World Cup visitors are lining up for a taste of California: In-N-Out, Erewhon, Trader Joe's

For many first-time visitors to Los Angeles this summer, the World Cup is only half the itinerary. The other half is edible.

The burger first

As international fans pour into Southern California for matches at SoFi Stadium, a familiar name keeps topping their to-do lists: In-N-Out. The California burger chain, a regional institution since 1948 that has stayed stubbornly close to its home turf, has become a bucket-list stop for tourists, the Los Angeles Times reported. The location near LAX is a particularly popular first stop, letting arriving visitors get a taste of California almost before they have left the airport.

The wellness detour

For a different flavor of Los Angeles, some visitors head to Erewhon, the luxury grocery-and-smoothie chain that has become shorthand for the city's wellness culture. It is as much a spectacle as a store: famous for its celebrity-branded smoothies and premium prices, it offers tourists a window into a particular, very LA intersection of health obsession and conspicuous spending, the Los Angeles Times reported. Sticker shock is part of the experience.

The grocery-store pilgrimage

Then there is Trader Joe's, the cult-favorite grocery chain that inspires a devotion most supermarkets can only envy. Its quirky products and low prices have long made it a destination for out-of-towners, and World Cup visitors are no exception, folding a grocery run into their sightseeing. For fans from countries where the store does not exist, the aisles themselves are the attraction.

Why it resonates

There is something telling in the phenomenon. The places locals treat as background, the burger stand, the health-food market, the neighborhood grocer, look different to visitors, who see in them a distilled, tangible version of California life. The World Cup has brought the world to Los Angeles, and while the marquee draw is the soccer, a good deal of the joy is being found in a paper In-N-Out tray. It is a reminder that a city's identity often lives less in its landmarks than in the everyday things its residents stop noticing.