Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill Tour
Do food and culture persist when a population is displaced from or relocates from a neighborhood? Do they remain a beacon for connection and community? How does a neighborhood’s cuisine evolve when a community settles there for several generations? This tour traces the food and history of Swedish, Arabic, and Italian culture in two neighborhoods that have changed dramatically over the past two centuries.
⏱︎ Total Time: ~3.5 hours
👣 Total Walking: ~2 miles
$ Price: $125 per person
Once upon a time Atlantic Avenue, which divides these two neighborhoods, was dubbed “Swedish Broadway”, but today, the Swedish population and presence in the neighborhood has evaporated. Just a half mile north in Brooklyn Heights, a new bakery draws on the area’s Swedish roots and will be where we kick off this tour.
Treats at Ferrane Bakery
View from promenade in Brooklyn Heights
Atlantic Avenue’s other historic moniker, as the “the Syrian shopping center of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey,” is easier to spot today, with a cluster of Arabic bakeries, restaurants, shops, and grocers that we will explore during our journey.
Atlantic Avenue’s Atlantic Antic Festival
Next, we venture south into Cobble Hill where the neighborhood’s rich Italian history remains apparent. Generations of Italians have made Cobble Hill their home, and we will try a fifth generation family bakery and a “new-school” pizza spot to round out the tour, representing the past, present, and future of this slice of Brooklyn.
Book Your Tour
I’ll be in touch to sort out the details and get us to some of the best bites in the city.