The New Jersey Food Tour Trail is a collaboration of food tours that operate in various regions throughout the state. The joining of tours was developed for tourists to create their own trail in an effort to “eat their way” throughout New Jersey. The New Jersey Food Tour Trail hopes tourists get the chance to learn and explore all pockets of the state, while also taking a bite, or two, out of everything delicious there is to offer.
It is your go-to interactive and guided experience involving fun food and drinks, as well as some shopping, throughout the state.
Tours that are involved are Beyond the Plate Food Tours, Cape May Food Tours, Have You Met Newark, On the Town Food Tours, Savor and Stroll Culinary Tours, Sister Cities Food and Shop Tours, and Taste of Asbury Food Tours.
Beyond the Plate
Beyond the Plate Food Tours was founded in 2013. They’ve been touring Jersey City since then, and were previously known as “Jersey Girls Food Tours.”
They’ve recently expanded to Red Bank, Somerville and Princeton within the last two years.
They are currently hosting tours in Red Bank, Somerville and Jersey City.
At Beyond the Plate, their mission is to foster community and connection through food, highlighting New Jersey’s diverse and delicious food scene in a fun and exciting way.
Cape May Food Tours
Cape May Food Tours is the Granddaddy of all the food tours on the New Jersey Food Tour Trail. Their signature Historic Downtown Food Tour launched in 2012 to much delight, and has been running successfully ever since.
Cape May Food Tours offers two tasty tours: the Historic Downtown Food Tour, which is their signature tour, and the West Cape May Food Tour, which highlights what’s new on the Cape May food scene.
Both tours feature foods from six of the best eateries the city has to offer. Their friendly, local, knowledgeable guides will treat you to fascinating history, local lore and the charm of Victorian architecture.
Have You Met Newark
Have You Met Newark Tours was founded in 2012. Living and eating every day in Newark gives people the opportunity to meet a lot of cool entrepreneurs and enjoy a lot of top notch meals. It wouldn't be fair not to share these great eats and stories with the folks who take their walking tours!
They offer food tours in downtown Newark and in the Ironbound; no two tours are exactly alike and they vary their stops!
On The Town Food Tours
On The Town Food Tours has more than twenty five years of experience in the food industry.
In the last ten years, they’ve tracked food and flavor trends for leading food manufacturers and consumers.
In order to stay on top of the trends, you have to go out and explore. This passion in food has driven them to provide private food tours for friends and family. They’ve had so much fun eating and exploring, that they decided to start this company and share their food experience and knowledge with a larger audience.
Savor and Stroll Culinary Tours
Savor and Stroll was started by Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Kathleen Carozza in July of 2017.
Savor and Stroll Culinary Tours takes customers through the heart of Morristown, NJ eating all the way. Our Classic Savor and Stroll tour includes a leisurely stroll, food samples and some history. Savor, Sip and Shop Tour that includes shopping at several unique small stores, food samples as well as wine and beer tasting. Their new History Hike and Graze is a longer more active tour with lots of history and tastings.
Sister Cities Food and Shop Tours
Sister Cities Tours have been in business since October of 2017. Their inspiration came from watching visitors come to their town and seeing them looking down at their phones to try and figure out where to go; they’d literally walk up to anyone who looked lost and ask them what they were looking for or where they were trying to go.
Their tours take customers to stops at 5 different locations for tastings. They also incorporate stops at shops where customers can browse and shop to take some of the magic home with them.
Taste of Asbury Food Tours
Taste of Asbury Food Tours all began with a trip in 2013; Bonnie Brown, the tour operator and Justin Brown, her husband, embarked on a six week cross country road trip around the United States. At each of their stops, they wanted to explore the unique culture and history that each city had to offer.
Food was always a distinctive feature of these cities that allowed them to gain a view into the local culture. They found that local food tours allowed you to not only glimpse into the soul of the city you were visiting, but also gave you an opportunity to sample some of the best foods, desserts, and drinks that had created these distinct culinary scenes. As residents of Asbury Park, they knew a food tour would be perfect for the historic and growing city.
If you’re looking for something fun to do when the weather turns warm again then the NJ Food Tour Trail is your go-to option! Plus, when restaurants are able to safely open back up, you may be itching to get out and become a foodie! Or, your inner fashionista will want to explore the participating shops. Learn more about the New Jersey Food Tour Trail at their website and on Instagram!
All photos were provided by participating food tours and were taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.