Welcome to The International Kitchen Blog!

Welcome to The International Kitchen’s blog! We are looking forward to sharing everything ‘cooking’ and ‘travel’ with you — from how to buy olive oil, to why Emilia-Romagna is known as the food basket of Italy, to tips on getting around France, to new culinary vacations we’re offering, and so much more.

Growing Popularity of Culinary Vacations

We’ve been around since 1994, when Karen Herbst founded a company with the crazy idea that people would want to experience fun, hands-on cooking classes during their vacations, and we’ve grown immensely since then.

Culinary tourism started taking off in the early 90s when agriturismi started popping up throughout Italy, and the government licensed them with the rule that they had to teach their B&B guests something about food, as well as produce a product.

Since then, in part due to the rise of the Food Network bringing more people into the kitchen, the popularity of cooking classes and culinary vacations has exploded, as more and more hotels, bed & breakfasts, and restaurants throughout Europe and beyond have started their own cooking classes and programs.

As always, food is a wonderful way to learn about places, traditions, and cultures. As demand for cooking vacations in Italy, France, Spain, and beyond, continues to grow, we strive to find more places that we know our clients will love.

We will also continue talking about some of our best-selling cooking courses and programs, including ones that we’ve offered for ages, such as Mediterranean Cooking Experience and Discover Normandy, as well as newer culinary tours.

Finally, we will use the blog to features recipes from our fabulous cooking vacations, chef interviews with our wonderful partners, and plenty of travel tips to help you plan for your next trip.

As a part of this blog, we also would love to hear from you! We want to hear about the culinary trips you’ve taken, as well as places you want to go. So always feel free to contact us or leave us a message in the comments.

By Peg Kern

Find more photos, videos, food facts, and travel stories from The International Kitchen on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube.

Sign up to receive our newsletter, which includes travel tips, recipes, promotions, and information on our best cooking vacations.

Originally published July 12, 2012.