Dining with a Local

One of the joys of travel is trying new restaurants, but it's a special treat to connect with a local resident and experience a traditional home-cooked meal at your travel destination. One of the best meals we ever had was a Piedmont dinner prepared by a very chic Italian grandmother cooking regional specialties at her apartment in Turin, Italy, as part of Italy's Home Food organization.

That local dining experience is now available around the globe from a new website called Eat With. Described as "AirBnB for meals," the company signs up hosts in each location who are willing to provide meals ranging from paella in Spain to a fresh Nordic meal in Denmark in exchange for a donation. The company provides the connection, payment via PayPal and a $1 million insurance policy in case your dinner doesn't go as expected.

Most of the U.S. experiences are in New York, but here in Arizona you can dine on a three-course meal featuring organic, vegetarian world cuisine with "A Satisfied Stomach'' in Tucson or experience a "Crazy Dinner of Borscht and Flautas" in Flagstaff.

Book at Eat With.