Want to learn about a culture? Learn to cook its food
It is nearly impossible to separate the flavors of a region from the people who live there, and really, I’m not sure that I would want to. As someone who enjoys learning as much as I can about the cultures I visit, I have always viewed the typical foods of a culture to be an integral part of the travel experience.
Whether we are talking about the West African fufu or Peruvian aji de gallina, tasting the flavors of a culture is part of learning about it.
Which is why we knew we wanted to take cooking lessons in as many places as we could!
Options for Cooking lessons:
Looking for a cooking class to take can be a bit overwhelming at first. Almost anywhere you go there are going to be a ton of options for classes to take.
Not all classes are the same, though, and depending on what you want to learn you may want a completely different experience than someone else. After all, there’s an amazing variety of dishes and flavors out there, so there’s bound to be different ways of learning about them!
Even so, after doing a bit of research I was able to narrow it down to a few different types of lessons that I’ve divided out by two main themes.
- What kind of kitchen do you want to learn in?
- What kind of food do you want to learn to make?
Where do you want to learn?
There are as many kitchens out there as there are cooks to use them. Maybe more. But most cooking lessons end up taking place in one of three kinds of kitchen. Either they take place:
- In a professional kitchen
- In the teacher’s home kitchen
- In your home kitchen.
Learning in a professional kitchen
The first kind of lessons are those that happen in professional kitchens. These are the kitchens you find in restaurants or at a culinary school. This type of class will often have the largest class size, since they have enough room for multiple work stations.
Because they have multiple groups, the menu is often less flexible than with the other course types, but comes out looking and tasting great as the teachers will have experience teaching that particular dish.
They can also be a great option for sharing an experience with friends and learning something new together!
Learning in a Chef’s home kitchen
Another common option is to take a more private class in the personal kitchen of a qualified local chef. This route gives a more personal touch to the experience, since class sizes are smaller and the setting is more intimate. In these intimate settings, it is more feasible for the chef to cater the menu to your preferences. You’ll also be using their home equipment. This equipment is used day in and day out by a professional chef, so you know it will be up to the task.
Learning in your own kitchen, with a private class
A third option is to hire a chef to come over to where you are staying and teach you how to cook where you cook! You will be learning with your own equipment in your own kitchen so things should be easier to recreate. Though, the chef may bring equipment of their own to supplement your collection if needed. And the menu can be entirely flexible, to meet your flavor expectations.
Private chefs are common in a lot of popular vacation areas, so finding one that can work with you on your schedule and budget is entirely possible.
What food do you want to cook?
The next big question is the kinds of food that you want to learn about. Every country has its own unique culinary traditions, and each individual region often has its own foods and specialities, only adding to the options.
I typically break down the options into three broad categories:
- Indigenous cuisines
- Modern dishes
- Regional favorites
I’ll break each of these down with a quick description of what I mean followed by some examples of what a tourist to America might be looking to cook if ther chose food from that category.
Indigenous Cuisines
Indigenous cuisines are the foods that people in the area ate before coming in contact with the world at large. These foods typically consist of ingredients that are hyper-local, which often means extremely fresh. Foods from this category have been around for hundred or even thousands of years and have developed complexity of flavor through mulltiple layers of tradition and experimentation.
Examples of Indigenous Cuisines in the USA are less common than they used to be, but you may still recognize some of these popular dishes
- Succotash
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Three Sisters Soup
- Smoked Salmon
Most recipes for these foods have made some changes for modern tastes and conveniences, but the bones of the recipes are definitely still there.
Modern Dishes
Speaking of modern tastes, the next set of recipes encompasses the foods that resulted from the collisions of modern cultures. These are the favorite foods of a particular culture, and usually what you would think of when considering a country’s cuisine.
Some popular items from American cuisine would be:
- BBQ (brisket, pork, or chicken)
- A delicious burger (technically from Europe, but somehow still 100% American)
- Apple Pie (with a liberal scoop of Vanilla ice cream)
- Macaroni and Cheese (of course)
- Buffalo Wings (smothered in sauce)
American food borrows from a lot of different places, but the fact that these are foods that stand up and proudly declare their home country is what we’re looking for here. Examples from other countries would be things like
- Mexican tacos
- Chinese pork fried rice
- Italian pasta puttanesca
- French creme brulee
No mistaking where these things come from.
Regional Favorites
Which brings us to the third and final of my classifications. The Regional favorites.
These are the dishes that are defined by the regions they come from. Yes, Louisiana is part of America, but if you’re looking for regional dishes you’ll be making a muffuletta or some gumbo, not the aforementioned burger.
Other regional favorites in America include:
- Cajun boiled crawfish
- Memphis pulled pork sandwiches and vinegar slaw
- Philly cheese-steaks
- New England clam chowder
- Chicago everything hot dogs
Other regions may eat these foods, but they belong to that specific region and are done best there. If you want to get regional in your cooking lessons, make sure to find a teacher who grew up in that specific region.
In conclusion
No matter where you end up in the world, people are going to be eating. It’s one of the things that we all have in common, and yet one of the best ways to clearly see our differences.
From flavorful foods to intriguing information about an area’s history, if you really want to experience a culture, there’s no experience better than taking a cooking class.
Product Recommendations
If you’re interested in doing classes in your rental or Airbnb with a private chef, having the right supplies for cooking can be invaluable. While I don’t recommend that you fly with everything you need to make a 4-course meal, I do think that flying with a few choice tools can be a great idea. In fact, no matter where I go in the world, I make sure to bring my chef’s knife along!
Here’s some items that might take your culinary excursion to the next level!
Chef’s Knife
I travel with my Farberware EdgeKeeper Chef’s Knife wherever I go. It’s not a knife that a professional would be likely to recommend, but I like the way it feels in my hand, and it has worked well for me.
Or, if you feel the need to have the very best, check out this knife from Dalstrong.
Apron
Aprons have been saving cooks’ clothes from disastrous stains for as long as they’ve been around. If you want to save your sense of style from a horrid fate, bringing along an apron can be just the ticket!
Check out this top seller on Amazon.
Or if you want to upgrade your style, go ahead and give this one a try!
