Athens Food Tours, Athens

Though The Odyssey has earned acclaim for documenting history’s most iconic journey, Mary Charles Howard has won over her customers by focusing on a more commonplace one—food’s journey from the farm to the table. As the owner of Athens Food Tours, an establishment named the best in Athens by Tripadvisor, she and her team guide gourmands to local eateries such as The Grit, Agua Linda, Kelly’s Jamaican, and Copper Street Brew Pub. Their walking tours send peripatetic palates through specific neighborhoods, such as Prince Avenue, the downtown area, or Normaltown, named for its distinction of being the only area to have successfully banned talking dogs. On each tour, guests mingle with chefs and sample their concoctions, but guides also incorporate factoids on non-culinary topics such as history, local music, and architecture.