Getting away for a weekend can sometimes be more stressful than vacationing for a month when trying to find places to stay, eat and sightsee in a short amount of time. For June, here is a helping hand for a three-day, food-focused blast in Birmingham.
In recent years, the South has become a hub on the up-and-coming food scene, and Birmingham offers some of the best restaurants the region has to offer.
“It has really grown in the last several years, and we’ve had media members from New York compare our restaurants to New York restaurants,” says Vickie Ashton, spokeswoman for the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have every type of food and the choices and freshness really impress people.”
Every year, there is a theme for the state tours, and 2012 is designated as the Year of Alabama Food by the Alabama Tourism Department. It is an appropriate label as Birmingham has aspects that set it apart in culinary creativity.
“In the middle of downtown Birmingham, there’s an urban farm where the community and school kids can go and pick vegetables,” says Ashton. “All this public housing, and then there is a farm in the middle. The whole area has been revitalized.”