The Atlanta Lawyer February/March 2020 | Page 29

COMMUNITY The Atlanta Food Walks Tour Learning About Atlanta's International Food Scene One of the best ways to learn about a culture is through its food. With Atlanta being a melting pot of different histories and flavors, the Atlanta Food Walk’s Downtown Southern Food Walk Tour is an excellent way to get a deeper understanding of our home town. The international tasting tour begins in Castleberry Hill, with an overview of the development of Metro Atlanta and its British, African, Appalachian, Gullah, Creole, and Cajun culinary influences. As the group walks through Castleberry Hill through Downtown Atlanta to Sweet Auburn, the tour guide also touches on the city’s changing politics, its art and architecture, our growing film industry, and key Atlanta figures. The history is intriguing and weighty – and our food stops provide a delicious and tangible link to the foundations of Atlanta. The Atlanta Food Walks Tour takes about three and a half hours. It includes 15 food and beverage tastings at six or seven stops in Atlanta’s historic Downtown neighborhoods (depending on availability). If you have any doubts about Atlanta’s status as an international food community, the tour ends at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, a nearly 100-year-old market featuring dozens of restaurants and produce merchants from across the globe. Some of the Downtown Southern Food Walk Tour highlights include: - Paschal’s: a popular soul food restaurant and meeting place for some of the most notable entertainers, politicians, and business people during the civil rights movement. - Arden’s Garden: Atlanta’s oldest juicer, using fresh and local ingredients. - Smoke Ring: (temporarily closed) an Atlanta smokehouse featuring contemporary BBQ dishes with traditional, Southern-style sides. - Panbury’s: a meat pie shop that recreates South African, British, and Australian favorites in a new, Georgia style. - Grindhouse Killer Burgers: a popular Atlanta-based burger chain. - Husker’s Café: a Georgia-based restaurant chain that features several different styles of grits and Southern breakfast staples. - Just Add Honey: a boutique tea shop that embraces Georgia’s local flavors and the traditions surrounding tea service. - Metro Deli & Soul Food: an Ethiopian spin on traditional soul food dishes. - Miss D’s Pralines: offering New Orleans-style pralines, popcorn, and other sweet treats. If you are interested in Atlanta’s history and its culinary influences, this is an ideal tour. The guides present a wealth of information, and are both entertaining and personable. Plus, the dishes available are honestly pretty tasty – and for many, are outside of what they would usually try. Attendees have fun, get some exercise outside, and end up learning just as much about Atlanta’s history about its food scene. Atlanta Food Walks hosts tours Mondays and Thursdays-Sundays. In addition to the Downtown Southern Food Walk, the company also offers a Grant Park Past & Future Walk as well as private food tours. Both adults and children are welcome; the tour company can also accommodate most food restrictions (ex: vegetarian, gluten- free, food allergies) with advance notice. For more information, including tickets and availability, visit AtlantaFoodWalks.com. DR. MEGAN HODGKISS Hodgkiss Consulting, LLC [email protected] www.atlantabar.org THE ATLANTA LAWYER 29