To truly experience a destination, try extending beyond traditional tourist activities.
One of the best ways to learn about a city or country is through its food. While patronizing local restaurants gives a great intro to iconic dishes and fun culinary spins, it doesn’t provide in-depth knowledge about the area. Typically, the menu will have an overview of what made them famous or details about local suppliers. When I travel, particularly abroad, I want to dig deeper to experience the area.
So, What’s the Secret Activity?
Cultural sites and museums are often the go-to activities for learning a destination’s history. But my secret activity is taking a cooking class. It’s a fun and unique way to merge dining with a crash course in history and culture. Truthfully, you get so much more than a meal. Your host is typically someone native to the area or has called it home for a considerable time who brings a wealth of knowledge. You learn the origin behind the dishes you are preparing. Are the ingredients indigenous to the area? How was the dish originally prepared? Did other cultures introduce the dish or the ingredients during eras like slavery or reconstruction?
The host answering these questions during your class is a entry point to diving into the city’s history. When was the city founded? What traditions did settlers bring there? What is the primary industry for residents? How many native dialects still exist?
A cooking class is not only hands-on but can make learning something new feel more digestible. Plus, you can learn a few new tricks around the kitchen–something you won’t experience at a local restaurant. Think of it as a lasting souvenir.
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In nearly every major city, you’ll find an offering for a cooking course. Alternatively, if you can’t book one, try to schedule a food tour. Food tours are still intimate experiences hosted by locals in which they arrange for guests to have one-on-one time with restaurant or shop owners over a sample. Similar to cooking classes, food tours offer insight into the city’s foodways, culture, and history. Even if you feel like an expert on your favorite types of cuisine, cooking classes (or food tours) are incredibly insightful. As much as I consider myself a taco connoisseur, travel excursions like these have broadened my knowledge. During a visit to Puerto Vallarta, I learned that most of the Indigenous people in the region were vegetarian prior to colonization. Another thing our host shared with us is that cilantro–or coriander–which is found in many local dishes, is native to India and not Mexico.
Your host is also a great person to ask for recommendations for other things to do in the city. They have all the inside information on things you can’t miss.
My Favorite Cooking Class Experience
I’ve taken several cooking courses during my travels (internationally and domestically), but my favorite to date has been the course at Spices Cooking Studio in Saint Lucia. The cooking studio is owned and operated by Caribbean resident Jenni Killam on the first floor of her home.
There are several reasons I loved this one so much. The first is because the course allowed us to contribute directly to the local economy while staying at an all-inclusive resort. It’s important to me to support locals during my travels. It is much more impactful than spending money with big corporations.
Our class size was an intimate group setting of four that started with a tour through the host’s garden, where she identified herbs, fruits, and vegetables native to the region, like root crops, the soursop leaf, and forbidden fruit. Forbidden fruit is a type of citrus believed to be the origin of grapefruit.
In other cooking classes I’ve participated in, we’ve only focused on a main course. So, another thing that I loved about this one was it was a multicourse meal to create a thorough dining experience. Rather than eating at workstations, as each course was ready, we dined outside before moving on to the next. I also thought this was a great idea because cooking classes are several hours long. The breakdown made it less intimidating to take on a new cuisine. Throughout our meal, we talked about the various countries in the Caribbean. Each one is diverse with a unique flair. While there is an overlap in things like the type of agriculture that grows between the countries, our menu perfectly captured the essence of Saint Lucia. Jenni taught us how to make piton poulet, curried pumpkin soup, purple cabbage, provisions medley, and ginger spice ice cream.
Consider a Course With a Market Visit
Any cooking class you take will teach you about the food, but for an elevated experience, try to find a course that comes with a market visit. For standard classes, the host prepares everything ahead of your arrival. If your class offers a market visit, the instructor will meet the class attendees at a nearby or local market. It allows you to learn about the ingredients directly from the source. While the instructor guides you in selecting the ingredients based on the recipe, you’ll have another opportunity to authentically engage with the community and those who help keep the local economy moving like dairy farmers, bakers, and produce suppliers.
Where Can You Book A Cooking Class?
You can find cooking classes in major cities and small towns alike. In full transparency, I’ve had the best luck finding them in smaller areas internationally. The quickest way to find one is to simply Google search “cooking class + city” and sort through the options. You can use the search results to cross-reference reviews. Other ways to find a cooking class during your travels:
– On Expedia’s website, you can search for things to do at any destination. You can filter it for a specific excursion type. It will allow you to see nearby cooking classes.
– Lodging platform Airbnb hosts experiences. The unique thing about this is that you can also opt for virtual cooking classes that transport you to a new culture in the comfort of your home.
– If you are working with a travel agent, express your interest to them to attend a cooking class so they can put it in your itinerary.
Not only will you have made a great meal but you can also make some local friends from other class participants. Consider purchasing cookbooks, oils, or spice blends as a tangible souvenir.