Yucatán State– January 13-21, 2019
From the serene, colonial state capital of Mérida, to majestic Uxmal on the Puuc loop of archeological sites, we will soak up Yucatán via regional food –of course– music, and history.
Join us and visit Mexico through our unusual perspective! Email for information at: office@culinaryadventuresinc.com
–Since 1988– Pioneers in Mexico Culinary Travel
Puebla/Tlaxcala Late Winter
This article is well worth popping into a translating application. Mr Bourdain truly understood and respected our people, our culture. Que en paz descanse. May he rest in peace.
Our trip is filling up! Need I say more? Call me with any questions.
¡Hasta pronto!
Carmen
email: office@culinaryadventuresinc.com Carmen’s phone: 760-577-2810
[This micro trip is $1850 and includes 4 classes, hotel (based on double occupancy), two meals a day, and all fees associated with the trip, excluding airfare. $400 deposit due asap, balance due June 12.]
Ah that sad lament, it might have been. Do not delay in signing up- August will be upon you, the stress of summer never eased by a visit to the region where your cup of coffee on this continent began. [Unless of course you are drinking coffee from its original continent. But go along with me here please, for the sake of lyricism.] Had the dubious Cortés not landed in Veracruz, I would not exist. I would not be here to recount the joys of watching Raquel Torres, as she explains with warmth and serenity, the delights of her regional food. You would not awaken one morning, summoned to gather rainy season mushrooms in a forest in Mexico. Think about that…
Then there is another despondent thought. It is Labor Day weekend. Your nose is assaulted by the smells of hotdogs and other American delights. But you are not drinking a form of chocolate which clarifies the Latin name of Theobroma cacao in one single sip. “Indeed- the food of the Gods, and I am partaking of it. I am deserving,” you would reflect. Chef Ricardo waxes poetics on the complex flavors of Oaxacan cuisine and life is forever altered. Your tastebuds and your soul revived and uplifted, stamped upon your memory in a manner that would carry you forth in other days that come when life is not so easy or fun…
Encountering foods from other parts, meeting those who prepare their food with care and kindness, is perhaps one of the most pleasant things we humans can do, putting aside all prejudices and differences. What each region does with the foods it produces is a work of art, a majesty of human nature that redeems us from our destructive side.
Allow us to share the grace and beauty of our country. It will revive and uplift you; you will cast a kinder eye on your own part of the world, finding local peace and pleasure because you saw it in another place, different from yours. Don’t regret it and find yourself thinking, “oh, it might have been!”
¡Hasta pronto!
Carmen
office@culinaryadventuresinc.com 760-577-2810
In the highlands of the coastal Gulf state of Veracruz is one of Mexico’s leading regional culinary experts, the anthropologist and cook Raquel Torres Cerdán. Owner of Taller De Cocina Tradicional Mexicana: Acuyo, Raquel’s knowledge and passion for the foods of the many different regions of Veracruz is impressive. And her food is delicious! Veracruz is where the Spanish landed and it is weighty in historical importance and feeling.
This trip introduces you to specific, micro regional cuisine. We will drive from the Port of Veracruz up to Xalapa (where all travelers since the conquest rested on their journey from coast to Tenochtitlan- now Mexico City- and thereby influencing the food). Set in green lush mountains- and the first coffee plantations in all of the Americas- we will have a daily class with Raquel Torres and local cooks, in her beautiful cooking workshop. it’s worth checking out her Facebook page.
The trip ends with a splendid coastal meal in the Port of Veracruz… and, a traditional breakfast at the renown Café de la Parroquia before departing- as a teaser to return to this marvelous state, which is a desire often mentioned in both song and literature.
Another excellent opportunity to get to know Mexico, microclimate by microclimate. We are planning more of these micro trips, as the mood hits us, and cooks and chefs allow!
Xalapa 2018 is only $1850 and includes 4 classes, hotel 5 nights (based on double occupancy), two meals a day, and all fees associated with the trip, excluding airfare. I am setting a limit at 10 participants maximum.
Reserve your spot today with a $400 deposit at: office@culinaryadventuresinc.com or 760-577-2810 Total payment is due June 12th, 2018.
Also, if you live on the West coast, or logistics allow, I am offering the option of meeting me at the fabulous Cross Border Express and we fly as a group to Veracruz from Tijuana, and would then factor in the RT airfare Tijuana-Veracruz-Tijuana to the total price.
Fee for a single supplement is $250.00 for any of our trips. Please see Policies .
What better way to spend Labor Day than working your way through the wonders of Oaxacan cuisine? Take advantage of that 3 day weekend: you will not regret signing up for our Oaxaca September 2018 trip!
Culinary Adventures Inc is ready to go back to one of our original places of 30 years ago, “la tierra del sol,” Oaxaca. So impacting is the Oaxacan effect, people go back again and again. And we must also. You’ll see why, once you are there…
With Mexico’s renown Chef Ricardo Muñoz and his irrepressible enthusiasm, we will bring the glories of moles, chocolate, breads, cheese, and other earthly delights into clear focus for you in the beautiful colonial city of Oaxaca and it’s vast, surrounding valley. Our local Chef Pilar Cabrera and other regional chefs and cooks will share their talent, cultural pride and expertise with you. From moles to tortillas, this trip will give you a cooking knowledge of Oaxaca that can only be found in situ. Surrounded by the ingredients, terrain and most especially, the people of Oaxaca- embodied cognition will assist in bringing forth those learning experiences once back in your own kitchen ready to try and recreate your Oaxacan impressions. 
Our trips fill fast! Oaxaca 2018 costs $3,750 and includes: 6 classes, 6 demos, 8 nights hotel (based on double occupancy), two meals a day, and all fees associated with the trip, excluding airfare. [The fee for a single supplement is $250.00 for any of our trips.]
An initial deposit of $400 is necessary to hold your place and total payment is due July 2nd, 2018.
Any questions? Email office@culinaryadventuresinc.com or call 760-577-2810.
Go on. Create a new Labor Day tradition. We mustn’t live with regrets- life is too short!
¡Hasta pronto!
Carmen
“No es de donde es el ingrediente originario, sino lo que el ingrediente representa para una cultura” . “It’s not the origin of an ingredient that’s important, but what that ingredient represents for a culture.” –Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita
These words by Ricardo caught my attention before leaving to our Mexico City Chef’s Trip in January. They got me even more excited for the trip; the reunion with both Ricardo Muñoz and Ana Elena Martínez, our shared sense of purpose, the smells, sounds, colors of people, of foods, structures, skies–everything that makes your land of birth sing to you, always calling you home. These words especially got me looking forward to seeing our guests fall for Mexico and, “getting” the importance of what an ingredient can, indeed, represent for a culture.
And fall they did. Some- once again, others- for the first time, others still- through our viewpoint. A marvelous combination of food people, from different backgrounds and cultures and culinary experiences. They soaked up the subtle difference of a cooked- as opposed to an uncooked- tomatillo in a “raw” salsa, our delicious mestizo food world and it’s class differences- visible in our cuisines, a joyful miscegenation of ingredients and techniques; the depths that corn reaches back into our culture, the soul food of Tlaxcala, a warm northerner’s rock and roll edgy cooking, the happily “surreal” idiosyncrasies of our country and their influence on a chef and perception of color, a chef’s conscientious quest to go back- and bring forward- old styles a la slow foods….Chefs Ricardo Muñoz, Josefina Santacruz, Irad Santacruz, Cooks Nicolas Hernández and Dalia Rodríguez, Chefs Antonio de Livier, Martha Ortíz and Gerardo Vázquez Lugo outdid themselves and REALLY showcased those ingredients and what they represent to our multi cultures of Mexico. I can’t thank them enough.
We will be posting photos of the trip now and then between sending out a cry for Oaxaca, which we shall visit in September at the end of the abundant harvests of rainy season. More to come on that fabulous trip!
I had Ricardo’s words in my mind on the way to Mexico City. But they came back to me while reflecting on Marilyn Tausend’s departure and what she means to me, her unplanned influence on so many people over 30 years, her stubbornness for Mexico, for cooking, writing, learning and, connecting people. Her lost soul as a child, found again perhaps in Mexico, makes me realize that it is not her origin that is important, but what she means and represents to the Mexican culture and the world she created.
Mil gracias, Marilyn, q.e.p.d.
“Es tanta la pena que tengo, que no puedo ni cantar…”
I feel so much sorrow, that I cannot even sing. “Tu Ausencia“- Your Absence, is the title.
That is how I feel at this moment, so I shall not attempt to write for a few of days.
But I will again, very soon, with great joy and purpose.
At the start of a new Culinary Adventures, on Jan 22nd, 2018 in Mexico City, at 6 pm, the inimitable Marilyn L Tausend, started her final adventure to the eternity, leaving from her favorite country, where she started her culinary adventures 31 years ago…
She was at peace.
Thank you Marilyn for bringing all of us together.
Our chefs’ trip to Mexico City is full and ready to go! Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita has taken out all the stops as usual- if not even more so- with this resounding come back of Culinary Adventures Inc, in an effort to do our own dear Marilyn Tausend proud. Ricardo, Ana Elena Martínez and I are very enthused and happy to see each other again, showing and sharing our country’s cultures through its cuisines along with a dream-like assemblage of avant garde chefs! I will write post trip: be on the look out for an envy inspiring informative tale about our first trip for 2018!
¡Felíz año nuevo/ Happy New Year 2018 from all of us at Culinary Adventures, Inc.!
Due to a situation beyond my control, I had to cancel our February Trip to Oaxaca two weeks ago. I did let everyone signed up know right away, of course. And just a while ago, I have let that same kind group of people know the new dates that Ricardo, Ana Elena, and I worked out. And now available for our public at large…
Our new dates are: September 2-10th, 2018!
With a large population of culturally and linguistically diverse original people, plus the variations on Spanish, African and other mixes, Oaxaca is probably one of the easiest parts of Mexico to “see” and get a sense of our how culturally diverse our country truly is.
Attention to detail in a very distinctive manner is a truly oaxaqueño trait, no matter the cultural background. Complex detail is part of the Oaxacan people’s arts; whether culinary, handicraft or plastic (“fine”): the countless textiles, pottery and handicrafts with beautiful detailing, the wondrous and prolific graphic arts school and painting too, the music, and of course, our focus, the cuisine. The market stalls, local herbs, complex combinations, finely ground ingredients, sophisticated methods, delightful breads and nationally famous cheese make Oaxaca a food lover’s dream come true.
Between Chef Ricardo Muñoz’s expertise and knowledge, Ana Elena Martinez’s culinary and travel know-how, our friendship of years with local cooks, artisans and guides, and my bi-cultural perspective to help bridge gaps and queries, your trip to Oaxaca will be intimate, guest-like, non-intrusive, delicious, addictive and truly memorable.
We all look forward to seeing you in Oaxaca.
¡Hasta pronto! [musical link: https://youtu.be/lOugXvfi2yw]
Carmen
We stay in a local hotel in the heart of the colonial city of Oaxaca. The zócalo, or main square, is lovely for people watching or enjoying coffee at a sidewalk cafe. The grid layout makes it easy to explore the city and shop during your free time. The nearby market is beautiful, filled with local produce, food, and kitchen utensil stalls. There are endless amounts of cultural things from traditional to contemporary to see, hear and enjoy in Oaxaca, and of course, to taste!
We have limited space on our culinary trips, so if interested in participating, let us know as soon as possible. Celebrating our 30 years of pioneering culinary travel in Mexico, our Oaxaca Trip 2018 is $3750 and includes classes and demos, hotel, two meals a day and all fees associated with the trip, excluding airfare.
office@culinaryadventuresinc.com 760-577-2810
Deep into winter, brooding and shivering, these questions could echo in your mind as you lament not having reached out to see if there was maybe, perhaps, one spot left for you on that Chefs’ trip to Mexico City.
As you ponder the depths of your despair, you envision chefs intently observing a class, 
in a beautiful room filled with mind-boggling aromas and scents; market scenes try to form in your head; sounds of laughter and joy as you lift yet another copita de mezcal…(¿qué es mezcal? Why do I now speak Spanish? Why in italics? eh?) You recall Carmen’s much touted, “kitchen dynamics” and “banter,” between chef and staff–what banter? Why? How do Mexican chefs banter, for Pete’s sake? Who is Pete, anyway? Pedro? What does Carmen know about chefs or banter? Who is Pedro? Was he at the mezcalería or the cooking demo? at Azul?
All these troubling thoughts and longings could be avoided if you get a hold of Carmen today and see if there is still, perhaps, one spot remaining, just for you. office@culinaryadventuresinc.com
Life is short, Mexico is eternal. Our trip- now almost full. Mexico City average January daytime highs: 71˚F. You deserve to learn from the best chefs of Mexico, while you take a break. In a temperate climate.
¡Hasta pronto!
Carmen
Our trip is filling fast and yes, moving forward!
For people who live in areas prone to natural disasters tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wild fires, volcanoes, tsunamis we know life moves forward no matter. With characteristic passion and vigor, all of Mexico affected by recent temblors works together to go forward and we do the same. Our heart and aid go out to all, in every nation and region. Likewise to the families of victims in Las Vegas; gun law reform NOW is all I will say here.
While set back a little with the earthquakes, thankfully all of our respective loved ones, friends and colleagues are okay, and I am even more intent on creating new culinary trips with Ricardo and Ana Elena to our unique, beautiful country.
I am still working to pin down Oaxaca dates, but it will happen! And I will announce just as soon as they are set.
Here is a link to a beautiful song about Mexico City https://youtu.be/ky3ZqOHkRHU (thank you to Ana Luz Mac Gregor, you-tuber, for posting this with a good vista of Mexico City to whet your appetites) by the incredible José Alfonso Ontiveros Carrillo, better know as Guadalupe Trigo (from Mérida, Yucatán, a musically rich región along with culinary–but that’s a future trip and I could wax poetic endlessly, just wait until we go there, you’ll see!) and lyricist Eduardo Salamonovitz Weinstock (Eduardo Salas) (from Mexico’s Jewish community no less). It will run through your head when we are going about our trip as it truly is a lovely tribute to that city. Come on the trip and I’ll translate the lyrics for you!
You may notice hyper links hither and thither throughout my postings. Some are about our chefs and cooks but I love music too. And Mexico is also extremely rich musically, region by region. Therefore, I will continue to add said hyperlinks (bless technology) as acoustic illustrations of what you’ve been missing and to hopefully keep an ear open to when travelling with us.
If you’ve been contemplating the Chefs’ Trip, I shall now delicately state you had better get a move on it as we are almost at our limit!
Relish your loved ones, work and daily life.
Hasta pronto,
Carmen
Culinary Adventures, Inc. 