The Taste of Prague food tour, at first glance, seems a daunting task. Four solid hours of eating and discussing Czech culture sounds a bit extreme, but in reality it was a remarkably informative and relaxed affair. On Thursday, we split into two groups and spent the afternoon eating our hearts out. Our group, led by Czech native Carolina, introduced us to a myriad of traditional dishes, all with a modern twist and influences from French, Italian, and English cuisines. On every stop of the tour (six in total), the menu varied from pickled herring to goulash to donuts to ash-baked potatoes, all expertly prepared and with enough ingenuity to remain exciting without venturing into the realm of the extreme. The entire experience was topped off with a uniquely spiced bread pudding with plum jam—it was in my opinion, life-altering. The Taste of Prague food tour was an excellent way to experience Czech culture and food in the company of those who know it well and love it enough to share.

—Charlotte Lumbard

Leader’s Note: I chuckled reading Charlotte’s retelling of how much she enjoyed the food and wanted to briefly pipe in: After tasting the final flourish of the food tour—the mouth-watering bread pudding described above—a somewhat stunned Charlotte sat back in her chair and stared at the small bowl in front of her, scraped clean. “That…that was a religious experience,” she said, eyes wide. Murmurs of content sighs echoed around the table.
—Natalie

This afternoon, we met with Carolina, our foodie tour guide, who jumped right in briefing us on the history of Czech cuisine and how it’s popularity has come and gone over the years. Now, though, it is very popular once again thanks to its comeback in the 1990’s. With that information fresh in our minds, we set off for Liskins, the first of six restaurants on the tour. We were served traditional Czech open-faced sandwiches—they were spectacular (and very different from American sandwiches). Next, a tray was brought out to us with an assortment of meats: paprika sausages, fried pork fat, meatloaf. And head cheese! Even though the head cheese was a bit unsettling, I was ultimately won over.

Our third stop was to a restaurant that looked like it was still in the Communists’ era. The food was all traditional Czech dishes, along with the in-house brewed Czech version of Coca-Cola. Every bit of food I ate (even the head cheese) was amazing, and trying this wide range of Czech foods made me feel closer to the culture.

—Emma Hincher

I am a picky eater. I don’t eat meat, but it’s more than that: when I go to restaurants, I order the simplest thing on the menu. I am an eater of mac n’ cheese, of pizza, of grilled cheese sandwiches. Beets, mushrooms, or eggs cooked any way but scrambled? Not so much.

All of that went out the window yesterday on our food tour of Prague, during which we experienced Czech history and culture by learning how it manifests itself in food. Our group was led by our dear foodie friend and tour guide Jan. Through him, we saw the renaissance of uniquely Czech food while tasting dishes from hip new restaurants—a perfect juxtaposition of young and old. But the best part was the food itself: new, vibrant, and way out of my comfort zone.

—Emma Bernstein