October 24, 2019
Nearby food- and cooking themed getaways that will leave you full - heart, mind and stomach.
MARISA PARJATEL
If you want to learn about a place, try the food; to get aquanted with its soul, get cooking.
Food is a direct line to the roots of wherever you are - figuratively, through recipes, traditions and community, and literally pulled form the soil beneath your feet. While you can always go to a museum or take a walking tour, cooking is a personal way to absorb the local culture of any place you are visiting.
Discover our northeast corner of the country in a tasty new way with a culinary vacation or daytrip at local cooking schools and hotels.
Baker's Paradise
Inviting you into its quaint cottage with the smell of freshly baked bread, Brot Bakehouse School and Kitchen in Fairfax, Vermont, could persuade anyone into a life surrounded by coissants and pumpernickel. Luckily, baker/owner Heike Meyer is happy to share a slice of that life - and lots of good bread - with you.
Originally from Germany ("brot" is German for bread), Meyer traveled and baked around the world to hone her craft before landing in the Green Mountain State. Her bread and pastry classes are "tremendously" influenced by landscape, she said, and highlight flavor through organic and local grains and narural starter cultures.
"Products that we can source locally - and that make sense to souce locally - are being used. I feel a much greater connection to the land that's around us than I ever did growing up in northern Germany or living in New York City," Meyer emphasizes.
Hotel Vermont partners with Brot Bakehouse for culinary vacations throughout the year, including a pacakage that gets you a spot in the annual Brotfest workshop, a "sensory tasting experience" held every August that showcases sourdough and community food purveyors.
Vermont is also home to the King Arthur Flour Baking School, where Meyer picked up some of her skills and you can, too.