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Expertly run by Evelin, a Dutch ex-pat, Cooking Alaturk runs a daily cooking class for tourists with the expert help of a local chef.
Don't fancy that? They also offer a four-course tasting menu of contemporary Turkish food which changes daily. Book ahead, since they have very limited tables.
I went on my 30th birthday and they bought me out a small cake and candle, while the staff sang 'Happy Birthday'.
www.cookingalaturka.com/
Akbiyik Caddesi 72a, Sultanahmet, Istanbul
(+90) 212 458 59 19
Google map: bit.ly/GGnx1Y
Driving from London to the Cote d'Azur with my wife and daughter I decided to break the journey by getting hideously lost in Brittany. I asked some local gents if they knew of a decent hotel for the night, but they insisted we stay with them at their French cooking school in Kerrouet. English was the main language spoken, although people were from all over the place and the atmosphere was great. It was a perfect base to visit the main spots in Brittany, like Dinard, St Malo, the Inter Celtic Festival at Lorient and the ancient stone alinement at Carnac. We never did get down to the south of France but had a splendid time in Brittany and I can now cook a mean Moules a la Creme!
www.frenchdiningschool.com
+33 2963 44 381
Google map: bit.ly/pPQCrf
In Venice, Countess Enrica Rocca, known as ‘the cooking countess', runs cooking courses unlike any others.
Enrica meets her students (five of us in total) at the Rialto Bridge and after quick introductions at a local café takes us to the nearby markets to teach us about the ingredients, where and how to buy them, and how to treat the produce. Next, in true Venetian style, we take our shopping bags full of fresh seafood to a local bacari (Venetian bar) for a post shopping spritz (Aperol, prosecco, orange slice) and a lesson in Veneto wine from Lorenzo of the wine shop MilleVini.
Spirits buoyed, we stroll to Enrica’s light-filled home in the Dorsoduro for a full day of cooking, eating, drinking, and conversation. It's casual and relaxed, like spending a day hanging out in the kitchen with friends, yet still we come away having learned a tremendous amount. Enrica thinks that most cooking courses are too serious and that they should be fun. They are and this was!
Enrica Rocca Cooking School
www.enricarocca.com
Hilarious Brazilian food cooking classes, ideal for rainy or cloudy whether. You learn, you eat, you mix Brazilian drinks, you take photos ... flat out fun.
Rua Ronald de Carvalho 154, Copacabana
www.cookinrio.com
I discovered this company back in 2006 and have since been back three times on their Italian cooking weekends, which are held in their beautiful restored 15th Century palazzo in the wonderful medieval hilltop village of Casperia. Three days of pleasure. From the moment we met on the Friday until we left, it was fun and hands on! I am a single traveller as were most of my fellow guests on my weekend and we all got on famously well. The lessons with Genni, Paula and Franco were just brilliant. The wine and olive oil tasting on the last night with Johnny and Carlo was the icing on the cake - magical. The palazzo and rooms are just wonderful, a perfect comfortable place to relax. Best of all the whole thing is a bit of secret.
A country house for accommodation and two special activity holidays, cooking and walking. I have just spent a week cooking at the finca - great fun, Iberic, Moroccan and Levant cuisine. Great walking country too. A really undiscovered, very laid back part of Spain, precious secrets without any hype.
www.finca-al-manzil.com Nearest airports Madrid, Lisbon or Seville. Tel. 0034670743296
Halfway through our trip round the lower Cilento region, two hours south of Naples, we were invited to lunch at the Nido della Luna guesthouse and working farm, home of farmer Rafaello, at the foot of towering, rugged Mount Bulgheria and over-looked by the ghostly medieval hill village of San Severino.
We pulled up in the driveway of a large farmhouse complete with vegetable patch, stables, and billy goats bleating in a field. In the open porch under a brilliant sun, a smiling old lady in apron and slippers stood, in front of an open brassier with a cooking pot hanging over a roaring wood fire. This was Rafaello's mother, and as a means of sharing some traditional recipes of the region with us she'd lit the fire in the outdoor kitchen and laid a large oak table with traditional cooking utensils for us to play with. This is how I'd really like to cook everyday!
On a large wooden platter were heaps of sliced local aubergines and a pot filled with stuffing mix. We were to make Melanzane M'buttanate, a simple peasant dish packed with the rich flavours of creamy home made ricotta cheese, fresh eggs and fresh parsley.
She guided us through the cooking process, all the while bringing bits and bobs to the table for us to sample as we fried the aubergines: local bitter strawberries jam, honey from their backyard, still warm mozzarellas from the neighbour and a basket of mushrooms and wild greens picked in the surrounding hills with which to make a soup.
We ate with the family, two silent, but softly smiling old goat farmer in flat caps and checked shirts - Grandpa and Great Uncle, Rafaello and his wife, and the parents, who refilled my wine glass with their own-grown thick, nectary red so often I barely remember arriving at pudding! Had we stayed longer, we would have been taught to make ricotta, helped with fruit picking and no doubt cooked up some more delicious Cilento peasant dishes.
In payment for this feast, we were asked only to recommend their beautiful farmhouse b&b to others, so here's the mention. I can't recommend their hospitality and the delightful setting in Italy's most prized secret region enough!
Il Nido della Luna
Via Stazione, 24
San Severino
Centola
84051
Cilento - Salerno (CA)
Tel: (+ 39) 0974/934093-(+39) 347/6540872
You can get a train to Centola from Salerno, or Naples. Driving, take the A3 motorway Salerno - Reggio Calabria, taking the Battipaglia exit, SS. 18 in the direction "Costiera CIlentana".
THe nearest beach is the exquisite Palinuro.
Apple and Noi, two local women, run this extremely friendly guesthouse. The accommodation itself is quite basic, but even if you choose not to stay, make sure you go along for a meal - the food is the best we had in Thailand. Not only that, but Noi runs entertaining cookery courses (lasting the best part of the day, costing about £15) which will teach you how to make such dishes yourself.
I'm a terrible cook and enrolled in a cooking course in Tuscany much to my husband's delight and I can honestly say I can now cook 'Italian' to a passable standard. I jumped on a mini bus in the centre of Florence at 9.30am and was driven just outside of the city centre into the beautiful green hills of Tuscany. We pulled up at a pretty Tuscan villa where we were introduced to our Italian chef. We got our aprons on and went outside to pick fresh herbs and veg from the gardens, the smells were amazing and the chef made me really think about the importance of using fresh produce for your cooking.
I learned to cook so many dishes and sauces, this course takes you well beyond the spaghetti bolognese. I can now cook a full three-course meal and many other side dishes to a passable quality. The wine flowed and the fact that it was produced from the vineyards in the grounds made it all taste so much better. I had a brilliant time and highly recommend it (so can my husband!). It's a brilliant add-on to a trip to Florence and I'll definitely go back for more lessons later in the year.
www.golearnto.com/course/overview/1020/First+Taste+of+Tuscany+Cooking+Holiday
Pick up from Florence city centre at 9.30am, just 10 euros return which is well worth the money. Book it online, it's easy - everything works out brilliantly and you only have to pay a deposit.
Here you can find whatever you want to cook exactly like in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam or India.
A whole supermarket with fresh products imported from the whole Asian continent at bargain prices. Located in the Paris Chinatown which is also worth a visit.
44 Avenue d'IVRY
+33 1 44 06 88 18
Métro Olympiades
See www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/oct/27/saturday.seville for details.
Open only on weekdays, between 1pm and 5pm.
c/Pedro del Toro, 12 (+954 214 115)
Hidden away on a narrow street Behind the Museo de Bellas Arte
picasaweb.google.com/yaniyoplin/CasaSalva
Charles Royal runs these tours and he enthusiastically showed us the numerous wild plants that are edible on the island. He explained that the Kawakawa tree, Maori Bush Basil or Maori Pepper have many uses and gave us little sachets of the crushed, prepared leaves he said we could use to spice up many dishes. Charles told us there are seven edible varieties of ferns and pointed out the Hen and Chickens fern, which is surprisingly soft and sweet to the taste.
When we'd done exploring and sampling, he took us back down to Hinemoa's pool, where we sat dabbling our feet in the warmth as he produced on a camping stove, like a magician bringing a rabbit out of a hat, a selection of quick-cook courses, made with some of the herbs and ferns he'd just shown us.
It's an amazing experience of a Maori tradition and way of existing with the land that is truly wonderful.
Charles Royal, Kinaki NZ, PO Box 1030, Rotorua, Aotearoa, New Zealand. 0064 7 345 3122, www.maorifood.com
Doesn't look like much from the outside but step inside and enjoy one of the very reasonable set four-course meals and relax in the shabby chic ambiance of the 96.
The best Cao Lau (noodle dish with crispy won tons) and white rose (steamed rice paper wrapped shrimp) made to the owner Bup's mother's secret recipe.
Bup also runs reasonably priced cooking classes during opening hours, so even if you don't join in you can watch at a safe distance from your table.
No. 96 Bach dang by the river.
It’s hands-on during the informal cooking workshop in a Bo-Kaap family home that follows a culinary walk through Cape Town's colourful Muslim quarter.
You will learn how to mix masala, fold samosas, and how to balance the delicate flavours of a Cape Malay curry. Real fun!
It was like a burst of sunshine and all that I had hoped for. A relaxed and fun holiday set in the Sabine Hills just north of Rome. Cooking lessons, luxury accomodation, a stroll through an olive grove and a day trip to Rome. Eating the fabulous food and wine tasting really topped it off. Our host, Sally, and the chef, Guido really looked after us.
www.conviviorome.com
Email: info@conviviorome.com
Tel: 00 39 0765 326144
Last year three friends from uni did the organic cooking and farm tour holiday and loved it. A great mix of eating, drinking, cooking, seeing cute farms, lying around and sightseeing.
www.organictuscany.org
The cookery courses take place in La Selva, a small hamlet around half an hour from San Gimignano.
Cheap, freshly cooked vegan/vegetarian food in the backpacker area of Bangkok. Particularly recommended are the Thai Green and Massaman curries with tofu.
May also runs half-day cooking courses that are well worth trying out, though a touch pricey - in Thai terms - at 1000baht (£12). Each course includes a hair-raising tuk-tuk trip to the markets to get the essential Thai ingredients followed by hands-on tuition for 10 or so dishes. You'll be eating each one after you make it so skip breakfast that morning.
Cross the road perpendicular to the Burger King end of the Khao San Road and find the restaurant in the alleyway behind. It's very easy to find if you have a map.
www.maykaidee.com
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