indicated that 26% rank culinary experiences as a top-three priority when planning leisure trips.
These figures vary by demographic and region—higher among millennials and Gen Z (e.g., 47% of whom have planned trips around specific restaurants)—but the 70% benchmark is widely cited as the share who view food as a major reason for travel overall.
Visitors from Europe
European visitors to the United States—around 5–6 million annually in recent years—tend to concentrate in a handful of iconic urban centers, natural wonders, and sunny coastal areas.
New York City is by far the most visited place, welcoming nearly 10 million international visitors in 2024, with the largest numbers coming from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. California comes second, driven by Los Angeles (Hollywood and beaches), San Francisco (Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz), and the state’s famous national parks. Florida ranks third, thanks to Orlando’s theme parks and Miami’s vibrant nightlife and beaches, making it especially popular with families and sun-seekers from across Europe.
In short, the classic European itinerary still revolves around flying into New York or Los Angeles, then adding Florida, Las Vegas, or a California road trip. National parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone are also increasingly popular, particularly with younger travelers from Germany, the Netherlands, and the Nordic countries.
I would argue they are doing it all wrong. They are not seeing real America. They are seeing the corporatized face of it. They should be visiting places like the Outer Banks, NC (mentioned earlier), Savannah, Georgia and Nashville. These places have real local character and the odds of getting to eat authentic American cuisine skyrockets at the places.
You have to ask yourself “am I flying for 8 hours on an airplane to be served corporate food and see commercial landmarks, or do I want to visit the actual Americas?” And the USA is chock full of authentic locations to visit which are reflective of their culture. If you travel to New York, you may very well feel like you never left London. And what good is that?
Albuquerque, Kansas City, Cheyenne… these are all real authentic American cities with local cuisine. The food was grown just 15 minutes away and your server grew up there. They will hear your accent, and it will spark a down-home friendly conversation. They will tell you how their family originally moved to the States from there or that their best friend came from there, something along those lines. These are experiences which will stay with you forever. Seeing someone dressed as Mickey Mouse and paying ten dollars for a coke will stick with you too, but for all the wrong reasons.
When you plan your next trip, be adventurous. Book a stay at one or more of the cities I mentioned above. You will experience and learn a great deal more than you would by visiting so-called “tourist traps”.
