I think its safe to say that HO regulars are somewhere in the top 5% (if not 1%) of the most knowledgeable locals on food in NYC. So taking something like a food tour in NYC is like an experienced auto mechanic taking an oil change class.
But may I ask, has anyone here ever taken one in NYC?
I just took one with my oldest (Tasty Tours - Greenwich Village) and it was actually quite enjoyable.
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I can’t speak to any food tours in NYC, but I always try to book one when I visit a major city and have had great experiences. I usually travel solo, so it’s a great way to find places I might not know of and to meet people from all over the world.
Yes it’s “touristy” but I am after all, a tourist. 
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My last trip to Portugal was the first time in a while that I havent done a food tour. But thats partly because I already did one in Lisbon years ago. In fact that was my first one I believe. I realized back then, how enjoyable they can be, no matter how much research you do. But food tours as an industry became much more commercialized since then
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Back in the long ago Chowhound days, someone regularly posted a self guided walking tour they’d devised for the Lower East Side. We did that and it was good fun.
In the States, we’ve also done a Cajun tour in Lafayette and a Cuban one in Miami. Both with guides from those communities. You pick up interesting info - such as learning that a “Cuban sandwich” isnt actually of Cuban origin but an American creation.
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I may have taken the same Cuban tour. We came back a few months ago to one of the places, Old’s Havana, except this time we stood on line for an hour to get in. Surprisingly good for such a touristy place
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PS, how did you like the Cajun tour?
The last food tour I did was in Valencia, the tour guide was a lass from Ireland and had the best accent, made the tour even better 
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Enjoyed the bus tour a lot. There was about 8 or us. Some locals, some tourists. Places we stopped:
bakery - cajun doughnuts filled with boudin
Nanu’s - butchers and supermarket - three different boudin sausages
Hooked-up - bar and restaurant - fried catfish
Vermillionville - recreated Cajun village. Chicken & andouille sausage gumbo
T-Coons - restaurant. fish gumbo
Pouparts - bakery. King Cake (the only thing I wasnt that keen on. much too sweet for me)
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And, as we’ve broadened this out, have to say my “best ever” food tour was the “Cape Malay” one in Cape Town. It was food and culture - so we got to visit the local mosque as well as local food places. Best bit was the tour rounded off by going to someone’s home and doing a bit of cooking . There are probably not many tourists who can claim to have made the rooti and samoosa they ate for lunch. OK, it wasnt a pretty sight but I think, with practice, I may have become barely adequate.
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In answer to the original question, “yes”. Although I’ve been active on food boards, well, since they started & have explored so many little known areas, I’ve always loved taking food tours that look like they know what they’re doing. I especially remember one in the West Village that took us to places we hadn’t tried (as well as some we had). In order to eat some of the snacks, the leader took us to benches in hidden gardens that I never knew existed (& may not anymore). That alone was worth it. Of course there also were the free tours given by those I’ve met thru CH, like the one you (Ziggy) gave me and a couple of others years ago thru a then newly developing far westside Manhattan area or the walking tours of Flushing that I got from Dave Cook so many years ago that not only were tasty, but developed into an ongoing friendship.
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Best food tour for me was in Mexico City last year. Street food and markets way outside the center. Talk about places I’d never go on my own. 4-5 hours, roughly 15 items including a plate full of various bugs, and just about the best taco I ever had (a green chorizo).
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I love food tours, especially a small group of family, and vaguely remember enjoying one in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
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I plan on booking 2 food tours for my upcoming trip to Spain, one in Madrid and the other in Malaga which I might incorporate some Flamenco as well as food and drink.
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Good timing, because just this past Sunday I took my dad on an LES food tour led by a docent and an intern from the Eldridge Street Synagogue. It turned out to be mostly a history/architecture tour with four “snack stops,” where the intern handed out half-knishes from Yonah Schimmel and rugelach from Kossars (why? why? Russ & Daughters is RIGHT HERE), and then we stopped for pickles from The Pickle Guys and dumplings from King Dumplings. Only that last was unfamiliar to me, and it’s owned by a Vanessa’s alum, so not all that unfamiliar, actually.
The docent seemed like a terrific person, and my dad was super-impressed that she lasted the whole freezing cold two hours (“She’s not even wearing gloves! And she looks older than I am!”). But I would not recommend.
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After I retired I interviewed for and was offered a tour guide position by scott wiener of scott’s pizza tours but couldn’t make the role work given our travel schedule. Even though it didn’t work out, Scott was good enough to invite me to an incredible event where I met some of the tour guides and, based on talking to scott and others, I feel sure his tours are well worth the $ though for experienced NYers, I’d suggest signing up for a tour led by scott (not sure he still leads tours) and taking a tour with at least one or two new to you stops.
Although I know a lot about pizza making, history, and nyc pizza spots, from time to time I’ve thought about taking my family on one of the tours as a holiday present but haven’t pulled the trigger.
best,
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My work team came to NYC for a conference and we did a food tour last year, downtown-ish but without a discernible theme. The very first stop was an entire bagel with fixin’s of choice; to me, a bagel (regardless of what’s on it) is always going to be the last thing I eat for at least six hours, so I declined. There was some fun history in the tour, but the food was pretty forgettable. Bagel, cupcake, felafel from NYC’s first felafel joint, pizza that didn’t strike me as particularly NY-style, etc.
One food-adjacent tour I took many years ago and LOVED was a beer/brewery tour. You got on a short bus with a hilarious and extremely knowledgeable docent, and they drove you from brewery to brewery in 4 of the 5 NYC boroughs, with hyper-local snacks and history trivia in between. The number of abandoned breweries in the city was astounding to me; the forgotten role that beer and cider played in the earlier part of this country’s history… We went to several breweries, a big sprawling beer garden, and the whole thing ended at McSorley’s, where I had never ever been before. It was great.
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I booked one in Seville for April. In Malaga I booked a tour of Alhambra
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I’m thinking maybe its time for a Louisiana road trip
Do you recall the name? My dad would love this!
My only issue with a pizza tour is that its a pizza tour
And this is coming from another pizzaholic. But I expect from a Scott tour, enough variety to make it worthwhile. I would take it over a donut, cupcake, or [name any other food] tour
Airbnb experiences asked me to create a dessert tour a few years back. Thought about it. I designed one in East Village, did a trial run with the family, but then decided against it
