Most folks go on vacation to get out of the kitchen and let someone else do the cooking. But, when Atlantan Lydia Connerty began planning a bicycle tour of Vietnam with friends, she chose a group cooking experience as one of their activities.
“The first thing I did was sign us up to take a hands-on class in Vietnamese cuisine. What a fun way to get introduced to the country and its culture. And then we’d know more about what to order from menus on our trip,” she said.
From cruise ships to resort hotels, cooking classes are joining spa treatments and zip line adventures as popular vacation activities. Joe Carlin, associate editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, has sought out cooking classes on his world travels with wife, Julie, for years.
“We took a class in Bangkok on green and red curries back in 2008, and found it [to be] a very positive experience. ...The class was a success because the instructor was knowledgeable, knew her audience and did not try to overwhelm us with too many dishes,” he said.
Chefs at hotels and restaurants also find that inviting guests into their kitchens to cook is a great way to promote their properties and build customer loyalty.
Executive chef Elijah Bowe, of the historic Graycliff Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas welcomes his class with a flute of Champagne and then hands out the aprons and knives. After a review of culinary vocabulary associated with the evening’s recipes from “al dente” to “roux”, he leads the group through a step-by-step lesson in how to clean a whole fish. Then, the group separates into duos to get the dinner menu ready.
While his students slice and dice Bowe, a native of the Bahamas, shares stories of growing up on the islands and his enthusiasm for teaching. “Some people are very skilled and others are kitchen novices. It’s fun to see the teamwork develop. Eventually, we do get dinner on the table!”
The One and Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island in Nassau has added cooking classes and mixology lessons to their menu of things to do at the beach. The evening I visited, executive chef Emmanuel Gibson of Dune restaurant showed us how to make plantain crusted grouper and led us through a tasting of spices used in Bahamian cooking.
Kitchen Clean Lessons
One of the things that impressed me is the attention to sanitation before, during and after these amateur hours in professional kitchens. Everyone is firmly instructed to properly wash their hands, avoid cross contamination between raw meats and fresh vegetables and to wash their hands again before entering the dining room.
During the Chefs Plate Gourmet cooking class at the Royal Playa del Carmen resort in Mexico, the lesson in proper hand-washing technique included detailed nail brushing and thorough scrubbing up to the elbows. Made me think that the food and beverage staff at this hotel, part of the Real Resorts of Mexico, was working really hard to dispel any fears of Montezuma's Revenge. In fact, the kitchens were gleaming clean.
So, whether you’re traveling to India or China or taking a cooking class at a restaurant in Atlanta, keep an eye on kitchen cleanliness to get the most out of the culinary experience. The only souvenirs you want to take home are some new recipes and new found appreciation for world cuisines.
