These Pioneering Women Know the Road to Travelers’ Stomachs with Tour de Forks, a culinary travel company.
A love for adventure and food, Lisa Goldman and Melissa Joachim followed their wanderlust and forks two decades ago and launched Tour de Forks.
The culinary travel company was on the cutting edge of a travel revolution. They offered small-group tours focused on cookery and gastronomy long before food travel and intimate experiences were trendy.
It was the early 2000s. The dotcom-bubble burst. The United States was in an economic downturn. Terrorists attacked America on 9/11 and changed the way people traveled. The Food Network wasn’t even 10 years old yet. At the time, the network launched a new food travel show hosted by the late Anthony Bourdain, “A Cook’s Tour,” in 2002. The show lasted only two seasons ending in 2003.
Lisa and Melissa, who are partners in business and life, didn’t know that Tour de Forks was on the cutting edge of the tourism industry. Tours focused on cooking and gastronomy in small groups were groundbreaking. It was long before food travel and intimate experiences were trendy.
Food travel and cooking tours were not “being done or common at that time at all,” said Lisa.
Lisa, a writer, and Melissa, a graphic and web designer, were sitting in their New York apartment after the dot-com bust. They were both out of work. They turned to each other and said, “Let’s start a company,” Lisa recalled. The women were given one tidbit of business advice, “Do what you love to do.”
Melissa, president, and Lisa, senior vice president of Tour de Forks, listed their top three favorite things to do: travel, eat, and drink.
Lisa recalled the couple’s trips to Melissa’s hometown, Melbourne, Australia. Melissa’s friends are chefs.
Melissa fell in love with New York during a trip to the US in 1990. She never went back to Australia. Six years later, she met and fell in love with Lisa. The couple has been together for 26 years.
“We would always have these amazing experiences,” she reminisced. “People would always say, ‘Oh, I wish I could travel like you guys travel.’”
Tour de Forks was born in 2003. The company launched its first tour to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia that year.
Another uncommon feature of the company it ran small group tours as well as bespoke vacations. The company caps group trips at 12 guests.
It was a success.
A Gastronomic Adventure
Two decades later, Tour de Forks has taken guests to 12 countries and more than 35 destinations. Guests represent all ages, genders, and queer and straight.
The company has taken every crisis – 9/11, the Great Recession, and the pandemic – and turned it into a sweet and savory success. Now Lisa and Melissa are ready to celebrate Tour de Forks’ 20th anniversary in 2023.
“We’re thrilled,” Melissa said about the company celebrating two decades in business.
“It’s been such a gift,” said Lisa.
She has enjoyed “celebrate[ing] and share[ing] people’s stories like the cheesemakers, farmers, vintners, foragers, and chefs we meet in each destination with our guests. This makes each destination really special when we get to learn its history and culture in this way.”
Tour de Forks has taken guests to Australia, France, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Spain, South Africa, and Turkey. Lisa hopes they will be able to reschedule the company’s trip to Taiwan. The trip was canceled at the beginning of the pandemic.
The women’s favorite destinations are Italy and Mexico. They enjoy Sicily and the Yucatan State’s capital, Merida.
“We love different places for all different reasons,” Melissa said, but “Sicily just captured a very special place in our hearts as has Mexico.”
The trips are gifts that continue giving long after they have ended.
“People get to keep sharing stories and recipes with their friends and families when they go home,” Lisa said.
The couple is celebrating Tour de Forks’ 20th anniversary with five trips. They are going to their top destinations (mostly in Italy), four of which are with their friend Michelin-starred chef Anita Lo.
The Yucatan is already sold out. Spots on the Sicily and Pantelleria, Italy trips are going quickly. Trips, Liguria and the Langhe and East Long Island, later in the year are still open.
“They’ve energized me to travel again, especially after the pandemic. They made it feel comfortable and safe,” said Aimee Stokes, who has gone on three Tour de Forks trips: Portugal, Sicily, and the Yucatan.
Sicily was her favorite trip so far, the 47-year-old sports TV professional said. She went on the trip with her sister, Ashlee Goodman, for her 50th birthday in May 2022.
“I have nothing but love for those ladies,” said Aimee, who has become friends with Lisa, Melissa, and Anita. “I just adore them as people too.”
Coincidentally, Anita went to high school with Aimee’s partner, Amy Rosenfeld, she said.
The Anita Factor
That first Australian trip in 2003 was also when the couple and travel company owners met Anita. Anita won the Tour de Forks trip through a contest in an industry magazine. The women became friends.
Anita’s star rose. The 56-year-old second-generation Malaysian American became a celebrity chef on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef.” Her restaurant, Annisa, garnered nine consecutive Michelin stars and other accolades. Anita closed Annisa in 2017.
That same year, Anita joined the Tour de Forks team part-time. She leads and sells group tours and does some consulting for the company.
“She loves to travel. She loves to teach. She’s just absolutely wonderful and people love to be with her, and we do too,” said Lisa. “The Anita Lo groups are a one-of-a-kind experience.”
“A lot of people come back and come to different destinations with us,” Melissa added talking about the company’s 50% repeat guest rate. “Anita, of course, is a huge draw for people.”
“It’s so much fun,” said Anita who teaches hands-on-cooking classes based on her take on the regional cuisine.
“I would do like my take on that sort of thing and then we eat it. Which is great,” she said.
“Everybody wants to eat well on their vacation,” Lisa said. “Even if you don’t want to do any culinary activities, but all the better if you do.”
Aimee can’t wait for her next Tour de Forks trip.
“Good people attract good people,” Aimee said. She messages people she’s met on past trips regularly. She is waiting for the perfect time to snatch Amy, who is also in sports TV, from her demanding job for a vacation. “I keep getting the [Tour de Forks] newsletter and I’m like, ‘Oh, well, where can we go next?’”
Aimee would like to return to Sicily with her fellow travelers on the next Tour de Forks trip, she said. But she’s eyeing Greece, Japan, or Thailand as her next destination with the company.
Book your next Intrepid women-only vacation with Girls That Roam Travel. Contact Heather Cassell at Girls That Roam Travel at 415-517-7239 or at .
To contract an original article, purchase reprints or become a media partner, contact .
