The vegetable pizza from Harvest Pizza’s German Village location exemplifies cuisine found on the food tour.
Credit: Aly Gordon / Lantern reporter
Columbus Food Adventures offers a unique combination of both food and history with tours around popular neighborhoods throughout the city.
Bethia Woolf, co-owner of Columbus Food Adventures, said she opened the tour company in 2010, seeing it as an opportunity for those in Columbus to learn more about historic neighborhoods while trying new cuisines. She said the company offers walking, van and adult beverage tours — including Worthington, the German Village, Grandview Avenue. There are about 100 restaurants as well as cuisines from 40 different countries, such as France, South Korea and Germany.
“I like to think of it like a bar crawl but for food,” Woolf said. “You’ll get to hear the stories of these businesses, what is special about them and you will learn about the history of the neighborhoods in between the stops.”
Woolf said the summer is the busiest season for Columbus Food Adventures, so tours should be booked online no later than 24 hours in advance.
Food tours include five to six businesses in which tourists will learn about the business, food and the neighborhoods, Woofle said. Food tours typically consist of 14 people on van tours and 15 people on walking tours, she said.
“We want the groups to be small so everyone can speak and have a chance to connect with the tour guide,” Woolf said. “More people could make it overwhelming for the restaurants as well.”
Woolf said that some Ohio State students take Columbus Food Adventures tour, and she wants the experience to be an opportunity for them to discover off-campus eateries.
“Ohio State has new students every year, and they may not know about the different restaurants,” Woolf said. “This is a great way for students to explore the city, especially those without their own vehicle.”
Woolf said Columbus Food Adventures is partnered with the Discounted Ticket Program, or D-Tix, at Ohio State. Megan Haddock, Discounted Ticket Program coordinator, said offers for Columbus Food Adventures are rotated each semester, with some that are currently available for students.
“We currently have the Alternative Eats Food Tour and the Grandview Avenue Food Tour on sale,” Haddock said in an email.
Haddock said students can sign up for weekly updates on discounted tickets on their website and can also follow the Discounted Ticket Program’s twitter account @DTixOSU.
Woolf said she wants Columbus Food Adventures to be an opportunity for those in Columbus to acquire new knowledge of food and neighborhoods.
“Columbus is a great food city with a good amount of diversity,” she said. “We want to introduce people to the unfamiliar cuisines and teach them what’s special about the different neighborhoods in Columbus.”
