World Culinary Arts

Southern Spain: Exploring Andalusia

For the food and wine traveler, southern Spain offers no end of pleasure. From the lively tapas bars of Sevilla and the sherry bodegas of Sanlúcar to the bountiful seafood stalls of Cádiz, gastronomic delights await the adventurous. Vast olive groves and vineyards blanket the region’s hillsides, and in its cellars hang what some experts call the best ham in the world.
The Moors, who ruled here for 700 years, called it al-Andalus. Today, we know this land as Andalusia, an arid, sun-swept region where the Moors left their mark on the food, art and architecture—most notably, in Córdoba’s world-famous mosque, or Mezquita. Andalusians live life outdoors, strolling the wide plazas that grace the region’s large cities, pausing for a café con leche in a sidewalk café, and navigating the quiet back streets where hidden tapas bars welcome the tired and thirsty with a glass of chilled fino sherry. Whitewashed houses with flower-filled courtyards line the narrow streets in Andalusia’s villages, while its cities supply diversions like flamenco dancing, late-night dining and—not for the faint hearted—the ancient sport of the bullfight.

Savoring the Best of World Flavors

From the bustling spice markets of Cochin, India… to vibrant Oaxaca, land of the seven moles….from San Sebastian, headquarters of the daring new Spanish cooking….to magical Bangkok, where sumptuous curries challenge our palates with their bold, spicy flavors…the world of food takes us places beyond imagining. For a chef, every journey brings new tastes, new ingredients, new skills and inspiration. The more we see, the more we grow. Travel with Julie Sahni, the cookbook author and Indian food expert, to the coconut plantations of Kerala and the fragrant spice stalls of Delhi. Meet Rick Bayless, chef, Mexican cooking expert and your guide to the subtle secrets of mole negro. Cook a Catalan seafood paella with paella masters from Barcelona, and learn the elements of authentic pad Thai from one of Thailand’s most eminent chefs. Fasten your seat belt for a whirlwind tour of the world’s best tables.

Green Chicken Curry

The signature flavors of Thai cooking lie in its foundation seasonings—the ingredients a Thai cook uses to add sweet, sour, salty or herbaceous notes to a particular dish. Chef McDang leads us through those essential, defining ingredients.

Indian Raisin and Date Chutney

In India, fruit chutneys go far beyond the mango version known to most Americans. Watch chef Abhijit Saha prepare one of his favorite chutneys, made with dates, raisins, spices and pomegranate juice.

An Introduction to Indian Cuisine

Exotic and mesmerizing, India is a land of complexity and contrast, a vivid tapestry of peoples, languages and cultures. Among the oldest civilizations on earth, Indian culture has evolved over centuries, absorbing ideas from the Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Moghuls, Portuguese, Dutch, French and, of course, the British. From the Moghuls, northern Indians learned to make rice pilaf and biriyani, an elaborate layered dish of rice and meat. The Moghuls’ refined cooking became the palace cooking and the dominant influence in the north. In the tropical south, the food is hotter and seafood dominates the coastal diet. The treasured fruit of the coconut palm yields coconut milk for curries and coconut water for toddy, a fermented beverage. From north to south, India offers an endlessly varied feast, befitting its varied geography and multicultural heritage.

Join us as we tour the spice coast of tropical Kerala, where home gardens are a tangle of pepper vines and cardamom bushes and mountain plantations yield coconut, cashew nuts, nutmeg and coffee. We’ll cruise the backwaters of Kerala, past rice paddies, shrimp farms and mango trees. With local cooking teacher Nimmy Paul, we’ll have a private lesson in Kerala home cooking, and we’ll watch the great Kathakali dancers perform in their dazzling makeup.
Moving north, we’ll experience the rich Moghul cuisine and the splendor of the Taj Mahal, the most beautiful tomb ever created, an emporer’s tribute to his beloved wife. In nearby Delhi, we’ll explore the colorful stalls of the market, learning the names and uses for the mysterious vegetables and fruits, lentils, chilies and herbs that underlie this major regional cuisine.
In Jaipur, our culinary tour leads us past Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds, a late 18th century example of architectural artistry. And we’ll watch elephants bathing in Moatha Lake outside the fabled Amber Fort, overlooking the great desert plains of Rajasthan.
Together, we’ll uncover the essence of the Indian kitchen as we learn from tandoor masters, market vendors, and specialists in biryani and dosa. In this vast country, with its well-preserved regional cooking and agricultural abundance, we’ll never lack for extraordinary foods to taste.

Interviews with Indian Food Experts

India is an enormous country, encompassing numerous religions and languages and every possible landscape, from the snow-covered Himalayas to the tropical palm-lined coasts of the south. Likewise, Indian cooking is far from monolithic. To begin to understand it, we must divide India into regions. Suvir Saran, chef-owner of New York City’s Devi restaurant, helps us out.

An Introduction to the Cuisine of Northern Spain

With its reverence for old ways but its passion for the new, Spain may be Europe’s most exciting food destination today. On this culinary tour of Northern Spain, you’ll see why Catalonia and the Basque Country are captivating American chefs. Nowhere else will you find such a profound dichotomy between the practitioners of traditional cooking and the advocates for change. Catalonia, after all, is home to the restaurants of Ferran Adria, Juan Mari Arzak and others who are shaking culinary foundations with their daring new compositions. Their foams, emulsions and other ultra-modern creations have pushed Spanish cooking forward and intrigued chefs around the globe.

Oaxacan Mole Negro

Oaxacan women have perfected the art of making mole. Here, Abigail Mendoza, show us the elaborate preparations required to make this classic dish
Abigail Mendoza Ruiz is the owner of Tlamanalli in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, a restaurant specializing in typical Zapotecan foods. At the age of six, Chef Mendoza Ruiz first learned to make tortillas and began to study the foods and beverages of the Zapotecan Indians.