WGBH Program: Gourmet's Adventures with Ruth

Want to eat well on your next trip? Book a cooking vacation. That’s what Gourmet editor in chief Ruth Reichl did for this 10-episode culinary journey. In Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth, she uncovers the best cooking schools on five continents and brings along her foodie and actor friends to sharpen their skills.

The Bertinet Kitchen, Bath

Bath, England, is the orderly city of Jane Austen novels, a fantasy of what life is like in the English countryside. Here, teacher and baker Richard Bertinet introduces Ruth and Academy Award winner and novice breadmaker Dianne Wiest to his unique bread-making process. He also demonstrates how he puts his own French spin on recipes that make the most of local treasures — a walled garden bursting with heirloom produce, an old-fashioned mill with a different flour for every need, and a dairy that makes classic clotted cream.

Enrica Rocca’s Venice

Jump into a gondola with Ruth and AcademyAward-winning actress Dianne Wiest as they learn how to cook and eat like true Venetians from Enrica Rocca, an Italian countess. Rocca leads them through the Rialto market, where they get to shop with the locals, then bring back their finds to the Rocca family’s 16th-century palazzo for cooking lessons in high Venetian style. But it’s not all work; the curriculum also calls for a traditional Venetian Prosecco spritz break at 11am and a chocolate-tasting adventure.

Cocinar Mexicano

In the mountains south of Mexico City, Tepoztlán stands guard over a wealth of traditional recipes and local specialties. At Cocinar Mexicano, classes are taught by local women whose knowledge and skills have been passed down through generations. Here, Ruth and Gourmet food editor Ian Knauer commune with the many forms of corn — by milling ancient strains of corn for masa, stuffing squash blossom tamales, and mastering the tricky art of making tortillas.