The Dish on Kansas Foodie Tours
Taking a bus across Kansas sure can increase the hunger pangs! Don't let your passengers survive on granola bars and peanut packs alone. The folks in Merriam, Kansas City, Leavenworth and Liberal are serving up delicious foodie tours—perfect for those stomach-growling moments on the bus.
Starting in Northeast Kansas, Leavenworth is known for being the oldest city in the state, founded in 1854. Did you know it's also a yummy little place for groups to feast? A lovely, breakfast, lunch or dinner, catered by the famous "Harvey Girls," can be arranged for your groups. The Harvey Girls will give groups a brief history on the life of Fred Harvey, who owned and operated restaurants and hotels along the Santa Fe Railroad in the early Southwest—all at the 1888 Union Depot train station along the banks of the Missouri River.
Stop No. 2, just a few miles south, includes a delightful tour of the Strawberry Hill Museum in Kansas City. Groups will discover the diverse Eastern European cultures from the early 1900s, hear about the children of St. John's Orphanage, and learn how a home built on the eastern slope of the area overlooking the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers housed each of these groups. Groups will dine on the cuisine and desserts; tour the home, orphanage and church; then take home a treasure from the gift shop.
To continue the Strawberry Hill theme, travel to Merriam, only 15 minutes from Kansas City, where you'll learn all things Povitica. Pronounced Po-va-teet-sa, this Eastern European dessert bread is baked fresh daily in over a dozen flavors. On this free tour, your group will sample until their hearts are content while owner Marc O'Leary shares the story of his family's bakery—in operation since 1903 and still using grandmother's recipe! Groups will enjoy a discounted rate on Povitica loaves. And trust us, you'll want to stock up!
Another foodie destination along the "I Should Have Worn my Stretchy Pants Trail" is Liberal, Kansas—a town of 22,000 people nestled in the far reaches of the state's southwest, right on the Oklahoma border. You may have heard of the annual pancake festival, but pancakes aren't the only thing keeping tour groups satisfied in these parts. Pedro's Corn Chips is a Western Kansas family-owned and -operated farm producing a premium corn chip. From tillage of the soil, planting of the seed and harvesting of the grain, this farm has produced yellow corn for over 30 years and started producing chips in 2001. Today, Pedro's conducts group tours of the farm and factory. Once groups have finished learning about Pedro's, they'll venture into town for authentic south of the border cuisine at one of the many Mexican restaurants or food trucks.
If you're all of a sudden hungry, thinking of touring Kansas and ready to begin your journey to the Sunflower State, reach out to these delicious destinations!
Courtesy of Tour Kansas.
Photo courtesy of Tour Kansas.
