Nashville

Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, has six food tour operators that publish a public price, and they split the city between them: Downtown, Germantown, East Nashville and the Gulch. Their entry tours cost 79 to 125 dollars per adult and last two and a half to three and a half hours.

Nashville neighbourhood by neighbourhood

• Downtown: Walk Eat Nashville, A Little Local Flavor and Sidewalk Food Tours each run a Downtown Nashville Food Tour, at 109, 125 and 99 dollars.
• Germantown: Local Tastes of Nashville starts at the Germantown Clock, and Dabble Tours walks the neighbourhood for 2.5 hours.
• East Nashville: Secret Food Tours meets at Hunters Station, 975 Main St, for 3.5 hours and 5 stops.
• The Gulch: Local Tastes’ Nashville Food & Drink Tour, 88 dollars for an adult.

Which neighbourhood to stay in

• Downtown: three of the six tours start here.
• Germantown and East Nashville: each suits a stay close to its own walks.

Hot chicken since the Great Depression

Prince’s Hot Chicken tells the origin story itself. In the Depression years, a lover tired of Thornton Prince’s nights out served him fried chicken loaded with peppers and spices as revenge. He asked for seconds, worked on the recipe and opened Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. His great-niece, Andre Prince Jeffries, still serves the dish.

• Prince’s today: 5814 Nolensville Pike, and a counter at Assembly Food Hall, 5055 Broadway.
• Music City Hot Chicken Festival: free, every July 4 in East Park, East Nashville. The 20th edition, in 2026, opened at 10:30 am with a Fire Truck Parade, then hot chicken from local restaurants and an amateur cooking competition.

Meat-and-three, biscuits and a candy bar from 1912

• Arnold’s Country Kitchen: opened by Jack and Rose Arnold in 1982 at 605 8th Avenue South, a steam table and tray line where vegetables lead: long-simmered greens, fried green tomatoes, cornbread cooked to order.
• Loveless Cafe: in 1951, Lon and Annie Loveless served fried chicken and biscuits to travellers on Highway 100. They turned their home into a restaurant, built a 14-room motel, and Lon cured and smoked country ham.
• Goo Goo Cluster: first made in 1912 in a copper kettle at the Standard Candy Company, at Clark and First Avenue, from caramel, marshmallow nougat, roasted peanuts and milk chocolate. The maker calls it America’s first combination candy bar. Its shop at 116 3rd Ave S, off Broadway, opens daily from 10 am to 6 pm.

Germantown beer and Tennessee whiskey

The Germantown tasting walk adds craft beer to its barbecue.

• In town: Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery bottles Tennessee whiskey from an 1860 family recipe, the first bottling since 1909, and runs a distillery tour with tasting every day on the hour.