On 15 January, Intrepid Travel will launch a new range of food trips focussing on authentic, local, grassroots food experiences, offering travellers a well-priced alternative to traditional, high-end gourmet food tours.

The 20 trips will celebrate street fare, local specialties, secret home recipes, markets and urban food culture.

Some of the authentic food experiences include:

• A late-night taco trawl through the streets of Mexico City;
• Visiting one of the world’s wildest food markets, Beijing’s Donghuamen Night Market, where NOTHING is off the menu;
• Foraging for wild greens in a Turkish coastal town;
• Trying a traditional workers’ breakfast in Barcelona; and
• Learning secret recipes from a genuine Vietnamese masterchef in Ho Chi Minh City.

The trips have been designed to appeal to a broad range of travellers who want to combine their interest in food with a destination’s key travel highlights. As with other Intrepid trips, they will be led by a local leader who is passionate and knowledgeable about the local food scene. Group sizes will be kept to a maximum of 12 people to provide an intimate travel experience.

There will be three distinct trip styles in the range, ensuring a variety of prices to suit any budget:  

• Real Food Adventures: 8–14 days in duration, these touring itineraries will showcase the ‘real food’ culture and customs of multiple regions within a single country.  Destinations include China, Vietnam, Mexico, India, Spain and Turkey.
• Bite-size Breaks: 3–5 days in length, these short, centralised itineraries will focus on a single region and are ideal for a long weekend or short getaway. Destinations will include Tokyo, New Orleans, the Veneto region in Italy, as well as Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
• Urban Food Safaris: 3–4 hours in duration, these food crawls will offer a unique insight into some of the world’s most exciting food cities as well as emerging hotspots.  Destinations will include Paris, Athens, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Delhi and Hanoi. 

First departures for Intrepid Travel’s food trips will take place in April and May 2013.