About us
Forkful Field Trips is four people on Meeting Street and 12 hosts who live where they cook. We run small-group food and drink tours in Europe, Japan, Mexico and the USA for adults who would rather sit at the table than read about it, never more than 12 at it.
Quai Saint-Antoine market, Lyon
Our story
Hannah Pruitt grew up in West Ashley and spent nine years cooking in Charleston restaurant kitchens, mostly on the fish station. When she moved to writing about Southern food, the question readers sent her most often was simple: if I come for four days, where should I eat?
Her answer was always longer than an email. The best plates in the Lowcountry are not all in restaurants. They are at an oyster roast on a creek, in a church kitchen on a Sunday, at a farm stand on Wadmalaw Island. Getting to them takes a car, a local friend and some luck.
In 2017 she registered Forkful Field Trips with a Saturday market walk and cooking class in Charleston. The first multi-day Lowcountry tour followed a year later, with Remy Thibodeaux starting food walks in New Orleans the same spring.
Every new destination follows the same test. Hannah and a local host eat the route first, meet the cheesemakers, fishermen, pitmasters and winemakers who teach on it, and check every kitchen can cook for the diets our guests bring. Only then does a tour go on sale. Since 2025 most of our new routes have been in Europe, and we now run 16 tours in 12 destinations.
The company is still registered in South Carolina and run from Charleston, so you book, pay and get answers in English, in US dollars, on US Eastern Time. On the ground every tour is led by a host who lives in that country, speaks the language and knows the cooks by name.
Field trips, because every one of our tours moves and teaches: from market to dairy, bar to bar, cellar to kitchen. Forkful, because tasting is the point of each stop. We would rather show you six plates you will remember than sixty you will not.
Year by year
2017
Hannah Pruitt leaves restaurant writing and registers Forkful Field Trips in Charleston. The first product is a Saturday cooking class and market morning.
2018
The first multi-day tour runs in the Lowcountry. Remy Thibodeaux starts the New Orleans walks.
2019
The Texas Barbecue Trail and New Orleans and Cajun Country. 41 departures that year.
2020
Every departure from March onward is cancelled. All deposits and payments are refunded or moved, as each guest chose.
2021
Tours restart in May, and the Great American Barbecue Trail follows in the fall.
2024
Guests keep asking for Europe. Hannah spends the year eating the first routes in Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Sicily and the Basque Country with the cooks who now host them.
2025
The first European departures: Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Sicily, the Basque Country and Andalusia, each with a host who lives there.
2026
Portugal, Lyon and Provence, Crete, Japan and Mexico join, and the Charleston class retires to make room. 16 tours in 12 destinations, most of them in Europe.
The office
Email is how we work: every date, price, menu and promise is in writing. Replies within one working day, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:30 Eastern.
Founder and owner · Charleston
Cooked on the line in Charleston kitchens for nine years, then wrote about Southern food before starting the company in 2017. Plans every route and still eats each new one with the local host before it goes on sale.
Reservations · Charleston
Answers bookings@ and knows every tour stop by stop. Ask her which one suits your diet, your knees or your dates.
Private groups · Charleston
Plans the private tours for birthdays, reunions, supper clubs and company retreats, from the first email to the last toast.
Operations · Charleston
Books the hotels, the restaurant tables and the classes, and sends every kitchen on the route the dietary notes for your group.
Hosts
Every host lives in the country they guide and speaks its language. Your host meets you on the first evening and stays with the group until the last morning; local cooks, cheesemakers, fishermen and winemakers teach along the way.
Host, Emilia-Romagna and Bologna
Giulia grew up in Bologna watching her grandmother roll pasta on the kitchen table, and spent ten years buying cheese and salumi for a delicatessen in the Quadrilatero. She joined Forkful Field Trips in 2025.
Host, Tuscany and Florence
Chiara trained as a cook in Florence and worked several harvests at wine estates in Chianti and Montalcino before she started guiding. She has hosted our Tuscany tours since we added them in 2025.
Host, Sicily, from Palermo to Etna
Salvo was born in Catania and worked for twelve years as a sommelier and cellar guide on the north slope of Etna before he began hosting food tours across the island. He joined us in 2025.
Host, Athens and Crete
Eleni was born in Athens and moved to her mother’s village in Apokoronas, where the family still presses its own olive oil. A former schoolteacher, she has led food walks in Chania since 2018 and joined us in 2026.
Host, The Basque Country and San Sebastián
Ane trained as a cook in San Sebastián and spent ten years behind pintxos counters in the Parte Vieja before she started guiding. She has hosted our Basque tours since the first departure in 2025 and still buys her cheese at La Bretxa.
Host, Andalusia: Seville, Jerez, Cádiz and Granada
Lucía grew up in Triana, studied wine in Jerez and spent six years showing visitors around a sherry bodega there. She joined us in 2025 and hosts every Andalusia departure, from the first tapa in Seville to the last in Granada.
Host, Portugal: Lisbon, Porto and the Douro
Rui grew up in Vila Nova de Gaia, where his father worked in the port lodges, and spent ten years leading tastings at Douro quintas. He joined us in 2026 and planned this route stop by stop.
Host, Lyon and Provence
Camille trained as a cook in Lyon and worked in bouchon and market kitchens for twelve years before she started guiding. Her family is from near Apt, so she knows the Luberon markets well; she joined us in 2026.
Host, New Orleans and Cajun Country
Grew up in Breaux Bridge, where his family still makes boudin every Saturday. Cooked in New Orleans for twelve years and has hosted for us since 2018.
Host, Texas, Kansas City and Memphis
Judged barbecue competitions across Texas and Kansas for a decade. Knows which pit sells out first on a Saturday and why, and has hosted for us since 2019.
Host, Mexico City and Oaxaca
Ximena was born in Mexico City and moved to Oaxaca to study anthropology, then spent years documenting village cooks in the Central Valleys. She has hosted our Mexico tour since it began in 2026 and speaks Spanish, English and some Zapotec.
Host, Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka
Aiko grew up in Kyoto, cooked for six years in a Kyoto restaurant kitchen and then trained as a licensed national guide. She has hosted our Japan tour since it began in 2026 and still shops at Nishiki market every week.
What we believe
One table, one van, one host everyone can hear. A bigger group would not fit in a pintxos bar or a balsamic attic.
We eat where the cooking happens and pay the people who teach us for their time. No sales pitches at the end of a tasting.
Every kitchen on the route gets your dietary notes before you arrive. If a tour cannot work for an allergy, we say so before you book.
Every departure and price is on the tour page, with the meals that are included listed one by one.
Wine, beer and spirits only at the legal drinking age where the tour runs (18 in Europe and Mexico, 20 in Japan, 21 in the USA), with a good non-alcoholic option at every pour.
Groups of 12 fill early
Tell us the tour and the month. We reply within one working day with dates, seats left, the price and the menus we can adjust for you.
Search · 16 food tours in 12 destinations
Or browse all 16 tours, all 12 destinations or current deals.