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Perhaps you might visit Julia Child's home, "La Pitchoune" in Provence, or Dario Cecchini, the famous butcher from Panzano, Italy. What could be more fun than traveling with the pure goal of learning new cuisines and new recipes from around the globe? I am pretty sure, nothing beats this idea for me. And, this is exactly what Charlie Vollmar of Orinda is doing with his Epicurean Exchange Culinary School.
For the past 20 years, Vollmar has taught cooking classes at his Orinda kitchen, from Thai and Spanish cuisine to Winter Risottos and Essential Knife Skills and Techniques, but it's just been the last couple of years since he started his culinary adventure tours. He plans these trips for six to 10 people and customizes the journey for each group by setting up tours, cooking classes, both restaurant and home cooked meals, excursions and cultural sidelights with local chefs and merchants. The table is beautifully set for a true foodie adventure!
"These trips are designed to be entertaining, while providing both a learning and relaxing experience," Vollmar said. "It's an all-inclusive vacation, except each traveler books their own airfare, so they can add on to the trip, or arrive early, if they choose, but everything else is planned and provided as part of the trip. I like to make it all affordable and well-balanced, but not exhausting. We want it to be cultural and a culinary education, with plenty of free time to visit museums or to take bike tours and such."
The accommodations may be a charming hotel or perhaps a villa, where the group shops in town and then cooks meals at home for themselves as well as local characters.
Dave Kravitz of Lafayette began his Epicurean Exchange experience by taking many of Vollmar's local cooking classes. He jumped at the chance to sign up for the culinary vacations and has since been on several of these Epicurean Exchange adventures.
"Charlie is a real charmer and his classes are so much fun," Kravitz championed. "And, you get to eat what you make. Charlie has great connections with locals on the ground, so the food experience is a terrific combination of the top restaurants as well as our own hands-on cooking. It's like running our own restaurant on these trips, which is so much fun!"
He said that these trips are the perfect blend of geography, culture, history and food. A real "360-type" experience.
In addition to European excursions, Kravitz also participated in a New Orleans culinary trip. He said that was the most fun trip he'd been on in 100 years. (He did not sound that old when I spoke with him, but you get the gist.) On this trip, the group participated in a crawfish race on the sidewalk, before their jambalaya lesson. You pick your crawfish, put a number on it, and watch it go.
Kravitz, in addition to being a foodie, has been a longtime wine collector. He recalls two very memorable excursions involving tours of the epic wine cellars at two famous restaurants, Commander's Palace in the New Orleans French Quarter and La Ciau del Tornavento in Treiso, Italy, in the Piemonte region.
"It's so much fun to see and touch bottles that are otherwise untouchable, since some of them cost more than $20,000!" Kravitz exclaimed.
Another indelible moment was the sneak peek into Julia Child's world when visiting her home and kitchen in Provence.
"I had goosebumps in there," Kravitz said. "That's the kind of thing you get when you go on one of Charlie's trips. You see places you could never imagine!"
Willy Brown, a resident of San Jose and an avid cook, toured with Epicurean Exchange to Tuscany. She loved everything about the trip which was made all the more fun, because she went with her younger brother, whom she doesn't get to see too often.
"The entire trip was incredible, but the thing that stands out the most was making pasta dough with the famous Anna Bini, an 84-year old restauranteur, who has recently started her own cooking school," Brown said.
They made raviolis and fettuccini, all by hand - no machines!
Learning the technique of olive oil tasting was a brand new experience for Brown, as was the trip to visit Dario Cecchini's butcher shop in Panzano, Italy. After the tour, they enjoyed a meal which was entirely focused on meat and were all surprised when the waitress started singing opera for them.
"What I really love about Epicurean Exchange is how Charlie promotes community and sharing food together," Brown said.
Dawn Daily of Alamo had taken quite a few Epicurean Exchange classes prior to joining any of the international excursions. She's now been on trips to Spain, France and Italy and is already signed up for another trip this year.
She said that one of the most unusual ingredients she's encountered was in Spain when they made a dish with eels, which seemed to wiggle a lot both before and after cutting them into pieces!
Even for Vollmar, there is always a new experience to be entertained. When I asked him what his most amazing experience has been so far, he said that it was the tour of the Caterpillar Contrada, with its 600 years of costume and pageantry surrounding the annual Palio Horse Race in Sienna. Each summer the 17 remaining contrade (there were more than 50 of these quarters or districts at one time) gear up for a victory. The race is held in the Piazzo del Campo on July 2 and Aug. 16, and though the actual race lasts but a minute, the results are emblazoned in the hearts and souls of the contrade members for the entire year.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA