30th birthday gift idea

Milwaukee native Gary Balcerzak is a self-acknowledged chef groupie; his idea of a good time is hanging out in the chefs' busy kitchens and learning their tricks. But for years, finding these opportunities took some creativity. Once, while vacationing in New York State, he and his best friend "exaggerated" their culinary prowess to join a class at the famed Culinary Institute of America. "We were in the library reading cookbooks all morning and baking until 9 at night," he recalls. "I think a few people were onto us."

But in the past few years, Balcerzak and other foodies have noticed major changes in the culinary landscape. Driven by vocal demand, the number of cooking schools with vacation offerings has more than tripled, says Dorlene Kaplan, editor of The Guide to Cooking Schools. "Schools have done a lot to make themselves more approachable," reports Balcerzak, noting that he now flaunts his student status. Culinary travel has expanded in other ways: Bed-and-breakfast lodgings are holding cooking classes; "culinary adventure" tours offer the daring such gourmet experiences as baking in the boulangeries of Provence; and some cruise operators, such as Seabourn Cruise Line, host "Shop With the Chef" programs in which they peruse markets at ports-of-call.

The explosion in culinary travel stems from a confluence of trends in the worlds of cooking and tourism. "Today, people want to feel like they understand the places they visit, and what we eat is a lot of who we are," says Dave Eckert, host of Culinary Travels, a new PBS program. "There's also a push for a greater awareness of where the products we consume come from," adds Eckert, who regularly heads down local culinary back roads like fresh fish markets.

Elbow to elbow. Indeed, Karen Herbst, owner of International Kitchen in Chicago, says her tour company has had the biggest demand for "down- and-dirty" instructional vacations. "We're not talking haute cuisine," says Herbst. "It's hardy, authentic food." Travelers on the "Tutti a Tavola" trip spend a week cooking elbow-to-elbow with farm wives in Tuscany.

Some aspiring chefs crave a heavy dose of formal how-to, however. At the Cooking School of the Rockies in Boulder, Colo., students pay $475 for five days of classes, which range from the fundamentals of modern American cuisine to basic Asian techniques. The New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vt., and the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and near Napa, Calif., also offer instructional programs.

So, increasingly, do smaller establishments, which are finding that culinary tourism helps stock their kitchens with free-spending visitors. Last month, Katie Butler traveled to Woodstock, Vt., from Durham, N.C., to participate in the "chef for a day" program at the Woodstock Inn & Resort, a 30th-birthday gift from her parents. In her three hours on the job, she decorated giant gingerbread cookies and helped the chef prepare a lemon-caper sauce. Vanessa Bartsch, 22, didn't have a big budget but found a youth hostel in Menaggio near Lake Como, Italy, that offered a cooking class, a four-course dinner with wine, and accommodations--all for $50 a day. Students made mushroom risotto and "learned how to pick a good eggplant," she says. There were a couple of downsides, though, like the bunk beds.

But often you don't need a tour guide for a culinary adventure, says TV foodie Eckert, who advises travelers to chat up chefs and locals to find the best food spots. "They'll always point you to places you wouldn't be able to find on your own," he says. Balcerzak agrees. "I was visiting a pasteleria in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and began chatting with the owner." At her invitation, he spent the next three days baking at her side.

WHERE TO GO

Dave Eckert, host of PBS's Culinary Travels, suggests these hot spots:

Maui: "They grow onions sweeter than vidalias and make onion rings to die for. They also have strawberry farms halfway up volcanoes. The soil is so rich that you can only fit three berries in a basket."

Australia: "In south Australia I discovered yabbies, a freshwater crayfish three times the size of the crawdads in Louisiana."

Chile: "The conger eel is 6 feet long. When they fillet them in Santiago, it's a wonderful taste--like sea bass with capers."