Food Tours · Tour

Six Hours: the History First, Then a Three-Course Feast

Six hours, which is twice the length of most cooking classes in this city, and the extra time buys two things. The first is the history. Before anything gets cooked, the guide gives a proper account of where Mexican food came from: the pre-Hispanic base, the colonial layer, and what happened when they met, which is a genuinely complicated story that most classes reduce to a sentence. The second is the menu. Not one dish, not two related ones: a complete meal, with two courses, the salsas, the tortillas made from scratch, and sides. Dessert is prepared before you arrive, which is honest of them to say. The market comes in between, at the Mercado de Medellin, which is the market for produce from all over Latin America. Then the drinks, explained and tasted: Mexican beer, wine and mezcal for over-18s, and traditional local soft drinks for everyone else. Eight people at most, in English or Spanish, with all the ingredients, the equipment and the guidance. Recipes arrive by email afterwards. Most dietary requirements can be planned for, though strict kosher is not currently possible.