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Best Foodie Cities
These top cities for epicureans offer wide choices in education as well as eating. Try earning your degree at a top school in one of these tasty towns.
New York wins the numbers game, with more than 23,000 restaurants, and it was the first U.S. city honored with a Michelin Red Guide. New Yorkers are fanatics for their bagels, delicatessens, and ethnic food. New York students have a wide choice of schools, including Barnard and NYU.
Many consider San Francisco the top foodie town in the U.S. with good reason. The Bay Area is known for tantalizing and diverse Eastern food, Mediterranean cuisine, organic culture, and the finest ingredients obtainable. San Francisco schools include UCSF and California College of the Arts.
Chicago is also a major player in American food culture, and it's reportedly more fun to eat out in Chi-town than just about anywhere--choose from 5-star restaurants, tapas bars, and famous hot dogs. Students may attend graduate school at the Illinois Institute of Technology or complete bachelor's degree programs at the University of Illinois.
Las Vegas is more than buffets--it's brought in decadent and famous restaurants from other cities, like Wolfgang Puck's Spago, Emeril Lagasse's Piero Selvaggio, a branch of Valentino's, and others. And yes, for starving students, the buffets are still cheap and the quality has improved vastly. Las Vegas students attend UNLV, but the real foodies go to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.
Traditional Louisiana dishes, such as jambalaya, red beans and rice, gumbo, and étouffée abound in New Orleans, but so do avant-garde culinary creations. Old or new, the menus at New Orleans restaurants reflect three centuries of Spanish, French, Italian, German, African, Caribbean, and Croatian cultures and flavors. Schools in New Orleans include Tulane University and LSU.
Best Regional or Specialty Cuisines
Many regions are known for their unique culinary arts. Find favorite foods and colleges here.
Seafood--Nearly any coastal town offers an abundance of great seafood, and New England, the Pacific Northwest, and the Gulf should be able to satisfy most fishy cravings. But for the obsessed, Florida reigns--according to the food guide Where the Locals Eat, four of the top ten seafood restaurants in America are located in Florida. Sun-worshippers can opt to get their education from Miami-Dade College or the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.
Barbecue--Four "food groups"--smoke, sugar, salt, and fat--make barbecue irresistible. Barbecue's regional preferences--beef or pork? sausage or ribs? wet or dry? sweet or spicy? incite passionate partisanship from Texas to Tennessee. But barbecue is a religion in Kansas City, and its more than 100 barbecue restaurants serve up a famous variety of meat along with sweet and tangy sauces. Kansas City students may attend schools like Metropolitan Community College or UMKC.
Burgers--Los Angeles, CA is the burger king--home of the most famous burgers in the world. The original Fatburger opened in LA in 1952, Tommy's has been serving up its famous chili burgers for over sixty years, and In-N-Out Burger was founded in 1948. Southern California's drive-through culture has raised the hamburger to an art, and hungry students can get their education as well as their burger fixes at UCLA or Cal State Los Angeles.
Mexican--Reportedly where fajitas were invented, San Antonio, Texas tops virtually every list of best Mexican restaurants in the country. Former President Bill Clinton professes to being addicted to its spicy delight, topped off with famous mango ice cream. San Antonio houses several schools, including Trinity University and Alamo Community College.
Pizza--Pizza preferences are highly individual; ranging from nouvelle-California creations with olive oil and goat cheese to the classic thin-slice with meatballs. So where can any pizza hound find total bliss? If you go by sheer number of pizza joints, New York is the clear winner. But, according to Urban Spoon, the best pizza town is--surprise--Boston, MA, where an amazing 10 percent of restaurant visits are to pizzerias. And Boston is the biggest college town in America, with over 200,000 students completing bachelor's degree programs or graduate school at Boston University, Emerson College, or other institutions.
Vegetarian--Beautiful Portland, Oregon gets the top score as the most vegetarian-friendly large city in the United States. Portland caters to every vegetarian's wallet and palate from food-cart vendors on the streets to the most upscale of restaurants. Not surprisingly, Portland also ranks perennially high on "healthiest cities" lists. Portland's vegetarians may attend Reed College or the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Food Carts / Lunch Trucks--It's not your father's roach coach--for students and other cash-strapped consumers, food trucks serving inexpensive but tasty fare are all the rage. This new breed of lunch truck is gourmet and sustainable. The Green Truck, which sells fish tacos, fuels its vehicles with vegetable oil. Food carts serve free-range chicken, heritage pork, local lamb, spicy Korean ribs, delicate seafood, Chinese dumplings, even escargot. According to Good Morning America, the best food carts in America can be found in Seattle, WA--starving Seattle students may pursue degrees at the University of Washington or the Cornish College of the Arts.
Brew Pub--No college experience is complete without a visit (or seventy!) to a favorite brew pub. The most highly-decorated award-winning beer in America is produced in Juneau, Alaska by the Alaskan Brewing and Bottling Company and is available at brew pubs throughout the state. Alaskan students attend the University of Alaska at one of its many locations.
Home is Where the Food Is
Very few students choose their schools with their stomachs--those who are that serious about their cuisine should probably consider a culinary arts program in a fabulous food city. Don't want to get that far from home? Try pursuing your bachelor's degree or attending graduate school online--you can take classes anywhere and still be close to your favorite foods, even if they come from your Mom's kitchen.
About the Author
Gina Pogol has a terrific job as a writer and editor for an online media company. After working at several horrible jobs, she earned an associate's degree in Computer Programming, a certificate in Paralegal Studies, and a BS in Financial Management.
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