Chefs from Around the World — Meet Yoko in Osaka, Japan

In Yoko’s normal life, she has her own cooking school (IG: @osaka_kitchen) where she teaches Japanese cooking classes, and a tour company (IG: @beyondfoodietours) where she give food tours around the food-heaven city of Osaka, Japan. 

We met Yoko through our Osaka friend Tomoko, whom we visit on our Inside Japan Tour.

Like most of our chefs, she works heavily in tourism.

She says that since COVID, “the jobs related to tourists disappeared completely”. But Yoko was able to quickly and adeptly switch to online cooking classes and online English teaching.

The luckiest thing, she says, is that she was also offered a job translating a cookbook, so now she keeps as busy as she can between those three jobs.

Teaching classes with us has given her a good opportunity to continue practicing her English and keep her motivated to try new recipes to add to the menu.

But the best part of our classes are that, “Talking and cooking with someone who is not in Japan is really fun. Also it makes me proud to see the people who have never though about making sushi leave with confidence after my class!”

Meet Yoko for yourself in one of her upcoming classes!

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Chefs from Around the World — Meet Chef Ana in Lisbon

Chef ana in portugal

Most of our chefs for our classes are friends and business partners we visit when we take our small-group tours to Italy, Peru, Malaysia, and Japan. So not only is Portugal a new country for us to “visit” virtually, but Chef Ana is a new friend and connection we’ve made during (and because of) the pandemic. 

Chef Ana usually keeps herself busy running her own Lisbon Cooking Academy in… you guessed it, Lisbon, Portugal where she teaches cooking classes and hosts team-building cooking classes for work groups.

Since she usually works with travelers and large groups, once COVID hit, she suddenly had no customers. Of course it’s been stressful — as it has for small business owners all of the world — but Ana’s stayed positive; she says the down time has given her space to rethink her life and her business and has forced her to make changes she wouldn’t have made otherwise.

After finding our cooking classes online, she connected with Annie who got her set up to teach classes with us, which in turn, gave Chef Ana the courage to switch the classes at her cooking academy to be virtual.

chef ana at her cooking school in lisbon

chef ana teaching at her cooking school in lisbon

Chef Ana has been wow-ing us with her recipe for the most iconic Portuguese dessert, Pastel de Nata. These small, creamy custard tarts have notes of cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon — and lemme tell ya, they are dangerously delicious!

What are Pastel de Nata?

If you've spent any time in Portugal, you'll have met and become very well aquatinted with Pastel de Nata.

These little sweet, flaky, and incredibly addicting tarts can be found in every window and street corner and are devoured for breakfast, mid-morning snacks, and after lunch and dinner treats — basically at anytime you feel a craving (which will be constantly after that first bite — just be warned)!

Not only are they pretty much the most amazing thing you could put into your mouth, but they also come with an interesting history.

In 18th century Portugal, nuns used egg whites to starch their habits, leaving a lot of leftover egg yolks.

To make use of all those extra yolks, monks in the Jerónimos Monastery outside of Lisbon began experimenting with them, baking them into these tasty little tarts, and eventually ended up selling their creations in a small shop when the monasteries in Portugal were shut down for a time.

Today, that original recipe is still alive, SUPER SECRET, and the those special tarts — called pastéis de Belém — are still being sold not far from the monastery where they were created.

Pastel de nata

You may not be getting that "original" recipe from Chef Ana (even those who work at the shop don’t know the recipe in its entirety to prevent it being shared!) — but OH MAN, are her tarts still shockingly tasty!


PRO TIP: Usually when you make puff pastry, you use butter, but because we won’t have time in class to properly cool the butter in the fridge between each of the layers, make sure you pick up some margarine as the recipe calls for and be sure to keep it cold before class!

Puff pastry can seem intimidating, but Chef Ana teaches you all the tricks to make it as easy as possible, so you’ll feel like a pretty accomplished baker by the end.

Meet Chef Ana for yourself and try your own hand at puff pastry and Pastel de Nata with one of her upcoming classes!

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Chefs from Around the World — Meet Chef Alain in Tuscany

On our Heart of Italy Tour, one of our highlights is spending an afternoon with Chef Alain in a beautiful villa in the Tuscan countryside learning his tricks to making different types of authentic handmade pasta, sauces, appetizers, and  — our favorite — tiramisu.

We roll and cut the pasta dough, simmer fragrant tomato and meat sauces on the stove, and wait impatiently for our tiramisu to set in the fridge. By the time we’re finished, Chef Alain is everyone’s new best friend, we’re full to the BRIM, and are ready to take home our new culinary skills and Italian recipes to impress friends and family.

Pasta class in Italy with Chef Alain on our Heart of Italy Tour

In Chef Alain’s normal life, he’s an executive chef in a newly-opened restaurant in his hometown in Tuscany. The restaurant had been open for one month before Italy went on complete lockdown, and he had been super busy with the restaurant opening: testing and refining the menu, and training employees.

“COVID affected my professional life in the most brutal way,” he says. “All restaurants and bars were shut down out of the blue. Without any warning, we were asked to close immediately and stay home. Being forced home against our will, without being allowed to leave…it was a complete loss of freedom.” 

Despite having no way to work or earn income, he stayed positive and took advantage of the situation as much as possible. “I spent all of my time playing with my 2-year-old daughter, Blue, gardening, reading books—all things that I normally do when on holiday. And that’s the secret,” he continues. “I decided to look at this time as an extra holiday. This way my mood has always been up. When I start work again, I won't have all of this time to spend with Blue, so trying to remember to enjoy every second.”

What Chef Alain cooking classes look like now

He had never taught online cooking classes before, but he immediately came on board when Annie approached him. He says, “Joining the cooking classes for me was more than just having a job with which I could sustain my family, but it also gave me the things I love the most: being with people and cooking.”

And we’re always happy to see Chef Alain’s smiling face on the other side of our Zoom— sometimes we even get to see glimpses of his thriving herb garden out back, or his two pups always circling his feet as he teaches, waiting for snacks to fall.

He’s sure to remind us that no matter what happens in class, “it’s only pasta.”

Check out his upcoming classes and save your spot with him while you can!

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Chefs from Around the World — Meet Marika on the Amalfi Coast

Dining on Marika’s Patio with our Heart of Italy Tour

Dining on Marika’s Patio with our Heart of Italy Tour

We’ve been meeting Marika at her home — high above the coast of the enchanting town of Positano — for homemade Italian meals with ingredients fresh from her garden for years now on our Heart of Italy tours.

We feast on her stunning back patio overlooking the Mediterranean, and after the meal, we help her in the kitchen making biscotti or other Italian treats — she gives instructions, we do the work of adding the ingredients and shaping the dough while she tells us stories about living in a coastal Italian town and running her small convenience shop.

In Marika’s normal, pre-COVID life, she and her brother own a small convenience shop where they sell a bit of everything. The shop was completely closed during the lockdown in Italy for months, halting their income entirely. Now, they’re able to open for a bit on the weekend when a few tourists trickle into town, but during the rest of the week, Positano feels like a ghost town.

Marika says that when lockdown hit, “the quarantine closed me off at home with two teenage daughters busy studying, and left me very nervous.”

She explains how she has spent her time during the lockdown: “I cleaned and cleaned the house, kneaded bread, pizza, and sweets. Fortunately, I have a large flower garden and an even larger vegetable garden, so I work a lot there between flowers and vegetables to keep busy.”

Marika’s garden & patio

The view of Positano from Marika’s patio

When we called and asked if she would be interested in hosting cooking classes via Zoom, she immediately jumped at the chance, even though it was a brand new experience for her. She says, “The cooking classes with The Table Less Traveled have given me the opportunity to continue sharing two passions I love: food and hosting people in my home. It is just a different way of being together now.”

After receiving her share of just three pizza classes that she taught in March, when we first launched, she told us it was the amount she and her brother would have made in TWO WEEKS of working every day at the store.

Her brother is expecting his first child this year, so they were extra nervous about not having money coming in right now. The contributions from our classes have given Marika’s family a bit of peace of mind during a scary time.

If you’re wanting to hang out with Marika, join us in one of her upcoming classes!

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Creative Virtual Team Building for Remote Workers: Live Cooking Classes with Chefs Around the World

Since this last March, more teams than ever across the globe have been adjusting to remote working, prompting Time magazine’s apt labeling of the coronavirus outbreak as “the world’s largest work-from-home experiment.” 

While that experiment now continues into July (with little end in sight), companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Nationwide Insurance and more are already promising to continue work-from-home privileges even after COVID-19 is just a (bad) memory of the past. 

However, though business continues as usual, productivity remains as high as ever, and lower real estate costs are quite attractive, removing the “social” aspect of work life is taking its toll on employees. 

A survey by Slack shows that “nearly half of newly remote workers say that working from home has negatively affected their sense of belonging”, and The New York Times magazine reports that “isolation...has been a chief complaint that arises in all research on remote work.”

As working from home becomes the norm in “office” life, employers will need more than just the occasional everyone-grab-a-drink Zoom happy hour to keep office morale and company culture on an upward trajectory. 

During this shift to remote work, one way to connect with your team, share a fun experience together, and bridge the divide that comes from working at home, is with a Private Online Cooking Class as a virtual team-building activity.

A New Type of Team Building: Human Ventures’ Experience Cooking Together

Human Ventures in their private pasta class with chef alain in tuscany

After taking one of our Online Cooking Classes with her boyfriend over a weekend, Danielle Miller posed the idea of a private homemade pasta class as a team-building activity to her New York City-based company, Human Ventures.

“It felt like a great option to do something new together. No matter where people's culinary level is, a private class is a perfect option.” she explained. 

On the day of the class, her teammates logged on from their home kitchens. Seeing a few colleagues in aprons, an unidentified shout goes out, “ah, aprons, guys!” and multiple faces disappear from screens and reappear donning a domestic accessory that would rarely (if ever) have made an appearance in the office.

The group ranged in cooking abilities and experience, but each person followed the steps Chef Alain gave to making pasta dough and homemade tomato sauce with enthusiasm. “Alain was really good at explaining the steps and showing what he is doing while explaining different things. For example, I now know the trick to not crying when I chop onions!” says Danielle.

Chef Alain, leading the class from his home kitchen in Tuscany, continued to remind the group as they went along that no matter what happens in class, “it’s only pasta.”

“I think it unconsciously became a slight competition of who had the better looking pasta, whose was thinner/longer,” Danielle laughs. “It was unintentional, but became a great aspect of the class. That might just be our team since it was not a competitive class at all, it was very friendly and open...It's hard being apart from everyone, but this really helped to feel like we were together.”

homemade pasta with chef alain

homemade cherry tomato pasta sauce with chef alain

At one point, Chef Alain explains the proper chef technique for gripping vegetables while chopping as making a “tiger claw” with your hand. Immediately multiple “tiger claws” and barred teeth fill the screens as the team laughs and claws at each other.

Forbes supports team-building activities that get participants interacting in new ways, as one article explains, “The most successful, memorable team-building events are ones that don’t feel like a day at the office...Spending time together, sharing an experience or working towards a common goal allows bonding to happen more organically and far more effectively [than activities with overt leadership lessons].”

Danielle mentions how the cooking class helped her remote team feel more close and connected, especially during the uncertainty of the global pandemic. “It's such a weird time in the world but somehow doing the same thing at the same time was really comforting and felt like we were all together.” The bonding effects were present during other work hours as well: “It was also fun to join a meeting after the weekend and our CEO asks ‘did anyone else make more of that pasta, or was it just me?!’”  

The other great thing Danielle found out about taking an online cooking class as a team-building activity? Easy coordination. “I think the nicest part (for me) was having The Table Less Traveled plan and handle all the logistics. It allowed for everyone to just show up with their ingredients and enjoy!”

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If you’re interested in booking a private cooking class for your team, fill out an inquiry form or email us to set up a time and class that works for you.

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Chefs from Around the World — Meet our Florentine Friend, Gaia

Typically when we see our friend Gaia, we spend our time together traipsing after her and her bouncing hair through the narrow side streets of her hometown, Florence—weaving in and out of back-alley artisan shops and hole-in-the wall eateries.

She expertly navigates the city with us in tow, pointing out bits of architecture and art that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, explaining the hundreds-of-years-old history behind the buildings, or her personal connection to the shop owners. Her pride and love for her city and country radiates from her.

When the lockdown went into place in Tuscany, Gaia was out of Florence visiting her parents in a different part of the region. She told us she only had one pair of jeans, a dress, and a couple tops she brought with her for what she assumed to be a quick trip, but ended up being there for almost two months!

Still, she looked radiant as usual on our first class with her as she taught us to make traditional Florentine Gnudi from her family's kitchen. She clasped her hands together in excitement at the end as the participants began raving over how good the dish tasted.

We asked her to explain how COVID has affected her daily life. She replied, “’Affected’ is too bland as a word to describe it.  From one day to another I didn't have a job or a life anymore.

I switched from the Ice Age squirrel (running around the town on my bicycle to negotiate prices and conditions with restaurants and bars, tasting food, leading tours, etc.) to having absolutely nothing to do.

Suddenly, I was unemployed and at home all day; I had to suspend my mortgage, and my loans.

These cooking classes are what took me out of a bubble of sadness and apathy and gave me new energy. When Annie contacted me, she literally saved me from being just a step away from depression.

She gave me a reason to wake up in the morning. I feel like I am part of something new and exciting ... I feel connected to the participants as well as the fantastic TTLT team.”

But beyond giving Gaia a reason to get up, these classes have greatly impacted her financially while being out of work. “Money-wise these contributions are also a huge help,” She says. “I am experiencing a difficult time...my unemployment voucher hasn't arrived yet and I am now on my third month out of employment, but the first month of cooking classes have already paid for 1 month of mortgage!”

Gaia teaches us a range of classes focused on traditional Tuscan and Florentine favorites. Check out some of her upcoming classes below and sign up to meet her yourself!

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Team-Building in Quarantine? Try an Interactive Cooking Class with Chefs Around the World

By now, most of us have adjusted to working remotely in the time of COVID.

We’ve mastered share screen on Zoom, learned to snack while on mute, and figured out how to still get work done despite the at-home distractions, but what’s truly missing is the team-like camaraderie and social connection that come from being in a shared workspace with coworkers.

Though continuing to promote company culture can be difficult to navigate when employees are remote, the current global crisis presents one of the most important times to encourage a safe, relaxed space for workers to unwind, bond, and continue connecting through the power of shared experiences.

In a time of social isolation, we’re seeing more and more companies interested in booking our Online Cooking Classes as a virtual team-building activity. These private, interactive classes give teams the opportunity and space to connect in a non-work setting, share a fun experience, and try something new together — even if it’s from the safety of your own kitchens.

Team-Building During COVID: Bridging the Divide in Work From Home

Equinox Business Law Group, a law firm based in Bellevue, Washington, joined us for a private asparagus risotto class taught by Gaia in Florence. 

CEO & Managing Attorney, Michelle Bomberger says she was looking for an activity that would bridge the divide that comes with working from home. “Our team is accustomed to being in the office together, collaborating and sharing our work and personal activities,” she says. “Working remotely really limits the amount of ‘fun’ time, and this class provided some time to try something new together.”

Ingredients photographed by participant, Ashley Wong

Bomberger requested a new recipe specifically for her private class, one that could be made gluten and dairy free, to accommodate for the dietary restrictions in their group. Gaia found the substitutions that would still make this recipe a success even without the dairy that usually goes into the dish. 

The number one rule to cooking risotto? “Never leave the risotto alone,” Gaia instructed. “This risotto is your best friend now.”

Their hard work paid off in the end: “The finished product was delicious — definitely my favorite part!” Bomberger says, “Both experienced and inexperienced cooks in the group raved about how unique the experience was — having a chef who was actually in Italy teaching the class!” 

Finished product photographed by participant, Ashley Wong

During introductions, many from the group admitted to not cooking on their own much, but they followed along as Gaia gave directions, and looked pretty proud of the final result. 

A Forbes article about the importance of team building encourages trying activities beyond a company picnic or virtual happy hour, ones that include some form of learning and challenge to maximize growth and bonding: “It turns out that happiness and learning are tied very closely together. Trying new things with your staff can generate good vibes among employees, which in turn benefits the business itself. Choosing something unique and slightly outside of people’s comfort zones can encourage them to come together in new ways.”

Bomberger and her team found this to be true for themselves, “The fact that each person came to the class with some apprehension, not knowing exactly what to expect, made it a great team-building experience,” says Bomberger. “It gave us an opportunity to all share a kitchen together (but apart) and with the added benefit of having a greater community impact.”

Virtual Team-Building that Gives Back

The greater community impact Bomberger mentions is the support for the chefs of our classes. For each class, our chefs receive 50% of the proceeds that have been instrumental in getting them through a difficult time when they have been unable to work due to quarantine, some without knowledge of when they may receive a paycheck again.

In a time of social distancing and isolation, virtual team-building can make a big difference for your remote office culture, but also has the potential to make a difference to those suffering the effects of COVID-19 on their communities.

Bomberger and her team agree, “It was truly rewarding for us to share this experience together as a team during this time.”

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If you’re interested in booking a private cooking class for your team, fill out an inquiry form or email us to set up a time and class that works for you.

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From Boutique Travel to Online Cooking Classes: How We’re Pivoting During COVID-19

Annie Cheng, The Table Less Traveled Founder with Domenico, Capri Tour Guide turned Online Cooking Class Instructor

As you may imagine, it’s not a great time to be in the travel industry. 

This February, when travel restrictions began in Asia, we made the first difficult call to postpone our small-group tour to Malaysia scheduled for March 2020. Just over a month away, I was already mentally prepared for the trip. I was excited to visit our friends, to meander through beloved markets, to eat tropical fruits and delicious street food, and to explore wildlife in the rainforest. Not the only one disappointed in the delay, our travelers had also coordinated schedules and finagled time off months in advance only to see their vacation for the year dissolve.

As inconvenient and disappointing as this move was, my level of concern was still relatively low. Travel can be unpredictable at the best of times. Learning to adapt is vital to surviving in the industry and to providing the best experiences to our travelers. Rolling with the punches is our game.

My concern quickly escalated one morning as I headed into our Seattle office. A friend called me, panicked about her business and potential layoffs for all her employees.

All her employees? A cold chill accompanied by the enormity of the situation hit me then: as tourism became obsolete, income for our business would stop. Cash flow would stop. All expected profits for the year would stop, or be uncertain at best. Expenses, however, would continue. 

Almost overnight, our thoughtfully curated tours and experiences—our primary expertise and value—became irrelevant as travel halted with no definite end in sight. As we watched entire industries being decimated and companies we love going out of business, we were afraid we'd be only a short time away from the same scenario. 

How could we be able to continue to employ our team? How could we continue to support our international, small-business friends and partners who were also out of work? How could we continue providing value, building community, and staying true to our mission and values? 

Travelers on our Heart of Italy Tour, dining on our friend Marika’s patio overlooking Positano

Throughout this time, I'd been staying in touch with our friends around the world. I found that the general reactions to this rapidly-spreading pandemic were similar, across continents, countries, languages, and cultures. But in a time of fear, of shutting borders, of social isolation, and of inexplicably hoarding toilet paper, we discovered there may still be an opportunity for connection and for breaking down barriers—and perhaps a need for it more than ever.

Enter: our cooking classes. 

With everyone stuck at home, we decided there may be a chance to bring some fun into everyone’s quarantined lives. We decided to launch live, virtual, interactive cooking classes with our chefs and friends from around the world. Instead of taking small groups of travelers to visit our friends in their homes abroad, we’d bring our friends straight into homes and kitchens here.  Now across borders, boundaries, and travel restrictions, you can learn how to make pasta, tiramisu, lomo saltado (Peruvian beef stir fry), and a variety of other traditional dishes from a chef in another country. It may be the only type of travel we can provide, but travel we still will!

What our cooking classes used to look like — making homemade pizza with a chef in Sorrento, Italy.

What our cooking classes look like now — bringing our chefs straight into your kitchen

When we first settled on this idea of virtual cooking classes, I started calling friends abroad in tourism & hospitality to see if they would be interested in teaching.

I explained that a primary goal was to support them during this time, but I wasn't sure how to price an offering so outside our normal services, and I wasn’t sure what we could pay the chefs, but I wanted their input.

Overwhelmingly, everyone I spoke to gave me a similar answer: "Annie, this is not about money. This is about humanity. Let's do it. And if it works, then we will figure it out."

While the planet is in chaos, while our friends are unable to work and stuck in their homes with no end in sight, their focus was not on themselves, but on our connection as humans, on what we can do to help each other. 

At the same time, schools in our state were closing down, people were losing jobs left and right and unemployment began skyrocketing. 

What could we even ask people to pay during this time? We decided we couldn’t ask them to pay a certain amount at all. It was only right we asked them to contribute what they could and what seemed fair based on their own financial capabilities. 

Community, we decided, should not be a limiting concept. We believe everybody should have the opportunity to be included in what we are trying to do — find connection, community, and a bit of joy during a tough time — regardless of their financial situation. So we adopted a "Pay What You Can" price structure for our classes.

It was a complete gamble whether we would have any success launching this new product. The most surprising positive impacts have been on the chefs and participants. The warm reception of these classes have allowed us to support others through a challenging time. It's an escape for folks, for an hour or two, to connect, laugh, take a break, and enjoy sharing an experience with new friends.

Beyond leading the cooking class, the chefs often share about their lives, what quarantine is like for them, the significance of the recipes, and history of the region that formed the dish they prepare with us. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and engage—whether it be about if their dough is rising properly, if they need to substitute ingredients because they couldn't find yeast, or introducing their dog running through the background of the Zoom session. Our classes are about genuinely being you, and genuinely connecting with our chefs who are genuinely themselves.

The difference our classes are making. 

We launched and hosted a little over a week of classes in March. When we sent contributions to our chefs for the classes they taught, the responses were emotionally overwhelming.

For Marika in Positano, Italy, it meant that by teaching 3 classes, her family made the same amount of income as 2 weeks of their convenience shop being open. It meant her brother, Emanuele, who also works in the shop, can rest a little easier knowing that with one child at home, and a baby due in August, he'll have something to support his growing family.

For Alain in Pistoia, Italy, it meant that although he's not sure when the restaurant he works at will reopen, he's been able to earn the equivalent of 5 full days of work by teaching a few cooking classes online. All of his income from the classes is going toward food and diapers for his 2-year-old daughter.

Chef Alain and his daughter devouring a lasagna from class

And for our participants, it means that they can join a community, and experience an international experience even from their homes. 

One participant writes, "I think the unique part of this experience is that these chefs are in different countries and that cultural exposure is priceless."

Another says, "What an amazing idea! Today I ticked off an item on my bucket list and I learned skills which will save me time to cook from scratch more— I will be back."

And another admits our online classes were probably the only way they would have been able to experience a cooking class from a chef in another country:  "This was the most fun!! You guys may be only live streaming due to the pandemic, but honestly I probably wouldn’t have gotten the experience otherwise (no big travel plans anytime soon) so I truly appreciated the chance to learn how to make something fabulous from an international chef in their home kitchen!" 

Participants from all over show off their homemade pizzas they just made with Marika.

And for us, it means we’re still able to keep paying our employees and our bills. But mostly, it means we can keep doing what we love: connecting people all over the world with shared experiences, building community across borders and supporting our small business friends around the world.

In fact, one of the most beautiful things about our shift to virtual cooking classes has been the ability to maintain our dedication to our mission of uniting people through shared experiences. Early in this crisis our team came to a collective stance that we would rather lose the business and our jobs while sticking to our values, than to compromise on our beliefs in order to survive.

We are also confident that at some point, travel will resume, and we will be able to visit our friends around the world. And if we can survive as a company during this time, we will be ready to introduce our cooking class participants to the chefs they've come to love through our virtual time together.

Until that time, we will see you in the kitchen!

Written by Annie Sim, Founder and CEO

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