Tampa Bay’s First Dedicated Culinary Travel Agency Turns One After a Whirlwind Year Across 28 Destinations

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Tampa Bay’s First Dedicated Culinary Travel Agency Turns One After a Whirlwind Year Across 28 Destinations
Seminole chef and entrepreneur Beth Weingart says experiences with a Sardinian shepherd, cheesemakers, winemakers and a pasta lesson in a Nonna’s family kitchen changed what she wants travel to feel like

SEMINOLE, Fla., September 9, 2026 — Eat Sip Travel, Tampa Bay’s first dedicated culinary travel agency founded by trained chef and longtime Tampa Bay entrepreneur Beth Weingart, celebrates its first anniversary September 9 after a first year that took its founder to 28 places across four countries and five states, four cruises and one all inclusive resort.
But for Weingart, the biggest story of the year isn’t how many places she visited.

It’s a shepherd in the mountains of Sardinia and pasta dough in a Nonna’s kitchen.

“I had no idea when I decided to follow my dream and take the leap to build a culinary travel agency how much travel would become part of my own story, especially in the very first year,” Weingart said. “It has been an absolute whirlwind of traveling, learning, building, creating and sending some pretty amazing clients on incredible trips of their own.”
Her travels included Jamaica and Sandals South Coast, four cruises aboard Margaritaville at Sea Islander, Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady and Margaritaville at Sea Paradise, destinations throughout the United States and an extensive trip through Italy.

It was in Sardinia that everything began to come into focus.

A Shepherd, a Nonna and a Different Way of Seeing Travel
In the mountains of Sardinia, Weingart met a shepherd and learned about a way of life deeply connected to the land.
She watched families make cheese using traditions carried through generations. She sat with winemakers, tasting wine where the grapes were grown. She learned about olive oil, farming, local ingredients, artisans, ancient ruins and traditions that remain part of everyday life.

Then she stepped into a kitchen.
Weingart made pasta alongside a Sardinian Nonna in the same kitchen where the woman had cooked with her grandmother, great grandmother and generations of women before her.
For Weingart, a trained chef herself, the experience was deeply emotional.
“I got to put my hands in that dough and, for a tiny moment, become part of a story that started long before I ever arrived in Italy,” Weingart said. “Those were the moments that gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. This is what I want to bring to other travelers.”

The experience helped Weingart understand that what moves her most about travel isn’t necessarily the famous attractions.
It’s what happens when travelers get close enough to understand the people and stories behind a destination.

“I want to know where the food comes from. Who makes it? Why is it made that way? Who taught them? What grew in that soil? What did their grandmother cook on a typical day? What do people gather around the table to celebrate?” Weingart said.

For her, travel should involve all of the senses.
“I want people to get close enough to a place that they don’t just see it. They taste it. They touch it. They learn it. They feel it.”

From Tampa Bay Chef and Realtor to Culinary Travel Entrepreneur
Weingart’s path into the travel industry was anything but traditional.

A trained chef and longtime Tampa Bay Realtor, Weingart has spent much of her career in industries centered around people, relationships and some of life’s biggest experiences.
In 2025, she took a leap and combined her culinary background, love of travel and relationship-building experience to create Eat Sip Travel, a Seminole-based culinary travel agency.
She went on to complete professional travel advisor training and earn the Wanderlust gold standard Travel Agent certification while developing a specialty in immersive culinary travel.

Eat Sip Travel’s first year became one of traveling, learning, building and discovering exactly what the company was meant to become.
Now Weingart is entering Year Two with a very different perspective.

From Experiencing It to Creating It

Weingart is now taking what she learned during her first year and using it to create hosted small group culinary experiences of her own.
Her first signature concept, The Art of Savoring Italy, is being developed around the philosophy that became clear during her travels through Sardinia and Tuscany: slow down, savor where you are and connect with the people, food, land and traditions around you.

“This isn’t about rushing through Italy trying to check everything off a list,” Weingart said. “I want people to get their hands in the pasta dough, meet the person who made the cheese, linger over the wine and hear the story behind it.”

More than anything, Weingart wants travelers to reconnect with something modern life often makes difficult.

“I want people to be immersed in where they are and remember what it feels like to be truly alive in the present moment.”
For Weingart, Year One was about discovering what was possible.
Year Two is about creating it and inviting people along.