Tourists are looking for more from their travel experience, and cultural tours are becoming the obvious solution. These expeditions are becoming big business now for travel agents whose clients are seeking a more all round approach when visiting a country.
“These culinary tours merge the experience of food with the experience of culture and tradition because food is life”
Jaqui Preketes,
director, Touchdown Tours
Greece has been no stranger to these journeys, whether it’s tourists wanting to learn more about Ancient Greece and travelling around the sites and museums to enhance their knowledge, or a circuit around the islands.
The latest tour on the block has been culinary tours – people wanting to unlock the secrets of the cooking of a nation but to do so in their own home, using home grown seasonal produce and living and eating like a local. With this in mind, Greek Australian chefs have developed culinary tours that aim to allow a group of foodies to live out their culinary fantasy in the heart of the Mediterranean.
“Culinary tours have – in the last five years – have really soared in popularity and I guess part of that has been there has been a lot of media on overseas travel combining food,” Jaqui Preketes, director, Touchdown Tours, tells Neos Kosmos. She says shows like My Kitchen Rules and MasterChef, as well as high end chefs branching out, “getting out of their restaurant kitchens” and going overseas to do more hands on work, has created an interest in local grassroots cooking – flavours that are authentic to their country.
“These culinary tours merge the experience of food with the experience of culture and tradition because food is life,” she says. “You get to see more unusual and uncommon sights and mix with the traditional land owners,” she adds, saying that’s what her clients are looking for in their travel options of today.
Greek Australian chef Mary Valle, who will be running her second culinary tour of Greece, says “every time you go back to Greece, you see something new, different” especially in the area of food preparation.
“That’s what I love about travelling – to see Greeks cook Greek food in their own homes, and they have their own quirky way to cook their food,” says Mary.
Mary and Jaqui work alongside each other to prepare her annual tours. Mary comes in from a culinary perspective whilst Jaqui combines her travel experience but also her specific awareness and understanding of her clients and their needs. Together they create a Grecian experience that incorporates traditional villages, big cities, market places, regional cooking, hands on experiences that are truly unforgettable.
South Australian based pastry chef George Diakomichalis has been running culinary tours for over three years. This year, he is hosting two tours as he likes to cap his ten-day tour at 12 people, to keep it intimate. And his tours are based only in Kalymnos – a region that is close and dear to his heart.
“It’s grassroots, and it’s getting the locals involved with the tour so people get the true experience of being part of the Greek community,” George tells Neos Kosmos, adding that it also gives back to the region. Also, by focusing on an island that is not commercial, the costs are kept low for the tourists as well for the tour itself.
He says his groups are a mix of ages and nationalities, but their experiences are always the same.
“There was a group of five ladies who came last year and they were crying as they were leaving the families they met, they had never felt the warmth and hospitality that we Greeks can offer.” George says he has had people returning to the tours to catch up with the community they met on the islands again, but says they also keep in touch through Facebook and email.
“I think it’s fun to immerse yourself in the culture as well,” says Mary, “and with cooking that’s the same thing.
“It’s not just about Mediterranean food, it’s not just what we eat; it’s the way we eat, and by that I mean by people sitting in groups, family and friends sharing food and using food as a vehicle for socialising, and you would understand that more by being there.”
With these tours, Jaqui’s aim as a travel agent is to “make sure clients experience the depth of the nation they are travelling to”.
“We often use traditional style accommodation so that means they stay out in the villages where it’s a bit more rustic, they aren’t your traditional modern hotels, but you feel like you are a living like a local – you want to feel as though you have started to understand the depth of someone else’s soul,” Jaqui says. But then adds that when they get to the bigger cities or islands like Santorini, for example, they stay in a luxurious hotel, so she’s always trying to find that balance for the tour.
“I chose the areas we were going to go to,” says Mary, “the places I am more familiar with, and I know these places have great food, great wineries and maybe a chance to visit an olive grower and see things being made, say, at a pastry shop.”
Mary says that even though there’s an itinerary, people on the tours can pick and chose their experience. If, for example, they want to explore a city more alone, or do a spot of shopping, they can chose to take some time off from the culinary experience and take themselves off the beaten track.
All three say they have been surprised by the people who choose to take this tour, saying it’s a mix of ages and ethnicities. There is also a forum for people who are living overseas to join this tour, and not just from Australia. And, if you have already booked travel to Greece, you can add on one of these tours as part of your experience.
“The reaction by people who have done it has been sensational; you get to know the locals that you are living in that area with and this experience is something that you can’t get anywhere else,” says George, who sees these tours already as an annual part of his working year.
Mary says that these culinary tours are the “highlight of year”.
“My aim is for people to come back inspired and rejuvenated and happy to give it a go and do another one.
“They are having a holiday and seeing new places or revisiting places they have been but seeing it in a different way.”
For more information on Mary Valle’s 2014 culinary tour of Greece, or to contact Jaqui at Touchdown Tours visit www.touchdowntours.com.au/
For more information on George Diakomichalis’ culinary tour of Kalymnos, visit www.kpaustralia.com/