Italian cooking holiday, small group
Description of Italian cooking holiday, small group
This small group Italian cooking holiday is an immersive seven days of tastings, workshops, cooking classes and exceptional eating. You will be based in a quiet and little known part of southern Tuscany, where you will meet superb local chefs, winemakers, producers and makers. This is a chance for anyone who loves Italian food to meet the people who know it best, learning the ancient methods fascinating stories behind this region’s local dishes and ingredients.
Accommodation is in lovely apartments with a backdrop of olive groves, and a pool that’s available to use from June to September. Your hosts are Oli and Flo. Oli is an experienced chef and pasta maker and Flo is an events organiser from London. They believe in offering responsible, intimate experiences of Tuscany’s food, with personal cooking instruction from a chef and pasta maker, and behind-the-scenes tours of local, small producers.
Their aim is to provide an understanding of the details and traditions of food production in this part of Italy and to offer cooking classes that will equip you with the skills to create amazing food forever. They also place sustainable food production at the heart of this holiday, and this is vitally important to all the producers you’ll meet, too. Each one respects nature, uses green energy and prioritises quality and integrity in all they do.
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Reviews
8 Reviews of Italian cooking holiday, small group
Reviewed on 24 Oct 2024 by Heather Peterson
Absolutely benefits local people & an overall organic, natural, & biodynamic healthy lifestyle. Read full reviewReviewed on 19 Sep 2024 by Jenny Fehr
Excellent!...There are many memorable moments! Being introduced to the group, our first meal, the risotto making in the town square… are just a few. Read full reviewReviewed on 11 Sep 2024 by Larry Bernardini
It was a fantastic holiday. Oli and Flo are very caring and go out of their way to make you feel welcome and comfortable. Oli is a very knowledgeable and patient teacher. I have some back and mobility issues so was helped whenever necessary. From the time I was picked up at the train station until my return, it was a very pleasant experience. I hope that I can return one day. Read full reviewReviewed on 08 Sep 2024 by Mairi Hutchison
A wonderful experience - I have fallen in love with Tuscany, thanks to Flo and Oli introducing me to the real Tuscany. I know I'll be back. The most beautiful accommodation, stunning scenery, the fabulous cooking lessons that I genuinely feel will give me the confidence to make my own pasta at home and definitely improve my risotto and gnocchi and the warm and incredibly kind and generous welcome from Flo, Oli, Francesca, Margarita and Ricardo. Read full reviewReviewed on 11 Jul 2022 by Claire Godrich
Excellent in every way. Thank you to all who made our stay such an inspirational experience. Read full reviewReviewed on 09 Sep 2018 by Anita Stubbs
Excellent! We went with high expectations and were not disappointed. Read full reviewReviewed on 04 Jul 2018 by Ed Erl
Excellent! A very relaxed yet busy itinerary. Very knowledgeable people who are passionate about the area and what they do. Read full reviewResponsible Travel
Planet
We are passionate about connecting people with the source of their food, emphasising the importance of respecting ingredients and the environment that creates them. We only promote businesses who are at minimum organic or preferably use green energy and/or sustainable innovation. Our producers not only make magnificent food, but respect nature, innovate with clean energy, and put quality and integrity above profit margins.Our courses include meeting fishermen who are fighting the destruction caused to the marine environment by trawler fisherman, mozzarella farmers making biofuel from their own buffalos' waste, olive oil producers using the stones of the used olives to power their factory, rice growers who use only ancient techniques, and beer brewers who power themselves from the earth's geothermal energy.
We use more or less only local products for our cookery lessons and the meals we cook for the guests and stick to the seasons so as to keep food miles low.
We have a very low footprint, are completely paperless and avoid air travel where possible.
People
In our day to day operations in southern Tuscany, we provide business and exposure for small, sustainable and responsible businesses who are operating in an economically challenging environment.Young people are abandoning this area due to a lack of opportunities, and we hope we can help combat this difficult local situation.
Our aim is that our guests have a memorable experience, while we also drive business towards people who are doing business in a way that is sustainable and responsible.
Our profit-based business activities in Italy have their own social positive impact in terms of connecting people to positive and sustainable ways of producing, consuming, and understanding food. However we also aim to have an equally powerful positive nonprofit social impact.
Both founders Oli and Flo have worked in a number of capacities using food as a force for good, including running food programmes in refugee camps in France and running healthy food cooking classes for children in deprived areas of London.
We aim to use this experience, and the reach we can develop through our business activities, to use food as a power for good working with, for example, refugees, children with disadvantaged backgrounds, people with learning disabilities, and ex convicts looking for social and economic reintegration.
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