Let Local Insiders (And Your Appetite) Be Your Guide On These Culinary Field Trips

Scratch that Sex in the City bus tour or Duck Boat jaunt off your itinerary: This summer, spend your travel dollars on one of these food-focused excursions, which provide the opportunity to explore local flavors and avoid the tourist traps.

Seattle

Savor Seattle offers four ways to experience the city's best local purveyors. Its Chocolate & Coffee Indulgence tour brings you to the top of the Space Needle to taste mocha-braised short ribs, and an off-the-beaten path jaunt through the Pike Place Market (pictured) allows you to sample the best stalls of the century-old landmark.

North Carolina

Taste Carolina's behind-the-scenes walking tours in Raleigh, Carrboro and Durham take you through area farmers' markets, breweries and barbecue joints, where you can chat up the folks behind the food and taste their goods. Or hop aboard a bus for The Whole Hog Barbecue tour and seek out the Triangle's best pulled pork.

San Francisco

"Epicurean concierge" Lisa Rogovin leads sampling-heavy field trips through West Marin Country with stops at Cowgirl Creamery and the Hog Island Oyster Company farm, as well as wine-tasting junkets in Napa and Sonoma.

New York

Foods of New York Tours explores the city's historic restaurants, bars and shops with walking tours through Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Soho and Chinatown. By the end, you'll be too stuffed with Italian sausage and Peking duck to care where Carrie sipped her Cosmos.