Food loving travelers, rejoice! If you want a guilt-free way to enjoy the best wines, seafood and regional cuisine around the world, chose from these food-fitness safaris, active trips that will have you burning calories without even realizing it.
In addition to exploring new places and foods through wine tastings, food pairings and cooking classes, these food-fitness safaris also expose you to local wildlife, whether it’s on the slopes, in the sea or in the rainforest. Get ready for immersive adventure travel, where even your taste buds will enjoy the trip.
1) River Rafting, Wilderness Cooking Lessons & Wine Pairings (Idaho/ Oregon)
Explore the best of Northwestern United States with a whitewater rafting trip, wine pairings and gourmet meals with ROW adventures’ Culinary Whitewater Rafting Series. Raft down either Salmon River Canyons in Idaho or Rogue River in Oregon and enjoy intermediate rapids, warm water and green-forested canyons.
During the day, split up rafting with swimming and wildlife watching for deer, black bear, river otters and a variety of birds. You can also get off the river with walks to historic homesteads and hikes on superb trails. End your days with gourmet meals, which you can help prepare or just enjoy. You can chose a trip with hands-on cooking lessons where you learn to make gourmet wilderness meals using the campfire or a Dutch Oven cooking. On other trips, a guest chef will prepare Northwest Regional Fare paired with local wines.
Fish to Fork Eating. Photo courtesy of Omni Amelia Island Plantation.
2) Dock-to-Dish Dining With Dolphins (Amelia Island, Florida)
Visit Amelia Island, Florida for an unforgettable fishing and hunting experience. Work up an appetite by reeling-in redfish (a popular Florida sport fish), skates and rays (delicious to eat), sharks and more. During the annual “Fish to Fork” chef showdown, local fishing captains expertly guide you down back-country salt marshes of Amelia Island or the deep blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean for a true dock to dining experience.
While hunting for your dinner, spot hundreds of species of local birds, dolphins and manatees. See how your own meal compares to a professional concoction at weekend’s main event — the “Fish to Fork” chef showdown. At this live battle, chefs will turn the catch of the day into a signature dish using a mystery ingredient. Visitors, like you, will sample the salty bounty and decide the winner.
Woodboat Winter appetizers. Photo courtesy of AJ DeRosa
3) Snowshoeing & S’Mores (Jackson Hole, Wyoming)
Join Woodboat Tours for Snowshoe with Tipi Dinner in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Take off on a four-day snowshoe hike in the shadows of the Grand Tetons.
As you move silently through the Cottonwood forest on the banks of the Snake River, your guide will interpret moose, elk, deer, coyote and river otter tracks in the snow with occasional glimpses of the animals. As the temperature drops, you’ll arrive at Tipi camp just in time for sunset and a custom dinner. Dine on wild-caught salmon or buffalo and regional side dishes before climbing into your cozy tipi, if you elect to spend the night.
Contributed by Katie Foote
Top photo credit: Salmon River Canyon with ROW Adventures. Photo Courtesy of Chad Case. Featured image courtesy of nito via Shutterstock
Jessica Festa is the editor of the travel sites Jessie on a Journey (http://jessieonajourney.com) and Epicure & Culture (http://epicureandculture.com). Along with blogging at We Blog The World, her byline has appeared in publications like Huffington Post, Gadling, Fodor’s, Travel + Escape, Matador, Viator, The Culture-Ist and many others. After getting her BA/MA in Communication from the State University of New York at Albany, she realized she wasn’t really to stop backpacking and made travel her full time job. Some of her most memorable experiences include studying abroad in Sydney, teaching English in Thailand, doing orphanage work in Ghana, hiking her way through South America and traveling solo through Europe. She has a passion for backpacking, adventure, hiking, wine and getting off the beaten path.
