This is the first cooking class that I’ve taken while travelling and now I’m totally sold – it’s a fun way to explore the city and learn about the culture in a unique way. We met our tour guide/chef at the Central Market, and wove our way through this market and a few neighboring ones, then went to the cooking classroom where we cooked, ate and drank for the next few hours.
There are several markets all next door to each other in downtown Santiago. The Mercado Central is the touristy fish market in downtown Santiago. It’s a relatively small market with several fish vendors but mostly restaurants and touristy shops. The Vega markets are additional large warehouses that have almost anything you can imagine. There is a flower market, but also more for fruits, vegetables, meat, spices, and anything else you could get at a grocery store.
The markets are overcrowded and bustling and especially at the central market, so it’s nice to have a guide to walk with to ward off aggressive salespeople and explain things that we otherwise would not have noticed.
After about an hour of walking through the markets, we took a taxi to the cooking classroom – it was in the cute little neighborhood Italia, in a beautifully remodelled house with a large professional looking kitchen.
From there, we started prepping food and putting things together. It was relaxing and fun and filled with lots of great food and drinks. We made ceviche, pisco sours, empanadas, and a wine infused meringue dessert. We also had sopapillas for appetizers and wine to go with our meal. This tour company specializes in wine tours and a couple of the sommelier/guides were in and out and explained a little bit about wine in Chile as well.
Before we knew it, we were stuffed with food and it was time to head home.