Meals in Amish Homes - Group Tours
ACM Tours can arrange for you and your group to enjoy a traditional Amish
style meal, right in an Amish home, out on the farm.
Amish ladies are very familiar with cooking for large groups. They often
join together to cook for benefits, weddings, funerals, weekly church
services, and extended family gatherings numbering up into the hundreds.
Actually, with most Amish families having many children, as soon as
grandchildren arrive, the family gatherings can become quite large.
For groups of ten or more, advance notice of 7 days is requested. Meal
plans can be changed (added to or reduced in number if your plans change) up
to 72 hours in advance of the meal date. However, give us a call if your
plans are quicker. We'll check with our hosts and see if we can't find one
with time to cook. Bear in mind that our Amish hosts use a message service
for our contacts and sometimes have to go over to a neighbors house to
return our calls, so it takes a minimum of at least 2-3 days to confirm any
meal plans. For smaller groups, we'll try to fit you in with another group.
If your attending one of our special events here in Arthur, we might just
have some open seating available.
The filling, traditional meals are served family style, on traditional
benches and folding chairs, right in the host's kitchen, living room, and/or
dining room. Arthur Amish houses have large rooms, often with removable
walls to accommodate large gatherings. We can seat up to 110 people at one
serving in some of our homes. The meals offer two meats, one always fried
chicken, vegetable, mashed potatoes and gravy, noodles, homemade bread,
applebutter, "church" peanut butter, drinks and a choice of homemade pies.
You will not go away hungry!
Your host will appreciate a group or silent personal prayer before the meal,
and she is always on hand and loves to chat after the meal. After the meal,
our hosts will offer to take your group on a tour of her farm, show off the
horses and animals and answer questions about her farm and the horse and
buggy lifestyle. This farm tour is included at no additional charge!
Most of our group meal hosts are handicapped accessible. All are accessible
to walkers and folks needing minor assistance. The farm tour itself does
require minor walking over slightly uneven surfaces and building to barn
distances of about 100 feet.
Remember that in the summer, the Amish have no air conditioning or electric
fans. Occasionally on a hot summer day the meal area can be quite warm. A
summer meal in an Amish kitchen can remind us of our past and help us to
appreciate what we have back home. But, unless someone in your group has
serious health problems, don't be scared off by this paragraph. Out here in
the country, it is not that far back to when all of us enjoyed the
summer this way.
Meals can be arranged at any time, however most common are mid-day
dinners(noon to 1pm) and evening suppers 4-6pm. Whenever we schedule your
meal, you need to allow time to arrive in Arthur at least a half hour prior,
to get directions and then drive out to the country to the hosts home.
Usually we try to allow groups 1 1/2-2 hours for this meal and farm tour.
Our Amish Home/Farm Meals can be incorporated into any group
itinerary and is usually the highlight of every visit!
A true Amish Country Experience!
Call us 1-888-321-9663