You can wander a country’s landmarks and snap photos in front of its most spectacular sights, but you can’t really get to know a place and its people until you’ve experienced the local cuisine. The dishes we eat tell a story about who we are, where we’ve come from and what we value most.
Sicilian cuisine, for example, speaks to a cultural melange where Italian, Greek and Arab influences meet and mingle with ingredients brought from the New World by Spanish traders; while the bright, toasted flavors of Champagne tell of a painstaking process dreamed up to make the most of acidic grapes and a cool climate. Greenlandic delicacies hint at a history marked by stretching or preserving what could be fished or farmed.
Our foods are as much a glimpse at our culture and past as any historical tour—and on a National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions voyage, you’ll get the chance to dive deep into local culture with a taste of the regional cuisine and encounters with the chefs, vintners and farmers who are bringing it to life. Here’s a look at some immersive gastronomic adventures available on expeditions around the globe.
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Food can transport you through time, and few culinary experiences highlight that more fully than the Croatian peka, a meal slow-roasted for hours over an open flame in a heavy round stone or iron vessel using much the same approach for hundreds of years. Guests sailing the Croatian coast aboard the SeaCloud fleet will get to experience this time-honored technique at a family restaurant on the isle of Vis, with lamb, veal, monkfish or vegetarian pekas to choose from. The family behind the restaurant has a 200-year history of winemaking, so this is also a prime opportunity to get a deeper understanding of this oft-undersung wine region and try hyperlocal grapes, such as Bugava, grown mostly on Vis, and Plavac Mali, a grape indigenous to the Dalmatian Coast.
Eating and drinking well is a key facet of a Columbia and Snake River Journey with National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions, and never is that more true than at a festive event alighting at the Columbia Gorge Museum. An array of hors d’oeuvres featuring local ingredients such as morel mushrooms and Dungeness crab pairs perfectly with a selection of Jura-style Oregon Chardonnay and Mourvedre, among others, from noteworthy producer Syncline Winery. Take it all in along with a view of the museum’s hulking steam engine and floor-to-ceiling windows spotlighting the mountain horizon. This soiree is merely a highlight of a food-and-drink-filled adventure, with nightly expert-led wine tastings featuring bottles hand-picked by Ray Isle, Executive Wine Editor for Food & Wine Magazine.
The southernmost continent on the globe is nearly synonymous with environmentalism, and that awareness carries through aboard the National Geographic Resolution with the Cook’s Nook concept dinner, a seven-course zero-waste meal that chefs spent more than 300 hours developing. Guests will enjoy dishes that put an emphasis on sustainability, such as a cauliflower course using every part of the vegetable in numerous inspired ways—espuma, scallop, mousse and more. It’s an experience that speaks to the focus National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions puts on reducing food waste despite the challenges of cooking in remote locations, and highlights how a little culinary creativity has the potential to make a dent in the estimated 1.6 billion tons of food waste created globally each year.
Taormina’s Castello degli Schiavi got its star turn as an opulent backdrop in the Godfather films (plus, a few cameos in White Lotus to boot), and guests will enjoy a lunch here that’s worthy of this Hollywood locale. You’ll get to know the family that’s been stewarding this 18th-century treasure in recent years, wander the building’s labyrinthine halls and expansive gardens, and finally sit down for a banquet befitting the castle backdrop, with one Sicilian specialty after another, such as arancini, eggplant caponata, pistachio-studded farfalle, grilled meatballs with lemon leaves and almond parfaits.
It’s a marvel what humans can dream up in even the harshest of environments, and nowhere is that ingenuity closer at hand than in Qaqortoq, a town scattered across two rugged hills in southern Greenland. There, National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions guests will meet with a local chef to learn about traditional cuisine and local delicacies across the country, where fish and other aquatic species such as whales are cornerstones of the diet and preservation techniques such as dehydration and fermentation are vital, time-honored methods for keeping food stores stocked through a long, harsh winter. In the remote town of Qassiarsuk, meanwhile, guests will visit a local farmer and get an in-depth look at daily life in a tiny agricultural village with a rich Inuit past.
Travelers aboard expeditions in the Galápagos typically enjoy one no-holds-barred Ecuadorian feast experience, complete with dishes such as arroz marinero, a seafood-and-vegetable rice pilaf, ceviche made with freshly caught seafood and the showstopping centerpiece: a roast suckling pig. The National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions team works closely with several dozen farmers from across the islands to ensure the meal is a celebration of local produce and specialties, some of which are hard to find stateside. There are plenty of regional flavors on offer beyond the star banquet too, from locally grown coffee at breakfast to niche fruit juices shaken into a cocktail come evening.
Every coastal community has a singular relationship with the sea, and in Ston, Croatia, signs of oyster farming in the Mali Ston Bay date back all the way to the Roman Empire. Oystering is still a significant trade in the town today, and National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions guests will have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of breeding, growing and harvesting these bivalves, which—much like other prized culinary delicacies such as Parmagiano Reggiano—are labeled a Protected Designation of Origin product in the EU. If the briny, sweet, umami-rich Mali Ston oysters don’t strike your fancy, you can instead taste the fruits of the sea in town with a local-favorite lunch of mussels alla buzara, steamed in a broth of garlic, parsley and white wine. [Note: This is an optional voyage excursion available on a first-come, first-served basis.]
Get to Know Baja California Sur’s Burgeoning Food Scene
Travelers who embrace the foodie title can tack on a three-day extension to a Baja California voyage to experience one of Mexico’s most dynamic culinary playgrounds. In towns like San Jose del Cabo, La Paz, Todos Santos and El Triunfo, growers and chefs are dreaming up farm-to-table menus that spotlight Baja California’s agricultural abundance and the inventiveness of local brewers, bakers, butchers, cheesemakers and more. Though this area of Mexico is often pigeonholed as a resort hotspot, a National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions extension gives visitors a chance to explore beyond the typical tacos and margarita spots and taste dishes such as mole almendraro, jicama tortillas piled with fresh-caught shrimp and house-made chorizo with hibiscus-infused morita chile sauce.
