The League of Kitchens
New York and Los Angeles
The League of Kitchens launched in New York City four years ago with a novel proposition: individuals from the city’s diverse immigrant communities would open the doors of their homes to teach intimate cooking workshops in their own kitchens, giving participants an insight into a different cuisine, culture and neighbourhood. Such has been the success of the venture that there are plans to launch a similar scheme in LA this autumn. In New York, visitors can take cooking classes in 10 different cuisines, including Afghan, Greek, Japanese and Mexican. “Taste of” classes last 2½ hours and cost £92pp. “Immersion” classes last 5½ hours and cost £135pp. Sessions include hands-on cooking instruction, a shared homemade meal and a booklet of recipes.
• leagueofkitchens.com
Ballymaloe Cookery School
Cork, Ireland
Many a professional chef has kickstarted their culinary career on Ballymaloe’s prestigious 12-week certificate course, but if you don’t have three months to spare, this world-renowned cookery school on an organic farm in east Cork has dozens of shorter courses, covering everything from home baking to entertaining. Many courses are taught by the school’s founders, Rory O’Connell and Darina Allen, and her daughter-in-law, television chef and author Rachel Allen. Half-day courses cost from £112, and 2½ day courses from £620. Accommodation is not included, but can be booked in one of the farm’s shared self-catering cottages (single room £64pp per night, twin room £37pp per night.
• cookingisfun.ie
Annie B’s Spanish Kitchen
Menorca, Spain
Annie B’s Andalucian gastronomy holidays have earned a loyal following. Now the Scottish expat is taking her winning combination of cookery classes, market tours, visits to food producers and long lunches into new territory with the launch of a week-long food and wine adventure in Menorca. Believed to be the birthplace of mayonnaise, this Balearic island has lots more to offer the foodie traveller, including talented young chefs, a flourishing wine industry and the renowned Xoriguer gin distillery. Guests will learn how to cook classic Menorcan dishes, mix up gin cocktails, visit a cheese farm and vineyard, and dine in some of the island’s top restaurants. The cost is from £2,055pp (based on two sharing) including seven nights’ B&B accommodation in two boutique hotels in Mahón and Ciutadella, and most meals. Flights cost extra. It departs on 24 September.
• anniebspain.com
Riad Africa
Marrakech, Morocco
Drawing on Arab, Berber, Jewish, African and French traditions, Moroccan cuisine is a true melting pot of influences. For an introduction to its secrets, sign up for one of the daily cookery classes which take place on the roof-top terrace of the Riad Africa, a British-run B&B in the heart of the Marrakech medina. The half-day workshops include a visit to the souk to buy ingredients with chef Fatim-Zahra, who will then help participants to prepare a three-course lunch (£48pp). If you want to delve deeper, the riad offers seven-night cookery holidays which include day trips to the Atlas Mountains to learn about Berber cuisine and to the seaside town of Essaouira for a seafood cookery lesson. B&B at Riad Africa costs from £81 per night.
• marrakechcooking.com
The Pig and Lime Wood Hotel
New Forest, England
The Pig is a real “field to fork” hotel putting great emphasis on freshly grown and locally sourced produce. It is set in an elegant Georgian house near Brockenhurst in the heart of the New Forest, where guests are encouraged to explore its walled garden, greenhouses and orchards. Or you can pick your own ingredients to be cooked up later, with resident forager Garry Eveleigh. Wild garlic, young nettles, dandelion leaves, samphire, elderflowers, berries and nuts… there’s always something delicious – and in autumn, an extraordinary array of mushrooms.
Ten minutes’ drive away is the Pig’s sister hotel, Lime Wood. Here, you’ll find HH&Co Backstage, Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder’s impressive cooking school. Suitable for complete beginners as well as experienced cooks, it hosts laid-back, fun demonstrations. There’s a huge array of courses, open to guests and non-guests. Try a three-hour short course for £65 (how about Cracking Cakes or Simple Suppers?) – or book in for a day with Angela Hartnett and her All Italian, featuring a wide range of Italian classics (£260). There can be few more pleasing spots for a hands-on foodie break.
• HH&Co: limewoodhotel.co.uk. The Pig at Brockenhurst has rooms from £155 per night
Pizza, pasta and gelato
Sorrento, Italy
Learn to cook three of the greatest Italian crowd-pleasers – pasta, pizza and gelato – in a 17th-century villa with sea views near Sorrento. Resident chef Lucia will teach guests how to create fresh handmade pasta from scratch, how to knead and toss dough for an authentic Neapolitan pizza, and how to make traditional gelato. There’s free time to explore Sorrento and the local limoncello factory. The three-night package costs from £343 per person (based on two sharing) and includes B&B in the villa and three informal cookery lessons. Flights to Naples are not included.
• golearnto.com
Gastronomic trails of Vietnam
Hanoi, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City
From street food to fine dining, fans of Vietnamese food will have their fill on a new gastronomic adventure from tour operator InsideAsia Tours. Kicking off with a street food tour of Hanoi’s old quarter with a local food blogger, the 13-night trip includes a rural homestay and home-cooked meal, lunch in the imperial city of Hue, a foodie tour of Ho Chi Minh City by Vespa and a cookery lesson in old Saigon. The tour costs from £2,995pp including 13 nights’ B&B, transfers, excursions and some meals. International flights are extra.
• insideasiatours.com
Foraging and wild food with Fat Hen
Cornwall, England
Set up by botanist Caroline Davey in 2007 as a way of combining her two great loves – food and nature – Fat Hen specialises in foraging and wild-cooking courses based in a beautiful barn in west Cornwall. Whether you opt for the half-day Crab on the Beach experience (£40pp), the Forage, Cook and Feast day (£125pp) or the Gourmet Wild Food Weekend (£225, excluding accommodation), the focus is on rustic dishes made from foraged ingredients, which you can incorporate into your everyday cooking.
• fathen.org
Le Gargantua
Gascony, France
Whether you want to master the perfect pâté or uncover the mysteries of patisserie, Le Gargantua cookery school in a renovated farmhouse in the Lot-et-Garonne, an hour’s drive from Bordeaux, will have a course to suit. Specialising in classic French cuisine, the school prides itself on its hands-on style of teaching, with course durations ranging from an afternoon to five nights. The three-night residential patisserie course covers techniques for making sweet treats such as éclairs, mille-feuille and tarte tatin, and costs £644, including guesthouse accommodation in the farmhouse
• legargantua.com
Vegan and vegetarian cookery
Tuscany, Italy
The Fattoria San Martino is a vegetarian guesthouse in Montepulciano which has solid green credentials, with natural fibres and organic materials used throughout the B&B, from the paint on the walls to the soap in the bathrooms. This ethos is carried through into its vegan and vegetarian cookery classes, which specialise in an “intuitive approach” whereby participants are encouraged to use their imaginations and sense of taste to create their own healthy dishes. Classes last 3-4 hours, at the end of which all participants eat together to enjoy what they have prepared. The cost is £107pp. The owners can also arrange excursions to local wineries and olive oil producers. A junior suite costs £185 per night.
• essentialitaly.co.uk
