Learn to Cook Abroad!

One of the best ways to understand a culture while traveling or studying abroad is to taste its daily cuisine. Pasta in Italy.  Slow food in France. Catalan cuisine in Spain. Places like these elevate cooking and eating to an art form and practice it on a daily basis. What better way to take home a piece of your adopted country than learning to cook its traditional food.

Italy

Cannoli is a Sicilian Specialty

Cooking is synonymous with Italian culture. From various types of pasta and sauce, to wine, steak, veal, and sweet Vin Santo, the regions of Italy offer a plethora of good cuisine.  The best way to learn to cook is from locals or through cooking schools. When I visited Lucca and Sicily, I lucked out and had the pleasure of spending time with my family. I was spoiled with home-cooked meals every afternoon and night. You can seek out cooking schools in Italy or join a class before leaving the states. Cook Italy teaches you to make tortellini and lasagne in Bologna, char-grilled steaks and pork ribs in Lucca (Tuscany), or gives you a tour of the food markets in Florence and Rome. If you’re more interested in going south, a trip to Sicily will surround you with mandarins, figs, and of course, ricotta-filled dried cannoli.  Check out the famous International Kitchen. It offers cooking vacations around Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Morocco, and Mexico.

France

Mediterranean is Known for Seafood

If you’re headed to Paris you are in luck. One of the world’s most famous cooking schools sits in the 15th arrondissement. Le Cordon Bleu is not only for aspiring chefs, but features programs for amateurs, with cooking and pastry workshops, children’s cooking classes, and tours of Paris markets. Other regions for learning to cook include Burgundy, Bordeaux, Alsace, Provence, and the Languedoc. At L’Ecole des Trios Ponts in Riorges, Grand Roanne, students can improve their French language in addition to learning pastry and chocolate making! Yum!

Spain

Looking for a delicioso experience in Spain? You’ll get a good dose of olive oil and garlic with this Mediterranean cooking! Ever indulged in paella, gazpacho, or cocida espanol (Spanish stew)? In Barcelona you’ll encounter tasty noodles (fideos a la cazuela), as well as spare ribs, sausages, butifarra, ham and bacon, and sofrito, which consists of onion, pepper and tomato. Food Vacation offers food courses and vacations in Spain, as well as Ireland and Turkey. Learning to cook these cuisines will give you a better appreciation of the culture while your overseas and after you return home. It’s a great way to keep the feeling of your trip alive after diving back into your normal routine.

Impress people with your knowledge, but dazzle them with your new cooking skills!