Local foods, as a part of the culture and identity of pilgrimage cities, play an important role in the experience of tourists. Local foods in pilgrimage cities serve not only as a means to satisfy hunger but also as an inseparable part of the pilgrimage experience and a lasting memory of the journey. These foods, by establishing a deep sensory and emotional connection, remain in the minds of tourists long after the trip. The food experience in these cities evolves from mere consumption to a pilgrimage-food act, acquiring a ritualistic and social nature. This type of experience, because it engages multiple perceptual levels (sensory, emotional, spiritual), has the highest potential for retention in the memory of tourists. This study is applied in type and descriptive-analytical in nature, using library and field methods (questionnaires) to collect data. The statistical population consisted of tourists present in the city of Mashhad, with a sample size of 384 people. The t-test results show that the three dimensions of tourist (25.433), products and services (23.440), and food environment (19.613) are at a desirable level, while the dimension of destination environment, with a statistic of 2.991, requires improvement. Pearson correlation analysis confirms a significant and strong relationship (r=0.732) between travel characteristics (such as previous experiences, length of stay, and travel motivation) and food perception and experience, although the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the travel purpose does not have a significant effect on the food experience. Notably, health-oriented tourists, despite the lack of statistical significance, scored the highest food experience ranking, which may indicate the importance of paying attention to this target group in future planning. Overall, the findings suggest that improving individual and qualitative components can enhance the food experience, but the weakness of the physical environment, as a fundamental challenge, requires intervention.