Are you a traveler who enjoys authentic culinary adventures and meeting locals? If so, EatWith has you covered. A peer-to-peer marketplace for chefs and food lovers, it brings local hosts and food-loving travelers together for an entirely new type of dining-out experience. Tara Wagner, EatWith’s PR representative, spoke with RewardExpert about the inspiration behind the ground-breaking San Francisco–based communal dining company and why you should book a seat at an EatWith event the next time you travel.

The southern United States has always had something of a reputation when it comes to food.

A region long synonymous with such comfort food as pan-fried chicken, black-eyed peas and collard greens, as well as hushpuppies and beignets, its hard to talk (or even think for that matter) about the states south of the Mason-Dixon line without considering their vast contribution to gastronomy.