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As a general rule, cooking courses for tourists follow the following recipe:

1. Take cook of dubious skill and place him before a group of earnest culinary travellers.

2. Teach them three to five local dishes. Omit any history, context, or philosophy of food.

3. Serve it cold.

4. Charge them a 200% markup on ingredients and time.

5. Profit for a mediocre restaurant.

And so the earnest students return home able to robotically recreate three to five dishes. There’s little theory of how to pick and treat ingredients, or how to make variations and substitutions. No time is given to explain the basics of a local cuisine to understand how different dishes are related.

It’s lousy value for your money. So I stopped going to them. Instead, I go to restaurants that I like and ask the chef to teach me.

It’s the same as a tourist cooking course: you’ll simply learn how to cook the dishes you ask for. The chef won’t necessarily be a good teacher. You’ll have to learn by watching and asking questions.

But it will come at a much better price and you’re guaranteed to like the result.

This is especially doable in developing countries, where rules are wonderfully lax and people are always willing to make exceptions, especially when money is involved.

I’ve done this in Colombia, Brazil, Cambodia, and India. The cooks were flattered to be asked to share their recipes; it’s a huge compliment on their abilities.

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Instead of wasting money on a tourist cooking class, I suggest the alternative recipe:

1. Find a restaurant or food stall with good food. The less fancy the premises the better your chances of getting in the kitchen.

2. If possible, go during the low season. Restaurants will be hurting for customers and will be more willing to accommodate you. Also come when it’s not busy. The hours between lunch and dinner are ideal.

3. Tell the waiter how much you loved the food. Say you’d like to learn from the chef. Ask to speak to the manager. Going directly to the chef might upset the boss.

4. Compliment the manager on providing such a memorable experience. He may not know a cinnamon stick from cat turd, but you want him to like you. Ask if it’s possible to learn a dish or two from the chef.

5. If he consents, repeat step 4 on the chef.

6. Be clear on what you want: name the dishes you want to learn and how to prepare the ingredients. Don’t expect him to have a curriculum for you.

7. Discuss money. Offer to pay the menu price of the dishes. If they demand more, negotiate a reasonable rate.

8. Ask lots of questions. The chef will just do what he does every day. Have him explain every step you don’t understand. If the chef uses prepared stock ingredients like sauces, ask him to teach you those later.

9. Get out of the way. A restaurant kitchen will (almost) always be buzzing with frenzied activity. Let the staff members do their jobs.

10. Thank the chef, the manager, and the staff for their time. Tip them.

11. Repeat steps 1-10 at another restaurant. Do this enough, and you’ll see patterns between different dishes, giving you a solid understanding of the local cuisine and how to add your own poetry to it at home.

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