Are you the type to make a bunch of restaurant reservations in the city you're planning on visiting before you actually book your plane ticket? Do you build your days around specific meals, snacks and drinks you've so carefully researched in advance? Ever spent your vacation cooking in someone else's kitchen (after having paid a tidy sum to do so)?

Welcome to the club, you food geek. It's called culinary tourism, and it's the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, writer Brian Clark says in today's Food section.

A co-worker just told me about his dream vacation: a culinary bike tour of Italy. Twenty miles during the day, pasta so fresh it will make him cry in the evening.

I've always wanted to do one of those cooking in a farmhouse in Provence sort of deals. Of course, with the recession and all, domestic travel might be more realistic. In that case, a New York City gelato tour sounds just about up my alley.

What's your ultimate food trip?