Get Ready for "Something Wild" at the Monterey Bay Food Tours...
Monterey Bay Food Tours and Monterey Bay Meditation Studio have something wild in store for you…
Experience… all of your senses.
Reflect… on your surroundings.
Grow… your inner knowledge.
When it comes to eating, most of us don’t spend time in a period of meditation beforehand — in fact, the idea is wild to some.
Here at the Monterey Bay Food Tours, we believe in freedom, a connection with nature, a growing sense of self, and an awareness of our surroundings. We’re proud to partner with the Monterey Bay Meditation Studio, and we’re excited about our upcoming “Something Wild Tour” with them!
Not sure about meditation and food? Here’s a look at what you can expect:
Awakening the Senses
The start of the tour has everybody introducing themselves in the studio. By the end of the tour, you’ll probably be close friends with people who were strangers at the beginning, so don’t be afraid to open up!
After the introductions, a short walk down to the Lover’s Point beach allows you to start the connection with your senses. The meditation, led by Marianne Rowe or Katie Dutcher, encourages you to be mindful of all senses of movement, small or big, internal or external.
Once at the beach, the focus turns more internal as you sit next to the ocean and the first of the food tastings comes. Before you dig in, however, take some time to be aware of the different sounds, all which are welcome. Pay attention to different touches — how the air feels in comparison to the sand or your clothes. Taste the salt-hinted air rolling over your tongue as you breathe it in before you start on the food.
What You Are Seeing is Also Seeing You
In awareness of the surroundings, it’s also important to be mindful of your presence to others, as well. Through that awareness, it’s important to be in a relationship with the place you’re in at the moment you’re there.
But, let’s talk about the food for a second.
At the beach, enjoy Monterey Jack and Mount Toro Tomme cheeses from the Schoch Family Farmsteads, accompanied with a lavender plum jelly and pisco pear butter from Friend in Cheeses.
Jelly, butter and cheese sound weird?
Trust us, it’s worth it. We’d like to say maybe the connection with our senses made the pairings taste better, but we’d be lying — the jellies and butters are specifically made to pair with various cheeses.
Connect With Those Around You
Remember when you made friends during the introduction?
Now is when you’ll need to step a little out of your comfort zone if talking to strangers makes you nervous. After your visit to the Lover’s Point beach, pair up with someone you don’t know on the walk over to the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, and discuss “something wild” about yourself as you do.
This is your new best friend.
Continue the Connection With Nature
Once at the museum, follow into the gardens to continue the meditation.
Roam around the gardens with the heightened awareness of your surroundings from the beach, let yourself go beyond motion and “just be.” Notice where your curiosity is sparked and follow it. Like everyone else, you’ll probably end up somewhere around this tree:
After some more time spent on internal connection, come back together to drink some tea from Chai Five. If you’re not usually a chai fan, don’t worry — this tea is made from local spices and comes from a family recipe in India. The cashew macadamia milk is a great mixture to make for a smooth, nature-induced drink that’s sure to delight all of your recently-awakened senses.
Share Your Natural Experiences
If you’re not one to share in large groups, you’ll be over that by this point.
Before leaving the gardens and heading to the next stop, everyone takes a moment to share what attracts them the most in the gardens. You may be surprised at the similarities you feel with the others as to where they’re naturally drawn.
Once finished in the garden, it’s time for the third-best thing on the tour: The wine.
Enjoy tastings from Comanche Cellars in Bradley Photographic — a shop that displays photos from Jason Bradley himself, as well as other local photographers. The wine from Comanche is called Dog and Pony, and is inspired by animals the winemaker, Michael Simons, owned as a child. Accompanying the wine is also little chocolates from Alta Bakery, made fresh by Ben Spungin.
Finishing Up With Wild Fish
No “wild” tour would be complete without a final stop at Wild Fish in downtown Pacific Grove.
Here’s where the food, wine, and fellowship meet at the apex. Enjoy a choice of local red or white wine, a cured salmon prosciutto, an out-of-this-world beet salad, a ricotta salad with spring vegetables and seed crackers, kale potato fritters with green harissa and yogurt, and ahi nachos to round out a fun-filled day of spatial awareness.
This is the moment you’ll realize what started as a group of strangers ends as a group of friends dining together.
