I have met several Traveling Spoon hosts now, and my conversation with Annette and Jose was among my best. Even though Jose and I did not speak the same language, Annette was incredibly attentive to translating – her skills as an English teacher in Sevilla are very apparent. It was fascinating to hear her and Jose’s perspectives on Sevilla and Spain overall. Jose was awesome, an opinionated and proud Spaniard. I learned so much and will always remember my incredible conversations and experience with these two!

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Cooking Experience

Meet Veronique at her apartment and together walk 5-mins to the Santa Cataterina market. This is a 30-minute guided tour of Mercat de Santa Caterina - a buzzy central market featuring a unique, wavy roof and colorful mosaics, with a variety of vendors selling fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and seafood. The market houses a mix of traditional food stalls and sleek modern restaurants, both with a huge variety of delicious offerings. Join Veronique as she introduces you to local, regional ingredients as well as her favorite vendors. You might buy a few ingredients before returning to Veronique's home for your cooking and cocktail class.

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Cooking Experience

Market Tour

Jose's passion for Valencian cuisine is simply wonderful! It is a unique opportunity to learn to cook from a fun and native Valencian trained at the Michelin-starred restaurant El Poblet in Valencia.

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Cooking Experience

Loved Suzie! She was fantastic! I really enjoyed learning the origins of the tapas and making tinto de verano. It was a lot of fun. Would love to eat with her again.

Food Tour

Meet Nicole at her apartment and walk together for 10 minutes to Mercat de Sants for your guided market tour. This is a covered market where you can buy everything there from olives, seafood, meat, grains, fruit and vegetables. This is where Nicole buys her fresh, seasonal and local ingredients from, and she will be happy to take you on a guided tour to introduce you to ingredients used in Spanish cooking. Meet her favorite vendors and buy a few ingredients before returning to Nicole penthouse apartment for your cooking and meal experience.

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Market Tour

This was the highlight of our trip to Madrid! Lola was an incredible teacher, the space was gorgeous and the food we prepared was traditionally Spanish and delicious. I would recommend this to all of my friends and family who come to Madrid and hope to return to cook with Lola soon.

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Cooking Experience

Your Spanish cooking class takes place in Ari and Antonia’s beautiful family apartment in Madrid - visit a grandmother's house to learn to cook traditional Spanish food. A wonderful opportunity to visit a local home and learn more about their family, culinary traditions and life in Spain. In your 2-hour hands-on Spanish cooking class learn to make Spanish classics from scratch. You will be guided through the step-by-step process of making Spanish tortilla or gazpacho or Spanish omelet or paella. Learn how to cook traditional Spanish dishes using family recipes and just the way Antonia cooks for the family at home. While cooking Ari will share stories, useful trips and tricks and also local suggestions on the best things to do in Madrid. The menu is seasonal and if you have any preferences on what you would like to cook, please let Ari and Antonia in advance while booking your Madrid cooking class online. After cooking sit down to enjoy the seasonal, homemade and traditional Spanish meal you helped prepare, which will be served with sides, wine and dessert.

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Cooking Experience

I could not recommend this more highly! This is why I travel, to meet amazing people like Josh, explore new cities and beautiful places, and to experience the best food that a place has to offer. This was pure perfection! I love Traveling Spoon. Our afternoon with Josh was perfect. We met him at one of the large markets in Barcelona, near his kitchen, for a market tour and sampling some fantastic Jamon. Josh is a teacher at heart, and doesn’t miss a chance to point out the construction of the market, the reason the government invested in and rebuilt the markets (I won’t spoil the story), and of course all the steps of making the paella. We visited specialty shops for: charcuteria (jamon), fruits and veggies, fish, eggs (yes, nothing but eggs there), poultry, and olives. We enjoyed samples at most places, and purchased the ingredients for the paella and sangria. Note: I wrote ahead to Josh to ask him to teach me to make the fish stock, so if you want that, you should do the same. Josh uses a small apartment with a professional kitchen and dining room for his classes. This was no demo class - we were in the kitchen with him the whole time, given assignments as fast as we could get them done, and with supervision and pointers at each step. “Here’s how you puree a tomato”, “Here’s what to look for as the paella cooks”, “here’s how the Castilian version is different from other versions”. I have included several photos of the market trip, and ingredients, and the process for the paella. I left out his secret steps for your enjoyment with him… The sangria was fantastic, and the paella tasted as good as it looked - that flavor was so deep and yummy! There was very little left over after dinner. Oh, and we had a nice dessert similar to creme brule. We met Josh about 5pm, and were done with dinner around 8, which left us time for a flamenco show that night. It was one my favorite travel activities I have ever done. I will certainly be trying traveling spoon again in the near future, maybe a Japanese home-cooking one in Tokyo…

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Cooking Experience

Market Tour

Start your experience with a food tour of San Sebastian, led by Luis, a passionate local who will take you to all his favorite food and drink spots in the city. This is a unique culinary experience, where you will enjoy local food and drink tastings, then cook and eat together at a secret gastronomic society - a members only private club. Luis’s grandfather was a member at this club and then the membership was passed on to his father and now Luis is a member. Earlier the club was only for men, where they would get together every week to cook, drink and share stories. Later the club was opened to women and now tourists as well. This food tour is one of the best ways to experience San Sebastian like a local! <br><br>Your experience begins in the historic old town with a visit to a wine cellar, where you will sample txakoli (a slightly sparkling, very dry white wine), before moving to the next spot. Next you will visit 3 pintxo bars, where you will sample pinxtos - the Basque style of tapas, an unassuming small bite served at bars in the hours between lunch and dinner. Each pintxo is paired with the perfect pour, a sampling of cider to local whites and reds. After your food tour, you will accompany Luis to a members only, Basque Gastronomic Society. At the club, Luis will demonstrate how to cook fresh, seasonal fish, before you sit down to eat along with other fellow members (present at the club). Enjoy an evening of food, drink, stories and laughter, unlike anything you've done before! <br><br>Please note that there is no fixed menu, as Luis likes to showcase different foods depending on the season. Just as an example, in the summer months you might sample dishes such as wild mushrooms with egg yolk, scallops with ajo blanco (cold almond soup) sauce or octopus with roast red paper mayonnaise and onion and grilled baby squid or beef cheeks with pumpkin mass. Later at the club, Luis will cook anchovies with txakoli wine (local white wine) or white tuna with green peppers and tomato. End your experience with a tasting of idiazabal (a smoky lamb cheese), quince jelly (thick jelly made of the pulp of the quince fruit) and local cider.

Food Tour