Asheville, NC – Food Lover’s Dream

I confess when we decided to travel to Asheville, we didn’t know much about it. We discovered during our week there, that it is a food and craft beer lover’s dream. Asheville has an absolutely thriving food scene, and apparently has more breweries per capita than any other state in the US!

Here are a few foodie highlights from our visit, and if you love food you will LOVE Asheville!

No Taste Like Home Foraging Tour

I never thought foraging for food could be so much fun! No Taste Like Home is a 24 yr old ecotour company specializing in foraging. Their tours are fascinating, and are suitable for all ages. You will get an education and have the most amazing time!

We tasted sap from a tree, ate some pine needles, and gathered edible violas. I never in my life thought I’d be eating some of the plants that we were introduced to on this tour!

At the end of the tour, our host prepared a most delicious snack from the food that we foraged that morning. Look at this amazing presentation!

To top everything off, No Taste Like Home partners with several top notch restaurants in Asheville. The restaurant will prepare a delicious appetizer made with the food that you foraged, so after your tour you can take your food over and have a fantastic lunch!!

I loved this tour, and hope to go back one day during mushroom season. 🙂

Asheville Food Tour

How better to sample some of the best of Asheville’s food scene, than by taking a tour with Asheville Food Tours? This company offers several tours, and we took the Food Fan Foot Tour, led by Asheville food writer Stu Helm. In addition to being incredibly knowledgeable about the Asheville food scene, he was really funny!

All these pictures are of food presented to us on the tour, and I’m not including everything here! We visited about 8 different restaurants, walking from place to place (Food Fan Foot Tour :-)), and we definitely did NOT go home hungry that day! You’ll be treated to some amazing food at some of Asheville’s finest eateries if you take this tour. I promise you will love it!

Craft Beer Scene – Funkatorium

My husband Steve is a sour beer afficionado. First day we were there we had to head to this amazing Pub called Funkatorium so he could try out one of their flights of beer. He was in heaven, and I was happy to see that they had a fantastic menu so we both left the Funkatorium happy. 🙂 If you love sour beer, this is the place for you!

There are so many breweries in Asheville brewing up some fantastic beer! For a list of the breweries, visit the Asheville Blog.

Biltmore Estate

You cannot visit Asheville without visiting The Biltmore Estate. This estate will absolutely blow your mind. In this post though, I will write about Cedric’s Tavern, and the Biltmore Winery.

We were thrilled to find Cedric’s Tavern, located at the Antler Hill Village and Winery. We were happy because the tavern was named after the Vanderbilt’s beloved St. Bernard named Cedric. As we have a St. Bernard, we were of course drawn like a magnet to this tavern. 🙂

They have a great menu, and my husband tried the Cedric’s Pale Ale (of course).

For more information about the Vanderbilts, Cedric, and our dog Toby, please read this post about Cedric’s Tavern and Toby. 🙂

The Biltmore Winery

The Biltmore Winery is BEAUTIFUL, and if you like wine you will love this place! We sampled a few of their wines in the Tasting Room. The wines are absolutely delicious, and complimentary wine tastings are part of your entrance fee to The Biltmore.

The Biltmore Winery is the most visited winery in the United States, and not to be missed if you are in the area.

Chai Pani – Okra Fries

If you can’t get to India for authentic Indian street food, just get to Chai Pani. We love Indian food, and this was one of the BEST Indian food meals I have ever had! The host of the VRBO we stayed in recommended this restaurant, and stressed that we MUST try the okra fries. My goodness! They were amazing, as was the rest of the food!

It was my LUCKY day when I found the recipe to these fries, and you can read about it here. 🙂

Three Dogs Bakery

Last but not least….Asheville goes to the dogs! Three Dogs Bakery in downtown Asheville, bakes up SCRUMPTIOUS fare for your beloved canine companions. Just look at the creative baked goodies for your pooch. 🙂 Three Dogs Bakery uses only 100% human quality ingredients in their treats and food. You might want to pick up a slice of the Wagamelon Cake while there. 🙂

Scratching the Surface

We only scratched the surface of what Asheville has to offer, and hope one day to make it back there to enjoy more of Asheville’s food and craft beer scene! I hope you will include a visit to Asheville as part of your future travel plans.

If you’ve enjoyed this content, or if you’ve been to Asheville and have any recommendations for others, please comment below!

Thanks for reading and never stop exploring!