A cooking vacation in India
Strap: As food holidays become popular, cooking classes are becoming a fun way of exploring a new city through the culinary route
Bindu Gopal Rao
Holidays today are all about immersive experiences where you see a city in offbeat ways. And one of the best ways to understand the ethos of a city is through its cuisine. This is a key reason why cooking classes are now being offered to tourists and guests as part of understanding a city’s culinary roots.
Local lore
Cooking classes are interestingly offered in a variety of combinations. A class can last an hour and a culinary tour could run into days. It is really about how much you want to know and appreciate food.
Neha Gupta, founder & owner, Saffron Palate teaches cooking lessons from her kitchen studio at home. “I teach authentic Indian food mostly from the North as I am based in Delhi. Sometimes, based on requests, we also teach South Indian. We want to provide the global traveller authentic Indian food and cultural experience.” Her cooking classes are aimed at giving the guests an insight into the culinary and cultural heritage of India. Classes are hands on and ensure maximum hands on engagement and participation. They also organise market walks to orient the guest with the local vegetables, spices and the like.
Rita Shinde, proprietor, Rita’s Gourmet Goa, runs cooking classes curated to impart culinary experiences in Goan cuisine to the domestic and international tourists visiting Goa. Her day-long cooking class includes a five-hour tour to the local farmers’ market. Besides, she also conducts two-five days cookery workshops and three days culinary and heritage tours. “I have a passion for Goan and Portuguese cuisines and desserts and cakes. In the last eight years, this passion has turned into a full-time profession,” she says.
Conversations & more
Activities like cooking lessons also help build an interesting conversation as well as relationship between guests and chefs. The response to such classes is very enthusiastic. Chef David Ansted, Executive Chef at Grand Hyatt Goa, adds, “Our chefs put in a lot of effort in bringing out the best recipes to the table. The food at each of our restaurant is crafted with passion, love and great attention to detail. The biggest victory for the chef is when a guest requests for the recipe. Our guests often ask for what goes in the food that they are eating.” Fleur Soumer, head of Sita Cultural Centre, Pondicherry, feels food is the best way to discover any culture. “Food helps people connect and share. As Pondicherry is a multi-cultural city, people travelling here love to explore it through its many cuisines. We want people to taste the true and traditional flavours of typical South Indian and French meals.”
Some ayurveda advice
An important aspect of many of these cooking classes is that they advocate Ayurveda as a way of life, which believes that prevention is better than cure and what you eat decides the quality of your life.
Ayurveda never prescribes refrigerated food as nature never intended us to consume anything other than what is available around us. Taking this idea to guests it Kairali—The Ayurvedic Healing Village. “The format we follow is similar to what you see taking place elsewhere. The chef explains about the ingredients and their benefits. Participants can try cooking themselves or take notes and ask questions. Our daily cooking regimes also help people understand that simple food is not just tasty but also nutritious,” says Gita Ramesh, joint managing director, Kairali Ayurvedic Group. Ayurvedic cooking and nutrition emphasises on ideal food combinations and explains why certain foods are incompatible. Naturoville organises weekly Ayurveda classes where enthusiasts are taught the basic principles of Ayurvedic cuisine. They teach guests about the common herbs and spices and their usage. “We make the guests understand that Ayurveda does not exclude any major food groups but teach you how to prepare all types of food for optimal digestion and absorption. It is a food therapy that can be customised to the individual to optimise healing and boost energy rapidly,” explains De Thomas Varghese, VP & chief consultant at Naturoville. So the next time you holiday, take the culinary route and discover the many joys of ingredients and cuisines.
