Who wouldn’t like to enjoy gourmet fare minus the calories while vacationing at a luxury spa? Being able to recreate your favorite spa dishes after you return home extends your spa benefits. For these reasons, destination spas are now offering gourmet cooking classes that feature healthy, nutrient laden spa cuisine. Luxury spas actively recruit the world’s top chefs for their ability to cook as well as their instructional flare.
In these gourmet cooking classes, the nutrient content of each ingredient is considered as important as the braising, blending, and simmering. During a recent class at the Red Mountain Spa in St. George, Utah, head chef Dale Van Sky was observed informing his students that cayenne was being added to a dish because of its flavor, antioxidant properties and ability to fight cancer. At Red Mountain, gourmet low calorie cooking classes are offered on weekdays at 11 am. In addition, a 6-week long culinary program is offered once each year.
What to Expect
Programs vary, but most spa gourmet cooking programs show their student guests how to create low calorie, nutrient-rich dishes that are anything but bland. Using herbs, organic produce, and fruit sauces, fish or chicken can be transformed into exotic dishes in one class while in another class, mouth-watering bread can emerge from the oven that’s surprisingly low in both fat and calories.
Lake Austin Spa in Austin Texas, which was chosen as the best destination spa in the country by Conde nast Traveler readers, offers a monthly Culinary Experience Program free to guests. Starting the second Sunday of every month, the weeklong event includes cooking demonstrations, culinary classes and tastings.
The CuisinArt Resort and Spa in the Mediterranean island Anguilla, located slightly northeast of the islands of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, has its own hydroponic farm and organic gardens. Hyrdroponic refers to growing plants in nutrient solutions rather than soil. Nutrient solutions may be suspended in inert mediums such as gravel, perlite or mineral wool. Students of CuisinArt’s Master and Hands-on classes are taught to create dishes such as Tuna Ceviche with home grown coconut and Hot chocolate soufflé with banana rum sauce.
Finding a Gourmet Cooking Spa
Destination Spa has a list of spas offering gourmet cooking classes. Spafinder also maintains a list of spas deemed outstanding by guests for their cooking classes.
Note that some spas offer complementary gourmet cooking classes while others charge for classes. Compare charges before considering free classes a bargain, and discover what the instructor’s focus is. For instance, at Mexico’s Rancho La Puerta Spa, the emphasis is on spicy and southwestern foods. Whereas at the Costa Rica Cooking & Spa Escape & Tropical Cooking School in Costa Rica, the emphasis is on tropical dishes.
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