Food and drink can tell so much about a region—its people, history climate and more. Hotels and resorts often showcase the culture of their location not just through their food and beverage programs in restaurants, bars and banquet menus, but also through hands-on cooking classes. Here are three properties that offer programs unique to their locations.
At the 290-room Costa Rica Marriott San Jose, a colonial hacienda-style property, is located on a 30-acre coffee plantation. The resort’s Casa del Cafe features an on-site Coffee Curator and offers latte design classes, where participants learn to design anything from monkeys to flowers in the latte foam, as well as demonstrations and lessons on how to harvest the best coffee at home. Cafe Chorreado is a new program where guests can experience making coffee in the traditional Costa Rican way through the drip process. The hotel features 12,000 square feet of meeting space, including 27 meeting rooms. www.marriott.com
In New York’s Finger Lakes region, the Inns of Aurora offers cooking and mixology classes using ingredients local to the area. Classes range from the art of creating a cheeseboard, to perfecting pizza dough, to how to mix cocktails. At one of the Inns’ properties, the Rowland House, hands-on cooking classes are offered. After lessons from experts, guests get cooking and then take a seat around the dining room table to enjoy what they’ve prepared. Overall, the Inns’ private conference facilities can accommodate groups from 26 to 120. www.innsofaurora.com
Located eight miles off the coast of Puerto Rico is The W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island. The aptly named Sorce, the hotel’s restaurant led by Executive Chef Javier Melendez, uses ingredients from the property’s on-site farm. The hotel also offers a three- or five-day yoga retreat in which guests participate in cooking classes from chef Javier incorporating the provisions from the farm to create healthy meals with the local ingredients. The 156-room resort features 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. www.wvieques.com