Unless your travel destination is also home to family or friends, you may have few opportunities to experience that local flavor that exists beyond the shiny pages of tourist brochures.
Finding something out of the ordinary might be as simple as seeking sumptuous cuisine not from restaurants, but from the comfort of someone else’s own home.
EatWith has made it its mission to streamline home dining. With approved chefs in 150 cities worldwide, the company’s website, www.eatwith.com, is a resource for those seeking open or private home-cooked meals.
Often, guests leave with more than just full bellies. Many times, hosts will share with guests their takes on their cities, along with favorite local cafés or lesser-known markets, says Naama Shefi, director of public relations and communication at EatWith.
EatWith co-founder and CEO Guy Michlin was the recipient of such insider information when he was a traveler, and it was this experience that motivated him to create his company. On a vacation to Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, Michlin found himself falling prey to countless tourist traps until he got an invitation to eat with a local family. Not only did the family treat Michlin to authentic cuisine, they also shared with him ideas for sightseeing around the island.
“That experience was really the highlight of the trip,” Shefi says.
After returning to his home in Tel Aviv, Israel, Michlin, together with co-founder Shemer Schwarz, came up with the business model for EatWith. Barcelona, Spain was the first site to host EatWith chefs, and the company quickly grew from there.
Now, Shefi says, EatWith has received thousands of chef applications, though it accepts only 4 percent of them. The journey from applicant to chef can be as short as a few weeks, though it varies from location to location.
Included in the application process is the creation of a menu and the description of cooking styles and dinner themes. Prospective chefs even upload short videos and some photos to illustrate their personalities. If a video interview goes well, the applicant conducts a demo dinner for EatWith.
Chefs can be professional cooks or amateurs. Each event page includes a small host bio, along with menu information and reviews. Guests can see how many seats are left at the table, or they can contact the host to set up a private meal.
While the home dining experience gives guests a window into local life, it also allows them to interface with the chef in a way that they wouldn’t be able to in a restaurant, where the chef is often stuck in the kitchen.
“It’s really lovely to get to watch the chef in action and to ask about recipes and special ingredients,” Shefi says.
EatWith dining experiences can range from $20 to $120, and prices vary from country to country. Shefi says a full dinner is, on average, between $46 and $48 per seat. Tipping is not necessary, and tax is included in the price.
The unique dishes and socialization opportunities have made EatWith a draw for locals as well as travelers. Shefi, who lives in Brooklyn, has repeatedly visited an EatWith chef specializing in Japanese food. While New York offers countless Japanese restaurants, Shefi says, she could never find the equivalent of her chef’s flavors elsewhere.
Many guests from Columbus attend Westerville-area host Tess Geer’s dinners, or they drive from Cleveland, Dayton, Cincinnati or even Canton. Geer decided to apply to be a host after hearing a story about EatWith on National Public Radio. Now a host for a year, she specializes in French home country cooking. She strives to not only prepare authentic food, but to make small details such as table settings synonymous with what a traveler might find in a French country home.
“I just really love to cook,” Geer says.
While Geer didn’t visit France until she was an adult, upon going there, she fell in love. She visited repeatedly until buying a home outside Paris in 2006. She visits about three times per year.
Private supper clubs, she says, are very popular in Europe. While organized clubs like EatWith exist, local, underground ones can also be found by word of mouth.
Eating in a private home allows one to see the culture from the host’s vantage point, Geer says.
“It’s more of an immersive experience,” she says.
Geer’s mother was a good cook, she says, and Geer herself also enjoyed preparing dishes. She didn’t become immersed in the hobby, however, until her husband sent her to a cooking school at Disney World as a gift.
“It just really grabbed me and opened my eyes,” she says.
Since then, Geer has taken more cooking classes, even when she travels. In France, she attended an EatWith cooking class, where she learned to make French macarons. She’s thought about offering her own EatWith class for canning chicken stock.
Geer hosts dinners three to four times a month. As many as 12 people can sit at her large, antique French table. She treats her guests like family.
“Nobody can sit around a table and eat a home-cooked meal and leave not being friends,” Geer says.
Geer offers a Bistro Dinner as well as a Provençal Dinner that features olive oil, garlic, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes and fresh fruit. Her newest endeavor is Moroccan French Style Dinner.
Many at Geer’s table are repeat guests, and some have attended every dinner Geer has had.
“They enjoy it. They like to come back,” she says.
Sarah Sole is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
WEB REFERS
-More on Tess Geer’s EatWith dinners in the Westerville area
-More to experience in Barcelona
-Defining cooking terms that might show up on a menu
-A look at progressive dinner parties
-Cooking classes through Upper Arlington’s Lifelong Learning program
