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| Parisian Eatwith host Thomas shows a map of France to a guest |
When I look back on my travels in 2024, I think about the impromptu conversation I had with the owner of a Paris wine bar, the last-minute meet-up with a Turkish friend from Seattle now living in Ankara, and the dinners my husband, Tom, and I had in the homes of total strangers.
People matter more than places to us these days, which is why I'm a fan of Eatwith.com the Airbnb of dining where locals sign up to host travelers in their homes for lunch or dinner.
It takes time to search the listings to find the right combination of a suitable menu price, timing, location and host, but when everything matches up, an Eatwith dinner is a unique experience that can be replicated almost anytime you travel.
Begun as a San Francisco start-up, Eatwith was bought a few years ago by French-based VizEat. Since then, it has grown into a global meal-sharing platform with more than 25,000 hosts in 130 countries.
Hosts set their own prices, and guests pay with a credit card at the time of booking. With the fee arranged in advance, you feel more like friends invited over for the evening rather than paying guests.
I was hooked after my first experience a few years ago in Paris when a friend and I booked a dinner hosted by French news reporter and amateur chef Thomas Obrador.
From the menu he posted online - appetizers, a seasonal soup, ratatouille with chicken or fish, a cheese course and crème brûée, - I knew we were in for extended evening. What I didn't expect was that we would spend 5.5 hours laughing, talking, drinking and eating with Thomas and seven strangers until 1 a.m.
At $49 each at the time, the dinner, which included wine with each course, was a bargain, but I quickly realized Eatwith dinners are about more than just the food. Besides meeting others, part of the fun of meal-sharing in a foreign city is the opportunity to explore a new neighborhood, often a residential area where tourists rarely visit.
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| Catherine serves wine and appetizers |
During another visit to Paris last May, a friend and I booked a dinner with Catherine, a retired fashion industry exec whose father was a chef. She hosted the two of us and another German guest in her Right Bank apartment just across the bridge from the Île Saint-Louis.
Jazz and candles set the mood for a five-course feast, and of course good wine and conversation. We chatted over appetizers of homemade sardine pate and cucumbers with pesto and olives, then moved to the table for white asparagus soup and a fish dish with tomatoes, peas and garlic. Next came five different cheeses and a homemade strawberry tart.
The meal - prepared with all organic, in-season ingredients - was the best I had the whole trip. And at $57 each, it was a good value.
Paris seems like a natural for dining experiences such as these. I wasn't sure I could find a similar opportunities in Mexico City or Hanoi, Vietnam, but persistence paid off.
A 40-minute Uber ride from Mexico City's historical center brought us to the home of Roberto and Cristina who welcomed us into a cozy living room filled with art, antiques and shelves lined with vinyl records, CDs and books. Both are devoted amateur cooks known to throw paella dinners for 50, and they stage pop-up dinners in Chicago when visiting their daughter.
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| Dinner with Roberto and Cristina in Mexico City |
Roberto mixed margaritas as we chatted with Cristina and their friend Luz, visiting from Cuernavaca. Dinner ($48 per person) began with a soup made from green tomatillos, followed by Chiles en Nogada, a classic Mexican dish featuring the national colors of green, white and red: a poblano pepper filled with minced pork and a mix of fruit and spices, covered with a creamy walnut sauce.
In her spare time, Cristina makes fruitcakes — 100 every year, which she sells around the holidays. We toasted our new friendship by sharing the first slices of the season.
On a trip to Vietnam last winter, I spotted a listing for “Hanoi Farm Tour and Cooking Class with Local Family.” The host, English-speaking Mandy, 38, proposed a visit to a rural community 12 miles out of the city center where her husband’s family has farmed for generations. Guests are invited to collaborate with her on a menu, visit the local market and wander through the fields of her farm and other neighboring farms. Then it's back to her house to help prepare a meal and have lunch, all included in the $35 per person price.
Several WhatsApp messages later to confirm details and the location for a Grab (like Uber) taxi from our hotel in Hanoi, we met Mandy outside the local temple on a rainy morning in the village of Song Phuong. She gave us each one of the conical hats Vietnamese wear to protect themselves from sun and rain. As we began our walk through the market, it became apparent why Song Phuong is called “Vegetable Village” for its acres of fertile farm land and large wholesale market that supplies vendors and restaurants in Hanoi daily with fresh produce and meats.
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| Walking through the fields with Mandy in Hanoi |
Sitting at her kitchen table with knives and cutting boards later that morning, we chopped bunches of herbs, shredded carrots, green mangos, cucumbers and jicama for a salad; sliced mushrooms for a dish of pork and shiitakes in steamed cabbage leaves; learned to wrap spring rolls in rice paper; and helped prepared a pork meatball soup with rice noodles, shallots, tomatoes and taro stems.
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| Cooking in Mandy's kitchen |
We sat talking and eating until early afternoon. While we waited for our taxi back to Hanoi, she showed us her garden. She and her husband are a long way from retiring, but when they do, they hope to farm, not for survival but for the pure joy of growing what they eat.
Eatwith's website includes experiences other than dinners, such as cooking classes or food tours, so it helps to know what you want and what your strike price is while searching. I usually look for something in the $50-$60 per person range, which usually includes beer or wine. Check the reviews to see if they are current. Some hosts never resumed their dinners after the Covid pandemic although their listings remain on the website.
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| Lorena and Vlad in Bucharest |
Our last Eatwith dinner of 2004 ($51 per person) was in Bucharest, Romania with Lorena Duicu and her husband, Vlad. She was a former Airbnb host. They are now both involved in real estate development, and love cook, ski and travel.
After Ubering to their house a few miles from the historical center, we got acquainted over glasses of their homemade plum brandy, then moved in their dining room for grilled eggplant salad, smoked fish, a delicious pork stew simmered in a clay pot, polenta and a homemade plum crumble pie
It was an evening filled with good conversation about American politics, the war in Ukraine and our mutual love of travel.
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