Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

On a recent weekend get-away to Chicago, my group of 5 experienced the Near North Food Tasting and Cultural Walking Tour. What a fun and interesting way to explore Chicago! We had a fabulous experience, tasted new and interesting delights (oil and vinegar - who knew they could be so yummy?) and learned a lot about the windy city. We'll do another walking tour for another trip - loved it! Would recommend this for anyone, whether you know the city or not!

A fabulous combination of food, fun and history. Our guide was lively and informative, took us through several interesting and beautiful neighborhoods in Chicago and provided us with the history of each place, injecting humor and some fun anecdotes as well. Each stop along the way, we sipped, sampled and nibbled on a variety of delicious treats and learned about the way each product was made and its relevance to the neighborhood and city. I can't wait to revisit Chicago and take the Wicker park tour next!

Loved this tour and our guide Hilary. The tour was very well-planned with just the right amount of "real" food and other kinds of edibles (spices, oils, candy). Loved seeing the neighborhood close up as well. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in food and seeing a part of the city.

Our guide was wonderful and so full of energy. She was so enthusiastic about every stop we went to. She was interesting to listen to and was very knowledgeable about the tour highlights. The stops were all very interesting. The whole tour flowed very well. We bought items at 2 stops we went to after the tour.

Our guide was fun,interesting,and enthusiastic.She gave us a lot of information without talking us to death.All of the food stops were informative as well as very tasty.I learned things about tea,spices,oil,and chocolate that will come in handy in everyday life.I would highly recommend this tour!

I spent three enjoyable hours learning about a variety of foods and some of the history of Chicago. The tour takes you away from the touristy places to private neighborhoods and "mom and pop" type businesses. You feel like you are one of the locals. Our guide, Arianna, was very knowledgable and enthusiastic. I highly recommend this tour.

We had Chris as our guide,he was informative,congenial,sense of humor and watched out for the group. We found the other seven in the group to be very interesting and we couldn't have asked for a better day! The food tasting was good,not too much but enough. We also had enough time to go back to the stores we wished to purchase items. Overall we enjoyed the tour and plan to do another in the Spring.

This was our 4th trip to Chicago, but we now LOVE the city. This tour took us out of the touristy areas to the real Chicago. The food was great, but even better was the overall experience. I want a Tea Gschwendner, Spice House and Old Town Oil store where I live!!! The sandwich at Ashkenaz Deli was the best I've ever eaten, we will visit again. The Polish perogi and kolachis at Delightful Pastries were "to die for". The Fudge Pot is some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted, and I'm a chocoholic! And of course Chris was wonderful. He was full of knowledge about this wonderful city and enjoyed telling us about it. I can't wait to go back to Chicago and try the Bucktown/Wicker Park tour!

I chose this tour over the Bucktown one due to the variety of tastings. I was not disappointed. Chris was our tour guide. He was friendly, informative and upbeat. Good interaction with the whole group. We ranged in age from mid 20's to 80. Be prepared to walk and stand for most of the tour. The weather was perfect on this day. The variety of tastings (really felt like full meals), from pastrami on rye to olive oil, spices, tea and deep dish pizza were well spaced out and interesting. The only bummer was the fact you cannot shop during the tour and must return on your own after. However, the neighborhoods are quite enjoyable and well worth returning to. I would recommend this highly not only to visitors to Chicago, but locals who do not have a chance to explore the city. Thanks Chicago Food Planet, really an excellent adventure!

I absolutely loved the tour and would recommend it to others. There were, however, a couple of things I would have liked to see. Extend the tour by and hour or so and allow shopping at each location. I'm sure the merchants would appreciate the business. My friends and I did go back to 3 places to shop, but we saw no one else. I would have also liked to see a rest stop or 2. Two people in our group couldn't keep up very well, in fact, one had to take a taxi to the last stop. One last item is water. For the price we paid, I feel water should have been provided.