DIY Food Tours In New York City: Eating On The Go-Go For A Good-Good Time

Hey Dale Carnegie, here’s a surefire way to win friends and influence people. Take them on a New York City food tour! It’s good, clean fun in the city. You spend time outside—fresh air, you walk around—exercise, you nibble—pleasure. It’s a win-win-win. All you need are some tasty destinations and some friends.  

Jax Snax On The Go-Go

I’ve made the first part EASY for you by whipping up Jax Snax On The Go-Go DIY NYC food tour guides. It’s a series of guides and you get the first one: EAT CHOCOLATE! Financial District to Houston St. by signing up for my mailing list. They contain my picks for the best places in New York City to grab and eat chocolate on the go.

Lose Weight While You Watch The Show

I’ve got a theory that you gain less weight if you move while you’re eating—this may not be true, but let’s at least start a rumor!. Plus, the streets of New York are like live theater—it’s like Law & Order and Home Shopping Club meet Friday Night Stand Up. The more time you spend walking around the more you get to see of the “show”.

Nibble New York Like A Native

I eat out a lot, often on the go. As a native New Yorker and a food freak, I hate the idea of people eating mediocre food in my town. Plus I get a thrill out of pointing people in the direction of outstanding nibbles around the city—friends, strangers, anyone.

My Jax Snax On The Go-Go DIY NYC food tour guides are arranged by neighborhood and have a couple of my favorite* “MUST EATZ” for each destination. Each guide comes as a pdf with my TOP fifteen picks and also as a Google Map with even more recommendations. You can sign up for the first one: EAT CHOCOLATE—Financial District to Houston St.

The Jax Snax guides are not only great for food tours, but you can also use them to:

Taste New York City like a native (I was born in NY hospital!)
Use for visits to New York City
Give to out-of-town guests or people you know who are going to New York City

“Jackie was an amazing tour guide from start to finish - not only friendly, hilarious & accommodating to a practical stranger, she was extraordinarily knowledgeable and could tell me about everything we visited and more in-between, from the best gelato in town to the oldest New York matzo factory. Highly recommended for a food tour and, more importantly, fun!”—Jackie Lee food writer and food blogger (I’m A Feeder) who was visiting from London this past winter and wanted to get a taste of the Big Apple.

Build A Tour That Rocks

Putting together a food tour is not rocket science, but things can go wrong. I’ve written Food Tours 101—Top Ten Tips For Hosting A Successful Food Tour that will help you organize a great tour.
 So grab some friends and get to it.

More Food Tours Guides

The next guide is EAT CHOCOLATE - East Village. Once I finish the chocolate guides, I’m doing an EAT Olde New York food tour and a EAT DUMPLINGS food tour. Sign up for my mailing list and you get more DIY NYC food tour guides, plus my recipes, dining and cooking tips, songs, videos and more!

Get on my list and get feeding,
XXOOJAX

Not In New York? 

You don’t have to live in New York City to create your own food tour. In L.A., my dear friend Julia and I grazed all over the city walking, subwaying (who knew that there’s a subway in L.A.?—Not me) and driving.

I recently ate my way around Boston with food bloggers Ken Leung (Hungry Rabbit NYC) and Brian Samuels (A Thought for Food). Not eating on the go-go, but going to many places and eating and eating and eating (seven eating establishments in one day—I almost exploded!).

Next month we’re going on a private Korean Nosh and Drive in New Jersey organized by food blogger and author Justin Schwartz.

My point is you can make up a food tour anywhere and tailor it to fit your circumstances. Google “food crawls” or “food tours” in your area to see what’s happening by you. There are also web sites like Dish Crawl where you can find all sorts of food eating adventures to join in on.

*NOTE: These are my best picks. It’s fairly likely that you and I have different tastes. I don’t know every place. I have not tasted everything (I’d like to). That said, I’d love to know the places you like. Maybe I’ll like it too. If I try it and I like it, I’ll include it on my map. If I don’t, I won’t, but please don’t be offended.

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