We took a Louisville Food Tour in NuLu and visited 7 restaurants. Was it worth the hype?

They traveled south from Wisconsin, a state known for its rich brewing history to the Bluegrass State for a tour of the famous Kentucky Bourbon Trail.

But Krystal and Mark Buhler's mouth-watering adventure took an unexpected turn when they found themselves exploring the origins of beer cheese, biscuits and gravy, sorghum, barbeque, Ale-8, and a sweet caramel treat named for a 19th-century Polish actress.

"We travel a lot and wherever we go we look to see if there is a food tour," Mark Buhler told the Courier Journal. "They're a great way to immerse yourself in the community and learn more about a city. Plus, you probably wouldn't go to seven different restaurants during a weekend trip but with a food tour it's easy and turns out to be less expensive."

Adding a Louisville Food Tours to their stay was a tasty last-minute addition to the Buhler's Kentucky visit. The company currently offers a NuLu Food & History Tour, The Highlands Food & History Tour, and Phantoms of the Prohibition Cocktails & Bites, with more in development.

"We hadn't known Louisville offered food tours until we arrived," Buhler said. "They offered enough times and tour options that we could fit this one into our itinerary and that's how we ended up here."

"Here" was the corner of Main and Clay Streets. More specifically, the sidewalk outside Goodwood Brewery & Spirits, 636 E. Main St. Louisville Food Tour guide Sam Schuning greeted the nine guests who had signed up for the three-hour walking which included a casual stroll through the Butchertown and NuLu neighborhoods and stops at seven area restaurants.

Here's a look at the history of Louisville Food Tours, the idea behind the company, and why you should add the experience to your must-try list:

How did Louisville Food Tours get started?

Lia and Jeremy Garcia are the co-founders of Louisville Food Tours. The couple came up with the idea after moving here from California and noting something missing from Louisville's tourism landscape.

"I am originally from Louisville and I have been writing a travel blog for a number of years," Lia Garcia told the Courier Journal. "We have traveled all over the world and started taking food tours everywhere we went. We decided food tours were the best way to get to know a new place and develop deeper connections."

When the Garcias discovered Louisville didn't have its own food tour, the couple got busy creating tours that would tell the history of the city through the food and beverages being served in area restaurants.

"We really dove into the research of different neighborhoods and the history of ingredients used in foods that you can still find in restaurants today," Jeremy Garcia said. "We wanted to incorporate the history of the entire city with a particular focus on unique aspects in specific neighborhoods, like Thomas Edison or 'Bloody Monday' and piece them together into a story that makes sense and takes you through this narrative."

Here's what it's like to take a Louisville Food Tour

Half the people on our specific NuLu Food & History Tour were from Louisville while the others were visiting from out of town, from as far away as Florida and Wisconsin.

"We have a lot of locals take the tours as date nights or an activity to do with out-of-town guests," Lia Garcia said.

Since founding the business in 2022, Louisville Food Tours has experienced incredible growth.

"We've led over 1,400 guests on our tours and earned over 200 five-star reviews," Lia Garcia said. "We've hired a team of talented tour guides from the local community to support our growth, contributed significant revenue to local restaurants, and fostered deeper connections between tourists and Louisville."

Most of the people in our group had taken food tours in other cities and came prepared. They wore comfortable shoes for the 1.5-mile stroll and appropriate clothing for the summer weather, including sun hats and even an umbrella since it was a very hot Friday afternoon.

"This is our seventh food tour," said Brent Pendleton, a Kentucky resident. "It's a good way to meet people and learn more about a place, plus there is good food."

A nice touch was the fact that our tour guide didn't have to shout to be heard inside the restaurants or outdoors. Schuning, who told us she is a part-time school teacher, spoke at a normal level into a microphone which was transmitted into a small receiver we each wore looped over our ear.

We started the tour inside Goodwood Brewery & Spirits sampling a couple of beers and tasting a delicious beer cheese which our guide explained was made in Kentucky.

As Schuning walked us through the Butchertown neighborhood, she wove together the origins of Louisville, the ancestry of those who first settled the area, the history of the industries that helped to build the city, and of course, the food and drink that was consumed by those who lived and worked in the community.

Based on the history of those who settled in this area, we tasted a variety of biscuits and gravy at Biscuit Belly, sorghum-encrusted pork cakes topped with creamy slaw at Feast BBQ, chicken wings at Royals Hot Chicken, Derby bars at Please & Thank You, ice cream at Louisville Cream and from Muth's Candies — the marshmallow dipped in caramel candy known as a Modjeska.

At most stops, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were served including a Kentucky-inspired slushie made from Ale 8 and Old Forester bourbon.

What if I am not a 'foodie?' Is a food tour for me?

From a bicycle tour of Washington D.C., kayaking among the floating houses of Lake Union in the Pacific Northwest, and plenty of walking tours in cities like Athens, Greece, I've taken many different types of tours to learn about a location during my travels. But a food tour was never on my bucket list, until now.

Before taking the Louisville Food Tour, I wrongly assumed this was a tourism option that involved nothing more than gorging on various foods and beverages in a specific area of a city or region.

In the case of the Louisville Food Tours, Lia and Jeremy Garcia's background in the travel business shines through in the historic content, humor, and selection of food and drink they have woven into each three-hour journey.

Even the distance, which is 1.5 miles for the NuLu and Highlands tours, is thoughtfully considered with ample breaks inside air-conditioned (or heated, depending on the season) food and drink establishments and are listed on the website as wheelchair accessible.

The Garcia's motto — "You'll learn the history of Louisville one bite at a time" — is a true statement. And while they do recommend you come hungry, I don't think anyone on our tour felt as though we had overindulged.

As Goldilocks would say "it was just right."

Tours start at $79 and are available by booking online at louisvillefoodtours.com.

Reach features reporter Kirby Adams at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Food Tours offer the history of the city one bite at a time