Engaging in cooking classes during trips allows tourists a gateway into unknown culture and traditions of locals that can only be truly experienced hands on. For those tired of stuff museums and crowded tour buses, these cooking institutes divulge culinary secrets passed down from generation to generation.

For some vacationers, a lazy lie-in on the beach with a margarita in one hand is the perfect getaway from a monotonous life or busy work days, while for others, travelling is incomplete without sightseeing ancient relics or embarking on adventurous activities. But for those foodies who love to discover delectable dishes on their trips, a travel package is often incomplete without a foray into the culinary world on the menu. An aspect that connects every country in the world, food has the power to let tourists go beyond a surface skim of a new country, and fully immerse themselves into a foreign culture by learning the secrets behind iconic dishes passed down through generations.

Gaining momentum in the tourism industry since the 1990s, culinary tourism is often touted as a way to explore the attractions of new destinations through innovative street food to Michelin star delicacies, and for hardcore foodies, a country’s cuisine is often the sole reason for a trip. Tour packages now offer an endless array of activities, from culinary trails and cooking classes to glamorous wine tasting and authentic farm weekends.

Experimenting with European cuisine

“The contemporary Indian traveller is always on the lookout for unique experiences which could encompass anything out of the box ranging from sightseeing to culinary experiences such as wine tasting, a cooking course or a unique food and wine pairing. There is a growing interest in visiting local food markets, exploring vineyards, visiting specialty restaurants stemming from Indian visitors,” Sheetal Munshaw, director of Indian market at Atout France, the France Tourism Development Agency, tells India Outbound.

France is known as one of global hubs of innovative and iconic European cuisine, famous for dishes like beef bourguignon and Coq au vin. France also holds the title as the country with the highest number of prestigious Michelin-starred restaurants in the world In the last few years, there has been a growing number of Indians who are eager to experiment with their palate. The discerning traveller is very motivated to savour regional specialities while in France and we have had many satisfied visitors who have enjoyed their encounters with authentic French cuisine and have even wanted to include a Michelin experience on their agenda. Enthusiastic travellers who want to hone their culinary skills also often opt for a cooking class of short durations at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu institute in Paris,” adds Munshaw.

Le Cordon Bleu Paris proposes a variety of range of short-term culinary discoveries for those with a “passion for the art of cooking” such as pastry and confectionary workshops like traditional techniques of bread-baking and making eclairs and the art of making the iconic foie gras and jus for various dishes. The culinary workshops are taught by highly experienced and awardwinning instructors using interactive demonstrations and give tourists a chance to take their creations home and show off their newfound skills, and cost anywhere from EUR 60 to upwards of EUR 480, depending on the duration of the course.

Institut Paul Bocuse is another renowned school in France that offers one-day to six-week courses for food enthusiasts at its historic chateaux in Ecully, just outside Lyon. A one-day Paul Bocuse course starts from EUR 170 (INR 15000) and a three-day course is EUR 470 (INR 41,000).

Another gastronomic hub, Italy, is legendary for its various pizzas and pastas, dishes also notorious for being adapted and some might even say butchered, depending on the tastes of different countries. However, for culinary connoisseurs passionate about learning the traditional, tried and true, recipes, schools such as Giuliano Hazan’s Northern Italy Cooking School, situated in Verona offers a one-week immersive food and wine course with Giuliano Hazan himself, a chef, cookbook author and son of Marcella Hazan, the “godmother of Italian cooking.”

“Demand for food tourism in Italy has grown tremendously. My mother, Marcella Hazan, opened a cooking school in Bologna in 1976, and at that time I believe there was only one other school. Now there are many hundreds of schools, not to mention all the food tours being offered. Considering the competition, we are very proud that in 2019 Forbes named us one of the top five cooking school vacations in the world,” Hazan tells India Outbound.

Those who enroll in the school stay in luxury accommodations, a sixteenth century villa in the heart of northern Italy’s wine country, and can learn to make authentic, homemade pasta, risotto, meatballs and much more.

“The course includes six nights in newly renovated accommodations at a beautiful Renaissance Villa, which is also where the cooking classes are held. During the days, we go on field trips to various gastronomic destinations like a Parmigiano-Reggiano producer, an ancient rice mill, a bustling food market, an olive oil mill, and a winery. Lunches are at high-end restaurants. Cooking classes begin late in the afternoon. They are hands-on classes and each day we prepare a different four-course meal with one day being devoted to homemade pasta. Each class also includes a detailed wine presentation featuring a different wine-producing region of Italy. The evening ends with a sit down meal of what we prepared along with the wines discussed. By the end of the week we will have covered risotto, pastas, soups, various meats and seafood dishes, and a different dessert each day,” explains Hazan.

Mumbai-resident Chhitra Gadwani tells India Outbound that she heard about Hazan’s course after being a fan of his mother’s.

“I love cooking and have a few of Marcella’s cook books. I’m single and I was looking to doing a culinary tour. I spoke to Giuliano on the phone and he made me feel very comfortable so I decided to go alone. It was an amazing experience. More than I expected – a food and wine orgy! We were taken to the most astounding meals, each one a delight, in quite a few fantastic Michelin star restaurants including a tour of a still operating ancient market. I was the only Indian in a small group of mostly classy American couples. The best thing I learnt was how to improve my knife skills,” she says.

“It was perfect and I wouldn’t change anything at all. From the place we stayed in to the food we cooked, the restaurants, the vineyard, were all par excellence.

I highly recommend this or any trip organised by him to everyone, including couples or singles, as it was one of the best travel experiences I have had,” she adds.

Bluone Cooking Tours in Italy also runs a one-day course that includes a two-hour Bologna food market visit with an English-speaking guide, a three-hour Italian hands-on cooking lesson taught in English, dinner after the cooking lesson where one can enjoy regional wines, costing around EUR 180 (INR 16,000).

Fascinating flavours of Asia

around the world, like Japan’s sushi and India’s fragrant curries. In Korea, for example, with the global interest in local culture through entertainment like K-Pop and K-dramas, tourists cannot wait to sample dishes such as kimchi, samgyeopsal, and bibimbap.

Initiatives such as ‘Food and Culture Korean,’ a partnership with the Korean government, bring a tourism-stimulating approach to Korean culinary education, with classes designed to allow foreigners to experience the country’s rich culinary heritage and for food enthusiasts who want to take a piece of Korean culture home. It is described as “a great resume entry for chef tourists.”

Another institution, Jeonggangwon, a traditional Korean Food Culture Experience Centre, was established in order to preserve and promote traditional Korean food culture around the world. It offers a tour of various hands-on facilities for traditional food culture such as an exhibition hall, cooking room, and a fermentation room. Activities such as trying on Korea’s traditional dress, hanbok and hanokstay, experiencing ancient traditional homes, are also included to give tourists a well-rounded experience.

Tokyo Kitchen, in Japan’s capital, offers three-hour classes where tourists can learn about Japanese seasonings and table manners before diving in to handson lessons in Japanese home cooking techniques perfect for experienced or even amateur cooks who cannot train for years in the traditional techniques. The menu offers an assortment of dishes: different varieties of sushi, tempura and other Japanese specialties such as okonomiyaki, ramen and katsu.

In Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket, tourists can get a titillating taste of Thai food, renowned for its coconut milk base and sweet and spicy flavours, at classes held in the the heart of the city. At Phuket Thai cooking class, a morning tour is perfect for a visit a local market, brimming with color and foreign smells, to pick up fresh ingredients and transform them into masterpieces by learning traditional techniques of concocting curry paste from scratch by grinding the fresh herbs and spices in a stone mortar and pestle and releasing the magnificent aroma, the most important part of all Thai dishes.

Whether a professional chef or an amateur cook, tourists who wish to visit a foreign country and sightsee with a twist, can put on their aprons, flour their palms and get to work as countries open up and culinary tour packages come back with full force.

“In 2021, we released our first food and wine supplement that showcased different facets of France’s culinary expertise alongside a reputed travel magazine. France’s global culinary event, Gout de/Good France celebrated over five continents, is an excellent platform for us to promote French gastronomy and amplify visibility around this event. We have always incorporated gastronomy and wine tourism in almost all our activities in the Indian market over the last few years through exclusive soirees dedicated to this theme and also collaborating with renowned food and wine influencers either in the form of press trips to France or events in India,” explains Munshaw.

“Beginners are always welcome! We have had all kinds of people attend our school, from professionals to people who rarely cook. There is something for everyone to learn, whether it is a new technique, or learning about ingredients such as olive oil, cheeses and rice. The majority has been to Italy before, but for some it is their first time. What is common among all our students is a passion for food and wine and for learning about them. During the Covid19 pandemic, the courses in Italy came to a standstill for two years, but we were pleased to be able to start up again earlier this month. We are thrilled to see the demand for next year and in fact we will be announcing 2023 dates soon because 2022 is almost sold out!” says Hazan.