Culinary Travel for a young cook

[mexigaf]

So I've decided that I would take a week this summer to travel to somewhere in Europe to learn some more about food and the cuisines of europe. Im on somewhat of a budget so I'm looking for something a not as luxurious but more educational as a general rule.

Has anyone traveled to Europe to learn more about food without staging? I would love to stage but I'm not ready to travel for more than a week right now. Any experiences with arranging stages and accommodations would be really interesting to hear.

Diego

[hathor]

Diego, a week is a very short amount of time. Go to where your heart is.... I'm going to make an assumption...Diego might be a Spanish name. Go to Spain....set a very small itinerary. One city/ two at the most and just eat and observe. If it was me, I'd spend a week in San Sebastian.

This is an eye opening tour for you, an amuse bouche if you will.

[wax311]

I have to agree with Hathor, one week is probably not enough time to travel in Europe. Considering how much money it costs to fly there, you're better off saving up money for a little while longer so you can afford to go for at least 2-3 weeks. You'll probably be spending $800+ for the round trip flight depending on where you go, so you should try to invest more time into your trip. If you only go for one week, you'll feel like you're already on your way home when your trip is just getting started.

That said, I have gone to Spain for a few weeks, staying at hostels and eating really good food. My girlfriend and I spent 8 days in Barcelona, 8 days in Madrid, and 5 days in Valencia. I would probably skip Valencia if I were to do it again (although the paella was amazing). Hostels were really cheap, so we were able to eat well.

[RAHiggins1]

Check www.clarkhoward.com for travel deals, here are the current ones.

Mid-winter bargains

Purchase these round-trip rates through March 16:

$282 Bucharest, Oslo

$295 Barcelona, Madrid

$309 Budapest

$324 Amsterdam

$338 Istanbul

$352 Stockholm

$353 Lisbon

$388 Vienna

$483 Milan or Rome

$504 Brussels

$603 Athens

Depart by March 23. Valid on most airlines.

Spot sales to Europe

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Round-trip rates of $238 are offered to Amsterdam on Delta on departures through March 23. A 7-day advance purchase required. Purchase by March 16.

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GO NOW! Delta offers a $269 rate to Prague on departures through March 13. No advance notice of travel required. Purchase by March 13.

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Travel to Oslo for $282 round-trip on departures through March 23. A 7-day advance purchase required. Purchase by March 16. Valid on most carriers.

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Delta offers a round-trip rate of $282 to Bucharest on departures through March 23. A 7-day advance purchase required. Purchase by March 16. Valid on most airlines.

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[Eliza]

You should consider WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms), an organization that sets people up with temporary (as short as 5 days, as long as 6 months) positions on small farms, in exchange for room & board. The actual work varies from farm to farm, but when I did it for a month in Tuscany and southern France, the farmers were really happy to have me work for the morning hours in a field or an olive grove, and then come into the kitchen and help/watch them cook.. it was really fantastic. Obviously, some farmers don't cook a lot, but you can narrow down your choices and correspond by email to figure out the foodier ones. I learned to make perfect pasta dough and my hosts were all incredibly welcoming and wanted to always feed me beautiful meals and wine. It's probably not exactly what you're looking for, but with only a week, I think it might be a nice slice-of-life food-education situation.