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Fourteen More Cooking Schools

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Learn from English-speaking experts, browse ethnic markets, and savor the local cuisine and the culture. Here, 14 more cooking schools, from Sicily to Shibuya.

2 SICILY | 5 DAYS
Devotees of authentic melanzane a cotoletta (breaded eggplant) and involtini di pesce spada (swordfish rolls) can learn the ropes from cookbook author Anna Tasca Lanza at Casa Vecchie, her family's winery outside Palermo. Guests stay in converted farm houses and take trips to observe shepherds hand-pressing cheese (ricotta originated in Sicily), to shop at a market in the village of Vallelunga, and to lunch at a mountain trattoria. Lanza prepares an elaborate final feast of Sicilian specialties. PALERMO, ITALY; 39-092/154-4011; www.absoluteitalia.com; FROM $2,790.

3 BRITTANY | 7 DAYS
Seafood is the focus of a "Liaisons Délicieuses" apprenticeship in the kitchens at La Ville Blanche restaurant on the Granite Coast near the Gulf of St.-Malo. Star chefs Daniel and Jean-Yves Jaguin share regional cooking secrets (pollack and green asparagus, brill with pickled radish, roasted local lobster). Expect trips to an oyster farm for briny belons or shopping for globe artichokes at the Lannion marché. In the evenings, head "home" to the 18th-century Château de Kerivon, where your host, Viscount Gérald Rogon de Carcaradec, doesn't skimp on the champagne cocktails. 877/966-1810 OR 202/966-1810; www.cookfrance.com; FROM $3,390.

4 PROVENCE | 1-4 DAYS
La Mirande lures top local chefs for star turns at Le Marmiton, a cooking atelier set in the hotel's rustic 19th-century kitchen. Cuisine de grand-mère expert Frédérique Feraud-Esperandieu goes earthy with eggplant tarte Tatin, while Mas des Herbes Blanches's Eric Sapet prefers ris de veau (sweetbreads). Luckily, you won't have far to travel after a three-course homage to tomatoes or foie gras with cèpes rotis by Jean-André Charial—the hotel's toile-filled guest rooms are only steps away. La Mirande's own Jérôme Verrière will introduce you to his secret sources for local honey, olive oil, and herbes de Provence. 800/553-5090; www.chateauxhotels.com; FROM $120.

5 ENGLAND | 1-4 DAYS
Anglophiles with a clotted-cream fixation can lord it up at Swinton Park. The 30-room castle-hotel is the new home of TV chef Rosemary Shrager, a cheery advocate of modern British cookery who still loves "fat rascals" (currant-studded tea cakes). Classes revolve around a massive Aga stove (an oil-heated, cast-iron marvel) and a newly restored, four-acre walled kitchen garden. The four-day course kicks off with a classic English tea. Whether your sessions focus on game or fish, you can spend afternoons tooling around the 20,000-acre estate and trout farm in a Land Rover, or else head to nearby Masham for a pint of Old Peculier ale from Theakston's Brewery. 44-1765/680-900; www.swintonpark.com; FROM $175.

6 SPAIN | 7-10 DAYS
Despite Catalonia's current flirtation with seaweed foam and liquid ravioli, Jonathan Peret and Alicia Juanpere remain preservationists at heart. At Can Miquelet del Mano, a restored stone house in the Priorat, the couple imparts valuable history lessons along with epicurean ones. Morning outings to vineyards, olive groves, and castles of Knights Templars are paired with afternoon instruction exploring early Roman and Moorish influences on Catalan fish stew, esqueixada (salt cod salad), and quail with black sausage sautéed in rancid wine. 800/601-5008 OR 941/723-7588; www.catacurian.com; FROM $2,480.

7 MOROCCO | 10 DAYS
Come with gastronome Peggy Markel to the casbah. During the Feast for the Senses tour in Marrakesh, ethnobotanist Gary Martin shares the history of North Africa's herb and spice trades. Chef Baija, of the 10-room Jnane Tamsna guesthouse in Marrakesh's La Palmeraie oasis, will hold daily lessons on couscous, tagine, kefta (meatballs), hand-ground ras al hanout spice mix, and bread baking in a Berber clay oven. (After hours, lounge by the villa's torchlit pool.) Students also go for wild-caper hunts in the Ouirgane Valley and hikes among walnut groves in the Atlas Mountains. And don't miss the chance to sip mint tea while browsing for mosaic tableware at Meryanne Loum-Martin's Ryad Tamsna gallery. 800/988-2851 OR 303/413-1289; www.peggymarkel.com; FROM $3,895.

8 NEW ORLEANS | 1-5 DAYS
Let the good times roll during a jambalaya session with Creole expert Frank Brigtsen, a James Beard Award winner and disciple of Paul Prudhomme. The New Orleans Cooking Experience concentrates on Big Easy standards: crawfish étouffée, filé gumbo, trout meunière. Five-course meals are served in the formal dining room, wine cellar, or garden. On Saturdays, the class hits the Crescent City farmers' market or plays Bubba Gump on a local shrimp trawler. NOCE's Judy Jurisich, a New Orleans native, will also steer you to the French Quarter's best B&B's and jazz joints. 504/522-4955; www.neworleanscookingexperience.com; FROM $150.

9 SEATTLE | 1 DAY
The Puget Sound is ringed with small organic farms, so spend a day at Persephone Farm with Northwest Essentials Cookbook author Greg Atkinson. You'll gather the freshest vegetables and berries for a four-course meal (corn pudding, fresh pea soup, a goat cheese sampler, berry tartlets) in a converted barn at Farm Kitchen, west of downtown Seattle. Or join Atkinson for the annual Winter Oyster Bash (January), when you wade in the waters at Taylor Shellfish Farm to gather native Olympias and eat them alfresco with chilled Northwest Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc. Atkinson will show you how to shuck, steam, and grill your own bivalves over an open flame. 206/842-5756; www.northwestessentials.com; FROM $95.

10 MEXICO | 7 DAYS
In the colonial city of Puebla, noted chef-historian Ricardo Muñoz and author Marilyn Tausend explore Latin America's original fusion cuisine. The Culinary Adventures trip pays homage to 16th-century Spanish nuns who first made mole poblano in the Santa Rosa convent; it then ventures to Huaquechula to honor eccentric Day of the Dead rituals. Stuff chiles en nogada (pork and fruit with walnut sauce) in a private kitchen, visit the Cacaxtla ruins, and tipple fermented pulque (a tequila predecessor once brewed by thirsty Aztecs) at a barbacoa feast. Since you'll be staying in a converted convent (Hotel Camino Real Puebla), do your best to avoid immodest renditions of "La Cucaracha" in the hallways. 253/851-7676; www.marilyntausend.com; FROM $2,700.

11 PERU | 7 DAYS
We say "potato," Peruvians say "papa." Of course, the former Incan empire has culinary cred beyond its native tuber. Let's not forget Nobu Matsuhisa, Lima's best-known export, as well as pisco sour cocktails and ceviche. Start your Andean expedition with Peruvian classics—lomo saltado, arroz con pato, and causa limeña—at Lima's Le Cordon Bleu, and finish with Nobu's mentor, chef Humberto Sato, at his Japanese-Latin restaurant Costanera 700. For something to show the folks back home, learn how to layer a pachamanca. This ancient Andean barbecue is made by roasting meat over hot stones and banana leaves in a covered pit. 866/645-2846; www.latindestinations.com; FROM $1,843.

12 INDIA | 3 DAYS
If you don't know your biryani from your vindaloo, culinary guru Saurav Banerjee will point the way to enlightenment. At Vanyavilas, a luxury tent camp in northern India's Ranthambore Game Reserve, he presides over a professional kitchen where a piquant mix of Rajasthani, Hyderabadi, and Avadhi cuisines reflect the region's Spice Route influences. Help prepare nalli gosht (lamb shank simmered in onion-tomato gravy), dal makhani (black lentils with fenugreek), and akha palak (spinach with cumin and garlic). One morning is devoted to bread-baking and home cooking with the women of Sawai Madhopur village. 800/562-3764; www.oberoihotels.com; FROM $150.

13 BALI | 1 DAY
At Amandari in Ubud, chef Michael Goodman opens the door to Balinese life with an early-morning trip across the Ayung River Gorge to the locals-only Blahkiuh market. Here you haggle for prized black rice, green papayas, and galingale, which will find their way into spicy curries made at an 18th-century family compound in the Bongkasa village. Guests sip sweet Kopi Bali (coffee) before learning to grind spicy sambal pastes and preparing gulai ayam (chicken curry) or babi guling (roast suckling pig) in an open charcoal stove. After a house temple offering (the Balinese equivalent of saying grace), lunch is served in an open-air bale above the jungle gorge. 800/477-9180; www.amanresorts.com; FROM $130.

14 THAILAND | 6 DAYS
Four Seasons Chiang Mai chef Pitak Srichan turns up the heat in a teak kitchen pavilion above northern Thailand's Mae Rim valley. Red chiles, fermented fish sauce, and curry paste—key ingredients of 16th-century royal Thai cuisine—spark Srichan's practical lessons on pork spare rib soup and banana-blossom shrimp salad. Ice-cold Singha beer helps extinguish flames during tastings, but you'll want to keep a steady hand for the fruit and vegetable carving session that follows. Pick up etiquette tips during a fingers-only Khantoke dinner of sticky rice and minced meats. On a foray to the bustling Tanin market, don't miss the region's famous sausages and fiery bird's-eye chiles—one packet will last a lifetime. 800/332-3442; www.fourseasons.com; FROM $435.

15 TOKYO | 1 DAY
In a country that has dozens of words for rice, food writer Elizabeth Andoh's Taste of Culture is ideal for visitors. A frequent lecturer on both sides of the Pacific, she conducts market tours that include depachika, or department store food halls, to deconstruct Tokyo's more puzzling snacks. Head to Tokyu Food Show in the Shibuya train station for osouzai (deli takeout) such as sautéed hijiki (a calcium-rich sea vegetable) and broiled kabuto (fish heads), or enter the miso boutique at Takashimaya (Futako Tamagawa branch), which has more than 70 varieties of artisanal fermented soy paste. Andoh will introduce you to such savory treats as kombu ame (kelp candy) and pressed rice omusubi, Japan's answer to PB&J. www.tasteofculture.com; FROM $50.

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