Asheville Citizen-Times
January 10, 2007

ASHEVILLE – When planning her global travels, Fairview’s Dianne Tuttle often arranges her itineraries around a particular attraction: food.

“You get a real flavor for the culture,” she said, noting the pun. “No matter what country it is, they have a special dish. Whether you’re 2 years old or 90, you can get excited about food.”

Tuttle isn’t alone in crafting culinary trips. During the last decade, travel planned around food and wine has grown in popularity, said Laurey Masterton, who operates culinary tour group Delicious Expeditions with Monroe Moore of the Homewood special events facility.

The Asheville-based travel company has led trips to Italy’s Tuscany and France’s Provence regions for about seven years and is planning to add a trip to the Basque region of Spain and France.

“It’s learning about a place through its food and beverages,” said Masterton, who owns Laurey’s Catering & Gourmet-to-go on Biltmore Avenue, downtown. “We start in a big city and explore that city through its food and markets.”

Wine is also a popular element of culinary travel. Wine importer and sommelier Steve Pignatiello has teamed with Mark Rosenstein, chef and owner of The Market Place restaurant in Asheville, to lead gourmet tours of France’s famed Burgundy and Champagne regions.

“They invite us into their homes and make regional specialties,” Pignatiello said about the family winemakers on his trip itineraries. Participants also visit markets to select items that Rosenstein uses to prepare meals, such as local pike poached in white wine from aligoté grapes.

“They really go to the heart of the living culture that is Burgundy,” Rosenstein said about the trips. “We’re honoring what they do.”

On trips with Delicious Expeditions, participants learn about the agriculture of Tuscany through visiting local growers and enjoying dishes such as “pici,” or hand-rolled pasta strands served with a bricciole sauce with toasted breadcrumbs, garlic and olive oil.

“The markets in Europe are so amazing,” Masterton said. “It’s nice to see a society that cares about what it eats.”

Tuttle, who has traveled to Tuscany with Delicious Expeditions, said focusing on food helps visitors remember a region and its people. The trips also add knowledge about food ingredients used back home.

“I will never feel the same way about olive oil,” she said. “I learned so much about it.”

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Market Place Tours is planning culinary trips to the Burgundy and Champagne Regions of France in June and October. Trips are limited to six participants and cost about $5,000-$8,000 per person, excluding airfare. Call 274-9323 or 252-4162 for more. Market Place chef Mark Rosenstein will also conduct additional culinary tours to the region in 2007. Call 252-4162 for more.