Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

Eat, Sip, Stroll: Try a Bit of Everything with This Nashville Food Tour

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I don’t know about you, but when I hear something called a “tour,” I immediately think it’s a service pertaining to visitors, not residents. But this is definitely not the case when it comes to Walk Eat Nashville food tours, a concept veteran journalist Karen-Lee Ryan and later sold to Shannon Largen.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

This post was last updated in March 2022.

Why you should take a Nashville food tour

Seeing how the food and drink scene had flourished in the past decade and change, Walk Eat Nashville is as great excuse for locals to sample a wide variety of local cuisine as it is visitors who are coming to town and want a greatest hits list of the best Nashville restaurants in a mere afternoon.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

On my first Walk Eat Nashville food tour with Karen-Lee as my guide, we explored Five Points, a rapidly expanding neighborhood in East Nashville. We got to visit several places I know and love like Five Points Pizza, but this time not only hear from one of the owners but also watch the kitchen staff make the dough.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

Next, was another of my favorites, Edley’s BBQ, where we passed around shared plates of down-home Southern staples. I had planned to take it easy, but man, I just can’t pass up on the mac and cheese or pulled pork at Edley’s.

We then meandered down over to Yeast Nashville, a bakery I didn’t even know existed before our visit. But you can be sure I’ll be back—kolaches, it turns out, are delicious.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

The next couple hours, we wound our way through Five Points and Edgefield as our guide gave us a detailed history on the area and pointed out some fantastic buildings (including Gunnar’s house on Nashville!) and historical landmarks (Jesse James hid out in this area? who knew!).

While technically, you could walk this route by yourself, you don’t want to—it’s nowhere near as fun and informative without such a champion for East Nashville guiding your every move.

We rounded out the tour with chocolate, juice and coffee—all necessary staples in any well-rounded diet, I say.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

The pacing was perfect. The tour started at 11am so I didn’t eat anything that morning (unless coffee counts) in anticipation of it and assumed I would be rolling home afterward. Not the case! Karen-Lee paced the three-hour experience just perfect so that we had plenty of walking and digesting between stops. And we even had room left for dinner later that night!

The portion sizes were just right—not too big, not too small. Other than Five Points Pizza, we were all sharing plates everywhere else so we didn’t get too stuffed.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

Which Nashville food tour to take

Due to Nashville’s ever-shifting restaurant scene, many of the stops on my initial tour have since closed. That said, Walk Eat Nashville has expanded to include even more tour options.

The East Nashville food tour is perfect for the visitor who has seen the major sites and wants to explore the Brooklyn of Nashville. I later went on a Downtown Nashville food tour, which is perfect for the first-timer who wants to see iconic spots like the Batman building and the Country Music Hall of Fame but is pressed for time. The Midtown Nashville food tour is currently on pause, but if it’s brought back, it’s a great third option for those who have already experienced Downtown and Midtown.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

Pro tip: Tours also make great gifts for those of you residing in the Nashville area—or for your friend who may be planning to visit Nashville soon.

Visit Music City: Walking food tours in Nashville

For other Nashville travel tips, look no further:

COMMENTS
  • December 11, 2014

    Kolaches! Those are popular in central Texas thanks to the German influence and they are amazing, sweet or savory. Three cheers for kolaches.

    • December 14, 2014

      Yes! The owners moved here from Houston =)

  • December 11, 2014

    Great post, as always.
    Just booked a tour for the day after Christmas. We’re coming down to pick a friend up at the airport and we were wondering what we could do in Nashville. We’re always just passing through or just going to the airport. It’ll great to get to know the city a bit better and we’ll be with our daughter who is a Culinary Nutrition major…even better.
    Thanks darlin’; you’re a gem!
    Blessings Abound,
    Victoria Terra

    • December 14, 2014

      This makes me so happy! You’ll have to let me know what you think of it! =)

  • December 14, 2014

    I’ve never heard of kolaches before, but they sure do look delish. 🙂

    • December 14, 2014

      I don’t think I’d heard them called that before, but they’re an Eastern European treat common in Russia and other former Soviet states and also…Houston. Because, obviously =)

  • December 14, 2014

    Seriously I need to get to Nashville soon, you should be their official ambassador as no one does a better job of convincing me to come down.

    • December 14, 2014

      Ha! If only the Nashville CVB would make me the “global welcome ambassador” like NYC did TSwift. (Though I’ll settle for second best: being editor of our city magazine.)

      And I would LOVE to play tour guide to you when that happens! Not many people can keep up with my pace of dining around town, but I *know* you could hold your own 😉

  • December 16, 2014

    Looks amazing. I looooooove walking tours and as you say it doesn’t matter if you’re “from here” (or thereabouts); or if you’re visiting from out of state. It’s all good and you learn so much especially about places that we have forgotten, or didn’t even know LOL!
    I’ll take the kolaches and delicious pizza, and my husband will thank you for it.
    You’re welcome!

    • December 16, 2014

      Walking tours are the best! My other favorite food one was of Pikes Place Market in Seattle with Savor Tours. If you ever come to Nashville, I’ll totally do this again with you =)

  • December 17, 2014

    Everywhere I look at the moment, I’m reading about Nashville, meeting people from there or hearing that those I know are moving there. Hot property! And I love food tours so I shall have to start plotting for Nashville 2015…

    • December 17, 2014

      I like that idea! Please come visit!

      Funny, I had never planned to move back until Scott suggested it four years ago (we were sick of the direction the Bay Area was headed in terms of price and temperament), but I will say we returned at the right time =)

  • December 18, 2014

    Food tours are my favorite!! This one looks like it hits all the right notes…savory pizza, delicious baked sweets, coffee and chocolate to top it off, and plenty of walking and digesting time in between. I would definitely be interested in this tour!

    • December 26, 2014

      Exactly! All the right elements for a killer food experience.

  • December 23, 2014

    Thanks, Kristin, for such an incredible overview of Walk Eat Nashville. Glad you enjoyed taking the tour as much as I enjoy hosting it. I look forward to sharing East Nashville with Victoria in a few days, and hopefully I’ll have the chance to meet several more of you in 2015. Cheers!

    • December 26, 2014

      Thank you for providing such a rich culinary experience to Nashvillians and out-of-towners alike!

  • June 20, 2016

    Nashville has SO MUCH amazing food culture and offerings, and so many great unique spots that are walkable! 5 Points isn’t the only sweet spot in East Nashville, anymore: there’s the Gulch, Sobro, 12 South, Hillsboro Village, Belmont… and even the Nations is getting a unique and cool food culture vibe lately! The folks behind Macdougals are opening up an amazing new bar concept. Getting a subscription to Eater Nashville is one of the best ways to stay on top of everything new and great, imho!

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