Getting a Taste for Mooresville

Tasty Town USA pairs current cuisine with town's history

Lake Norman Currents | September 2019

By Aaron Garcia

Sarah Tuvia didn't set out to create Mooresville's most innovative culinary experience. In fact, her motivations were quite the opposite; instead, the Tasty Town USA founder wanted to draw on the time-tested technique of food tasting more commonly found in cities with dense culinary communities, and she wanted to do it while offering a glimpse of the town's past, which has been painted over almost as often as its murals.

The result is an experience that you literally cannot find anywhere else.

An International experience…

It's fair to say that the idea really began back in the Middle East. Tuvia, a Monroe native and graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park, matriculated to Tel Aviv University for her graduate degree. While there she became a fan of food tours, which offered guests samplings from several local vendors. Typically held the day before Sabbath, the event ran through urban marketplaces in a somewhat hurried pace. It was an easy and exciting way to show her visiting friends and loved ones the city and culture.

"(During those tours,) you can feel the energy," Tuvia says.

Tuvia stayed in the city for 10 years before moving to Charlotte. She said she never lost her affinity for small-town Americana, especially the smaller mill towns common in the south. When she began visiting her now-husband, Ori, who lived in Mooresville, she fell in love. She moved to Mooresville in 2017.

Tuvia says after learning some of the town's history — as well as eating at the local restaurants — she had an idea.

…with a hometown feel

In May of this year, Sarah and Ori launched Tasty Town USA, and the vision, at least to them, was simple.

"I wanted to recreate that excitement and energy (from Tel Aviv) in a place that was home," Tuvia says.

Despite the international impetus, Tuvia never lost her love of small-town life. After moving to the area, Tuvia began to learn about the town's history. She was intrigued by Mooresville's train-town beginnings and old-timey murals. The history was so rich that she decided to incorporate it into her food tour.

The result is an experience that manages to bring the town's history and current expansion to the same table.

Tuvia says that while food tours may be popular in other areas, the idea didn't resonate with many local business owners at first. Now that she's taken a few groups around town, local business owners are starting to see that Tuvia's guests aren't the only ones benefitting from the tours.

Joe Torcasso, owner of CynTucci's Bakery on Main Street and a New York native, says he has seen how businesses can benefit from an idea like Tuvia's, especially when they're off the beaten path.

"Sarah has a great idea here because not that many people come down to downtown," says Torcasso. "They don't even know about downtown."

And after she brings them, they tend to come back, says Yvette Williams of Big Tiny's BBQ. Recently, said Williams, three separate people from a single group returned for another meal after joining Tuvia on the tour, giving the eatery a homegrown marketing boost that can be tough to replicate.

"It's beautiful," says Williams. "I want her to take it as high as she possibly can."

Just the beginning

Tuvia has more ideas on deck. Scavenger hunts, ghost tours, brewery crawls.

"It can go in so many directions," says Tuvia.

Regardless of the iteration, though, you can expect your tour with Tasty Town USA to be unmistakably Mooresville, and that won't change, says Tuvia.

"I knew I wanted other people to discover this because I love downtown historic Mooresville," says Tuvia, "and I want for everyone to love it."