How the city is becoming a top food destination in the US

Is Columbus finally breaking free from a decades-old reputation of being so quintessentially bland that local tastes could stand in for just about anywhere in the country?
A few tallies this year on the city’s big board of culinary accolades are chipping away at the old test-market identity:
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As Essence magazine contributor Sheryl Nance-Nash wrote when she finished with Paris and got to the central Ohio portion of her global recommendations: “Don’t laugh. Columbus has gastronomical game.”
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Or as Experience Columbus said with the title of its latest campaign, an answer to the incredulity of food and travel writers who express regular surprise at the discovery of a big city in the middle of Ohio: “Yes, Columbus.”
“People may have opinions of Columbus — or, maybe they don’t,” as written in the convention and visitors bureau promotional material. “We’re done being a best-kept secret. Wave goodbye to Midwestern modesty. … We’re claiming our rightful place alongside the world’s marquee cities.”
OK, because your Midwest modesty is probably fully engaged, you’re allowed a little bit of an eye roll on that last one, but you get where they’re going. Food is a big driver for people making travel plans, according to Sarah Townes, chief marketing and innovation officer for Experience Columbus.
Visitors to Columbus come in ripples, she said, first from within central Ohio, then from the rest of the state and within a 250-mile radius.
“We want to spread the word of Columbus out further,” Townes said.
The bureau invites about 40 writers and influencers to Columbus yearly for so-called FAM (familiarization) trips. A mid-October tour that focused on the city’s food and dining scene took them to some of the most honored local restaurants and producers.
Chef Sebastian La Rocca, who moved here from Costa Rica in 2022 to open FYR at the Hilton Columbus Downtown, led the tour.
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The itinerary included people and places that have impressed him, too: Lindey’s and chef Brett Fife, Agni and chef/owner Avishar Barua, Chapman’s Eat Market, Veritas, Ray Ray’s Hog Pit, Black Radish Creamery and owners John and Anne Reese, Foris meats and founders James and Duncan Forbes, Littleton’s Market Bakery, and Watershed Distillery.
“We are in a moment,” La Rocca said. “Columbus is emerging in the spotlight.”
Experience Columbus is about to begin a new push to turn the spotlight this way. On Oct. 28, the plan is to launch a nomination campaign for local restaurants, chefs, bakers, restaurateurs and others in the food scene for the 2025 James Beard Awards.
Last year, Barua and chef/owner BJ Lieberman of Chapman’s Eat Market were semifinalists for best chef honors in the Great Lakes region, but no Columbus chef or restaurant has ever won the award.
Townes said a James Beard would be a huge honor for an individual winner and the entire local scene. The recent recognition for Columbus — and individual recognition for FYR and Agni, named among the nation’s best restaurants by USA TODAY and Bon Appétit magazine, respectively — has been from publications whose reach and influence add credibility to the marketing boasts.
“It’s not just the quantity of the accolades,” she said. “It’s the quality.”
La Rocca, a native of Buenos Aires who also has lived and worked in New York, Miami and London, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil and Costa Rica, has been part of other scenes where culinary reputations were on the rise.
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In Costa Rica, where La Rocca operated a restaurant in San Jose and hosted a TV cooking show, it took about seven years for the country to gain the type of sustained recognition that kept it on the map of world dining destinations, he said.
He said he sees Columbus, where chefs host collaborative dinners and praise each other’s work, as advancing on the same path. At FYR, La Rocca has created space on the menu for a map of Ohio and the businesses that supply the restaurant with everything from wood to chicken and beef.
On the recent Experience Columbus tour’s stop at North Market Downtown, he tasted a new farmer’s cheese from Black Radish and began discussions with John Reese about using it in a ravioli for FYR.
It’s a group effort, he said.
“We need to showcase everyone,” he said later.
“Alone, you can win a race. With a whole team, you can win a championship. I want to be part of the group that puts Columbus on the map.”
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