After all, tourists are a common sight at the Hershbergers'.

Although their faith requires a distance from the outside world, a dozen Amish families in northeast Ohio welcome visitors to their homes to give them a taste of their culture.

Serving meals to the public has been a way of life for 15 years for the Hershbergers, who like many Amish have left behind farming for more profitable ventures.

The Amish are a deeply religious group whose simple clothing and tradition of traveling by horse and buggy symbolize a yielding to a collective order.

But even among the Amish times change.

Wearing a green dress with her brown hair pulled back under the traditional white Amish head-covering, 18-year-old Amanda Hershberger takes instructions from her mother, Sara, who speaks in their native Pennsylvania German dialect.

Amanda and family friend Emma Sue Troyer hustle from table to table serving plates heaped with roast beef and chicken that's so tender and moist it falls off the bone.

Carol Glessner of Country Coach Adventures, who has been bringing tourists to Amish homes for 10 years, warned on the ride over that the roast beef would be the best anyone had ever tasted. It was.

"Do they have a dishwasher?" asked one woman, marveling at the number of plates, glasses and silverware that need to be cleaned.

Amanda holds up both her hands with a modest smile in reply.

As if she hasn't done enough, Amanda joins sister Cora and Emma Sue in singing a German song as the guests, if they have room, enjoy pecan, pumpkin, peach or custard pie.

For all of the above, the Hershbergers charge $12 plus a tip.

Amish dinner: The Hershbergers and other Amish homes require groups of 20 or more. Carol Glessner of Country Coach Adventures, (877) 359-5282, specializes in taking groups to Amish homes and other sites in Ohio's Amish country.

Season: April through December.

Getting there: The Hershbergers' home and their Hillside Bulk Foods and Crafts store in Baltic is west of Interstate 77 off Ohio 651.

Nearby attractions :

• Guggisberg Cheese Factory, 5060 Ohio 557, Millersburg

• Lehman's Hardware, 1 Lehman Circle, Kidron

• Schrock's Amish Farm, 4363 Ohio 39, Berlin

• Simply Smucker's, 333 Wadsworth Road, Orrville

• Warther's Carvings, 331 Karl Ave., Dover