Four years ago my friend Steve, an Oakland–based illustrator, went on vacation to Thailand. Before he got there, he knew he liked Thai food from his Bay Area eating experiences. But in Thailand, he found the food to be so much tastier.
Being an action man, Steve is someone who relished jumping out of planes while in the Air Force and he's not afraid to eat quiche, so long as it's tasty; he decided that simply enjoying the food and taking home positive taste memories was not going to cut it.
He consequently tracked down a cooking school and enrolled for a two-day Thai cooking class. See Thai cooking class options in the United States and Thailand here.
That class, he says, became the gift that's kept on giving. "It was fun. I got to know local Thai people. I learned a lot about the spices, the preparation and the flavors. It gave me enough know-how and confidence to come back home and to keep expanding my repertoire."
At any potluck or dinner party, you can be sure Steve will produce something authentically Thai and something delicious. His prowess is also a great babe-lure, he admits. How many women are not wooed by a man who's good in the kitchen?
What's Cooking?
Exploring and savoring different cultures by way of what the people traditionally eat and drink is a fun, accessible and tasty way to travel. And with a stretch, it has origins back in the earliest days of adventurous seafaring when explorers took spices on their ships to trade for other goods.
Signing up for a cooking class brings culinary travel right into the 21st century. It's a trend that's growing in popularity and accessibility, thanks to the proliferation of websites that are picking up on and showcasing an ever-increasing menu of options.
Jumping off from Steve's experience, here are seven destinations to keep in mind when planning a U.S. or international cooking vacation:
1. Recreational culinary classes are just that. Namely, recreational. They're about having fun while learning. They are strictly for adults keen to enjoy themselves in the kitchen and at the table, sharing cuisine and conversation with family and friends. Yes, there are many professional classes for would-be full-time chefs. But we're not talking about these. Instead of bringing home yet another souvenir from your trip that you have to find space for — and dust — you bring home the skills to whip up a fabulous meal. You invite all the people you'd normally buy a gift for, which means you definitely won't leave friends wondering how to get rid of a white elephant without hurting your feelings. Everybody wins.
2. You can build an entire vacation around a cooking class. It can become a creative way to plan a vacation. For example, African Relish is a recreational cooking school in the small town of Prince Albert, four hours by car from Cape Town, South Africa. Prince Albert is a quaint Victorian town, a heritage site and a gateway into the Karoo, a semiarid desert region that's stunningly beautiful. Off the beaten track, Prince Albert is a place you're unlikely to visit without a good reason, which means you'd miss an awesome mountainous landscape (the Swartberg Mountains), a unique wine area, the farm responsible for most of South Africa's figs and lots more including a cultural history that involves the Khoi and the San people.
The African Relish culinary school menu, with Chef Vanie Padayachee in the kitchen, showcases South Africa's diverse and rich food heritage that includes Indian, Portuguese, Dutch, French, British and Pan-African flavors. You get to cook and eat venison (the Karoo offers hunting safaris) ostrich meat (ostriches thrive in the Karoo) and to stay in a self-catering cottage with a fully equipped kitchen to practice what you're taught. See a range of African Relish classes here.
3. You don't have to plan a cooking school–focused vacation on the other side of the world. For example, Chef Joe Randall's Cooking School opened in September of 2000. Since then, Chef Randall from his base in Savannah, Georgia, has been preaching the gospel of authentic Southern cuisine and sharing Southern cultural heritage with visitors from around the world. See a list of Chef Joe Randall's courses here.
4. A cooking class can be a fun group activity for friends, family or workmates. A media trip for travel writers in the San Francisco Bay Area had an option of a cooking class with Sonoma-based Relish Culinary Adventures. One of the things we did was mix a blend of softened butter, sea salt and sage, which we stuffed beneath the skin of a chicken that was then put into the oven to roast. I've used this technique many times since. Plus, we had a good time bonding while preparing the food — and then, in typical recreational culinary school style, ate our birds and their trimmings paired with wine.
5. Yes, you can go to Mexico to lie on the beach. But why not go to Mexico to learn to cook? Rancho La Puerta's Cooking School at Tecate in Baja, Calif. hosts cooking classes that celebrate the magic of local, seasonal, organically grown ingredients. Classes provide an opportunity to cook side by side with great teaching chefs. Then sit down and relish the meal you helped prepare.
6. Cherie Soria's Living Light Culinary Arts Institute comes as a total surprise. Who would expect to find a state-of-the-art organic raw food vegan cooking school on the main drag in Fort Bragg, the small town best known for its Skunk Train, a few minutes by car north of the artsy town of Mendocino on the California coast? In fact, the school attracts students from around the world who take classes that range from half a day (recreational) to two years (for professional chefs).
7. Soria's café, downstairs from the well-equipped demonstration classroom where you'll be taught that raw and vegan can be a lot more than a salad or crudités if you sign up for a weekender class (her focus is on gourmet possibilities), is a good place to sample her fare.
Explore these three websites for more cooking class ideas:
Scan the Epiculinary site for cooking vacations and ideas.
The Food Vacation site is a culinary travel guide with a focus on cooking vacations.
The Cooking for Fun site serves as an international directory of recreational cooking and wine schools.
Bon Appétit, have fun traveling — and enjoy going back to school!
