Cooking Class in Istanbul

Just walking through the marketplaces of İstanbul, alive with the aroma of exotic spices and herbs, will make you want to grab a saucepan and kitchen knife and start cooking.

While you can find many different types of cooking classes in İstanbul, I highly recommend Turkish Flavours. Specifically, the action-packed and educational Spice Tasting & Turkish Cooking Class will leave you with a deeper understanding and appreciation of Turkish food and culture.

The day starts with a brief tour of the dizzying Spice Market, where your local guide will point out stalls around for generations and walk you through what daily life looks like for locals in the area. You will then have a private tasting session of a dozen different spices that have been used in Turkish food for centuries, complete with a sweet finale of Turkish delights.

With some of these spices in hand to use later, you will hop on a ferry for a short and scenic ride across the Bosphorus to the Asian side of İstanbul and into a local home to start cooking. After creating a seasonal, six-course meal with dishes like herb-filled pastry rolls, eggplant stuffed with lamb and apricots with clotted cream, your group will sit down at the family dinner table and enjoy the food together over wine and conversation.

Being inside a real Turkish family home and observing the artwork, books, pictures and music was my favorite part of the tour. You will really get to see how locals live and feel like you’re a part of the community.