It’s never just about the flavours. Exploring a country through food is one way to connect with a place’s culture, history and people, no matter where you are.
Tasting local flavours, feeling new textures, smelling fragrant spices and seeing how dishes come to life are some of the most sensory ways to explore a new destination. But it’s about more than eating and drinking your way around the world.
Intrepid’s food inclusions give you a chance to learn from locals, discover tastes you never knew existed and share moments over special meals. So, if you’re craving all of the above for 2025, these 13 brand-new experiences are *chef’s kiss* and then some.
1. Dine with the Aeta Community in the Philippines
A completely new trip for 2025, Northern Philippines Highlights will give you a taste of mountain life (and food). As you crisscross rice terraces and rolling hills, you’ll head to Tarakun Village to meet the Aeta community (some of the country’s earliest inhabitants) and enjoy a meal with their chieftain. Then in Baguio, nicknamed the City of Pines, you’ll pick up ingredients from the local market and cook up a Cordillera feast alongside a chef.
2. Discover a food hub with a purpose in Mexico City
This new addition to the Real Mexico 18 to 35s trip introduces you to Gastromotiva, an organisation that’s fighting food scarcity and homelessness while cooking up a sustainable food revolution in Mexico. Powered by passion and community spirit, Gastromotiva shows you how food can transform lives one delicious dish at a time.
3. Share a homemade feast in Turkey
Join the Turkey Women’s Expedition for a homemade meal with Oznur in Avanos. After moving from Hatay, a UNESCO World City of Gastronomy, following the 2023 earthquakes, Oznur and her family created this new experience to share the rich flavours of their heritage. It’s an intimate meal that gives you a window into their traditions and culture.
4. Learn authentic recipes in India
Spend time in Bikaner, exploring the Real Rajasthan on this revamped 18 to 35s trip, sipping chai and learning how to roll chapatis. During a cooking demonstration with locals you will get to try authentic Rajasthani dishes. This family-run experience is as personal as it gets, connecting you with recipes passed down through generations.
5. Meet Japan’s robot servers at DAWN Cafe
During the Highlights of Japan Family Holiday, step into Tokyo’s DAWN Avatar Robot Cafe, where servers are robot avatars operated remotely by people with disabilities. This new, high-tech experience is an inspiring look at inclusive innovation, with your meal served by a heartwarming combination of human connection and technology.
6. Celebrate the pachamanca tradition in Ecuador’s highlands
In 2025, the Ecuador Highlands trip will introduce you to the ancient Andean practice of pachamanca, which involves cooking food underground with heated stones. Join the Indigenous Calera community for this experience and see how flavour comes about with this centuries-old method. While you wait for lunch to cook, you can learn about some of the women’s entrepreneurship programs found here.
7. Cook and bond with women in Saudi Arabia
Experience Saudi culture by connecting over food and stories on the recently launched Saudi Arabia Women’s Expedition. In Riyadh, the capital, you’ll be met with Arab hospitality over a home-cooked meal hosted by women. Then in Buraydah, you’ll make hearty Najd recipes like stews and fragrant rice dishes during a cooking class led by a female chef.
8. Discover a chapter of Polish history at a milk bar
On this refreshed Real Central Europe trip for 18 to 35s, you’ll visit a classic Polish milk bar in Krakow – a spot few tourists would find without insider know-how. These distinctive, affordable cafes, made popular in World War II, serve up authentic Polish home-cooked meals in a lively atmosphere. There’s no English on the menu and you’ll bump elbows while dining, but that’s all part of the fun.
9. Dive into Tamil flavours in northern Sri Lanka
Join a Tamil family in the coastal town of Jaffna for an evening of cooking and dining on the revamped Sri Lanka Explorer trip. Learn to prepare traditional vegetarian recipes served on banana leaves, gaining hands-on experience with spices and techniques that are part of Tamil cuisine.
10. Sip wine in Georgia’s old-world vineyards
A brand-new overland adventure, the Georgia & Armenia Explorer trip will give you a chance to visit a Georgian winery and discover some of the world’s oldest winemaking traditions. You’ll also spend time in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan – a city that was established in 782 BC. Here, you can take a dolma-making class in a local home, crafting delicious stuffed grape leaves and then savouring your creations over dinner served family style.
11. Break bread with Mongolian camel herders
Jump on the Trans-Mongolian Railway from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar to join a family of camel herders for a traditional lunch in Sainshand, a city found in the Gobi Desert region. As you munch on homemade buuz (steamed dumplings), you’ll learn about the family’s nomadic life. This is a new trip for 2025 featuring an experience that will give you a chance to try food and drink you might not have come across before: suutei tsai (salty milk tea) and other dairy-based goods like dried curd and milk vodka.
12. Make mas huni on a sailing adventure in the Maldives
A new trip for 2025, Sail Maldives pairs the fresh ocean breeze and island hopping with local eats. You’ll head to Guraidhoo Island on a dhoni boat for a cooking demo on mas huni – a local breakfast made with tuna, coconut and chilli. After mopping up your food with fresh roshi flatbread, sipping on sweet tea and snorkelling, you’ll sail to Male for a jaunt to the local bazaar and markets to try delicacies like dried fish and huvadhoo bondi sweets.
13. Dine at a women-led restaurant in South India
On the Classic South India trip, enjoy dinner at a women-led restaurant that supports training and employment for local women. On this new experience you’ll savour dishes like fragrant fish curry, meen pollichathu (fish marinated in spices and wrapped in banana leaves), and avial, a coconut-based vegetable dish. It’s a meal that nourishes both body and soul.
Find out what else is new for 2025 with The Goods.
