Some people live to eat, others eat to live. But what about travelling to eat? The latest in holiday trends is a culinary vacation. If you need some food for thought, try cooking in Jozi.

Cooking schools like Angela Day, Culinary Productions, and Wicked Food are among the city’s finest. They offer classes to locals looking to increase their kitchen repertoire. But that doesn’t mean out-of-towners are left out.

Sneaking in a lesson while taking a break in Tuscany, Argentina or China is becoming the norm with international holiday itineraries. Reports show that culinary tourism is a growing movement, sparked in part by TV cooking shows and pure adventure. There’s even an increasing number of touring companies that arrange trips based on culinary opportunities.

We don’t have those yet, but while we wait you can arrange lessons yourself. And you can do it with a lover at Parkland’s Culinary Productions. Their Aphrodisiac Cooking class is by no means their only hit (they also have Moroccan, dessert and low carb lessons on their large, ever changing menu). But it’s certainly a chart-topper with couples. You get to play with oysters and other sensual food rumoured to put you in a loving mood.

Worry not if you’re single. You can actually get a date here, which is a pretty good thing if you’re visiting for a while. Richard Hansen, the manager, shares the secret, “The last Solo Cooking class was full of singles. After cooking, we brought out some wine and sat down for dinner - and the hooking up started.”

For the guy and girl who are already hooked up, and looking for variation to boring home dinners, how about Angela Day’s Randpark Ridge school? While they offer Thai, Vietnamese and Entertaining classes amongst others, their ‘What’s for Supper?’ class has been the most surprising. “It’s very popular and we actually give it a few times a year because of the demand,” says Lesley Hamlyn, spokesperson for the school.

So, if you’re tired of being stumped every time the dreaded ‘What’s for supper?’ question comes up, a nice vacation in Jozi with a short stop over at Angela Day’s is in order.

Wicked Food, with premises in both Randburg and Sunninghill, is popular with individuals, groups and companies looking for team building opportunities. You can even host a hen or a bachelor party.

“We recently had a bachelor party here,” shares Selma Nasser, the company’s booker. “They had so much joy cooking. Of course they drank quite a lot but they were fun.”

The classes range from French, Mexican to Cajun fares. They even offer a South African menu that includes chakalaka, samoosas, milk tart and of course pap and meat.

If you’re ready to try this new kind of vacationing, go on and book that holiday. There are many cooking schools out there that will have you whipping it up Nigella style when you get back home.

Cook up a storm by trying one of our Jozi packages.