When Dinner Becomes the Destination

The waitlists are long, the flights are booked and the tables are calling. We look inside the global obsession with culinary tourism and why we're willing to cross oceans for dinner

- Jyoti Kumari

On my last two trips to Phuket, my days revolved almost entirely around food. The beaches and sunsets were beautiful, sure, but what pulled me back to Thailand twice in two years wasn’t the vibe, it was the food. From breakfasts of fragrant khao tom to late-night skewers and crispy rotis with condensed milk and sliced banana at night market, my itinerary was stitched together with meals. Some of the restaurants we visited were in the Michelin Guide, some were tiny noodle shops, but all of them were buzzing with tourists and locals alike.

This, I realised, is the new way we travel. Food isn’t just part of the trip; it is the trip. When the Michelin Guide entered Thailand in 2017, it created a ripple effect that went far beyond the handful of starred restaurants. It spurred travellers to explore the country with food as their compass, and created a wave of attention for non-Michelin eateries, local bars and neighbourhood favourites that have since found their way onto other global lists. Today, planning a trip to Thailand often means plotting a route between both the celebrated and the undiscovered.