Tag: food

NEW TRIP: TLAXCALA, Aug. 24 – Sept.1, 2025

April 17, 2025

*Starts and ends in Mexico City*

Albeit very small geographically, Tlaxcala has a great culinary tradition with many ingredients that are of vital importance to all of Mexico’s cuisines today, and to Mesoamerica in the past. It also appeals to me geographically as a belly button of Mesoamerica, and as the perfect place for starting Culinary Adventures re-focus on our nation’s traditional cuisines. It will be the rainy season, which is our season of plenty. August is the month of harvest, par excellence.

Please arrive early to Mexico City to join our group from the onset, as we gather right away on Sunday morning where, over breakfast, we dive into introductions and conversation about our trip’s focus. We will go to the “belly button” of Mexico City- which will be prescient to the rest of our trip! After a very insightful talk by our associate Jafet Durán (ardent researcher, cook and as obsessive as us in fighting to defend our traditional cuisines), we shall head to the first of two grand cooking tutorials with our friend, the renowned culinary investigator and Chef, Ricardo Muñoz Zurita. 

Arriving to Tlaxcala by land -past great volcanoes- we will plunge into an array of activities under the guidance of master Tlaxcalteca Chef Irad Santacruz and lead by traditional Tlaxcala Cooks and experts. They include a bread-making class (a longtime dream- ¡ajúa!), a look into the millenary traditions of Tlaxcalteca utensils and, of course, examining the role of corn, amaranth and other abundant rainy season ingredients in indigenous cuisine via master classes by our traditional Cooks and, a grand tutorial with Chef Irad in his own culinary investigations workshop. Returning to Mexico City, we will sum up our trip with the final master class by Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita.

“Tlaxcala: Land of the Corn Tortilla:   August 24th-September 1st, 2025” starts at $5800 with our SLIDING SCALE SYSTEM* (for 6 participants) and includes: 8 cooking classes, 6 cultural visits/talks, 8 nights hotel (based on double occupancy), 3 meals/day, ground transportation within Mexico (Mexico City-Tlaxcala-Mexico City), and all fees associated with the trip, excluding airfare to/from Mexico. [The fee for a single supplement is $400.00] Minimum participants: 6. This trip starts and ends in Mexico City.

* SLIDING SCALE SYSTEM

Group Size (per person, double occupancy)

      6              $5800           

      8             $5000

     10            $4590

     12             $4000

     14             $3700

We have limited space and reservation time, so if interested in participating, a $550 deposit is due when signing up (check, Zelle, Venmo) and final payment by July 20th. You will receive a receipt and informative trip schedule after signing up!

With our sliding scale system, your final payment will be adjusted to the number of participants accordingly- rope in your best travel partners! In the extreme case of the minimum 6 participants not being met, your Culinary Adventures Inc trip deposit and payments will be fully refunded. 

Not included: •alcoholic beverages (apart from any we consider pertinent to a class or meal) •your airfare to and from Mexico •transport from international arrival •early arrival or departure accomodations •travel insurance •excess baggage fees •airline cancellation fees. We strongly recommend purchasing refundable tickets and travel insurance. 

By starting and ending in Mexico City, we have created the option of add-ons before or after the trip to allow you further exploration of other branches of our culture such as music, dance and the plastic (aka “fine”) arts. Email us for more info!

Reflecting on the vitality of natural corn as México stands up to save its people’s origin and legacy as “people of corn”- de maíz somos y maíz comemos-  and  expunges the GMO from our crops is exciting, as is musing on the power and complex role food plays, making us who we are… and are not!

We look forward with enormous joy and appreciation to sharing, once again, our endlessly rich and unusual country. Your participation helps to preserve the legacy of our traditional cuisines- Thank you! For any questions, please email us at office@culinaryadventuresinc.com or call, text or WhatsApp Carmen: (760)577-2810.

¡Hasta pronto! Carmen and Sofía

“Cocina de fiesta: Oaxaca” August 31-September 10, 2024

June 7, 2024
Cook Reyna Mendoza at market in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca

For our Oaxaca trip, we will begin (and end) in Mexico City, flying as a group to and from the Nation’s capital to Oaxaca City. There we shall contrast, what I call, the Euro-centric methods and viewpoints of local Chefs with the reality of the truly sophisticated origins via regional Cooks.

Fiesta is a word misunderstood and mistaken not only outside of, but within Mexico. There exists no one fiesta in Mexico, there are countless- and we are going to Oaxaca to explore the day by day making of just one celebrated in the Zapotec town of Teotitlán del Valle, where the renowned Cook, Reyna Mendoza, will demonstrate and share her culture’s traditions in a day by day breakdown of preparations for a specific fiesta. This is not voyeuristic; this is a sharing of knowledge and traditions, with Cook Mendoza taking our guests into her culture and thereby building deeper understanding and respect for and of each other.

Please arrive early to Mexico City to join our group from the onset, when we gather around 5pm at our hotel for introductions and a conversation about our trip’s focus with Jafet Durán, followed by cena at one of our favorite (now Michelin noted!) restaurants. The following morning, post breakfast, we head to the airport and fly to Oaxaca. Here, we will have daily classes and experiences in Teotitlán del Valle with Cook Reyna Mendoza and other noted talent; contrasted by classes and demos with regional chefs and their delicious innovations with their beloved region’s ingredients. And of course, there will be market visits, market meals, hip meals, mezcal tasting, non food related cultural excursions and yes, a little free time to explore on your own.

On our final full day back in Mexico City, Chef Ricardo Zurita will put together our culinary experiences in Oaxaca cohesively, at an unforgettable class and meal, sharing his years of investigation and love for Oaxacan cuisines. Departure morning includes breakfast at our hotel and transportation to the airport.

“Cocina de fiesta: Oaxaca 2024” starts at $6250* (see SLIDING SCALE SYSTEM) and includes: 7 cooking classes, 4 demos, 9 nights hotel (based on double occupancy), 3 meals/day, RT airfare within Mexico (Mexico City-Oaxaca-Mexico City), and all fees associated with the trip, excluding airfare to/from Mexico. [The fee for a single supplement is $400.00] Minimum participants: 6.

* SLIDING SCALE SYSTEM

Group Size (per person, double occupancy)

      6              $6250           

      8              $5350

     10             $4850

     12             $4550

     14             $4250

We have limited space and reservation time, so if interested in participating, a $550 deposit is due when signing up and final payment by July 30th. Your will receive an informative trip schedule after signing up.

With our sliding scale system, your final payment will be adjusted to the number of participants accordingly. In the extreme case of the minimum 6 participants not being met, your Culinary Adventures Inc trip deposit and payments will be fully refunded. 

Not included: •alcoholic beverages (apart from any we consider pertinent to a class or meal) •your airfare to and from Mexico •transport from international arrival •early arrival or departure accomodations •travel insurance •excess baggage fees •airline cancellation fees We strongly recommend purchasing refundable tickets and travel insurance. 

We look forward to receiving you in Mexico, sharing aspects of our cultures not designed for the tourist but indeed to create comprehension and esteem amongst each other! As I stated years ago, on our very first trip, I want to create Mexicophiles! For any questions, please email us at office@culinaryadventuresinc.com or send a text or WhatsApp to Carmen: (760)577-2810.

Hello Out There!

February 1, 2024

To both those who know me and those I have yet to meet- ¡¿cómo están?!!! Mostly leaving the exhausting Covid era out of the conversation- I do send my love to those affected by it and loving remembrances to those we lost.

After a long hiatus from our travels with groups, I am very happy to announce upcoming trips and a variety of services, some born from the pandemic- and others which have always existed on my part but not “advertised” in the past by Marilyn per se! Also, I have new coordinators assisting in the set up and investigation for trips. Jafet Duran and Cecilia Gaitan, both originally from Ricardo’s fold. They are invaluable to me. Some of you may well have met them at one point.          During Covid, I kept sane by teaching regional Mexican home cooking via Zoom for UCSD (University of California San Diego), consulting for several US located Mexican restaurants (with my team!) and translating cookbooks for Larousse México, plus the random projects Ricardo often throws at me!

UPCOMING TRIPS -oh those words are music to my ears- •OAXACA–Cocina de fiesta– September 1-8, 2024 •Yucatán–A fondo– for food professionals, November 9-17, 2024… On the drafting table are two summer trips of a slightly different nature, deeply rooted culturally and visually striking- more to come on them… And as always, I do like to reiterate that we pay people fairly, something I insisted on when Marilyn first proposed this business to me. Mexico is not a bargain or a deal. No one’s culture should be that.

New services for everyone– •We now offer personalized trip set ups for a fee, with or without one of us on hand to aide and assist in person. •We will also offer the flexibility of an alternative trip for aficionados or food professionals on most trips offered, if a minimum number of participants is met. This allows our food professionals to get their “manos en la masa” for the benefit of their profession and our aficionados to fulfill their culinary obsession of Mexican foods! •Dates not right for you? •Want to go at another time? •Have a group of staff or friends wanting to go? Text (760-577-2810) or email me office@culinaryadventuresinc.com and let’s see what we can work out!

New for food professionals– •Recipe development •staff training in food and culture in Mexico or on site at your restaurant •sourcing of service equipment such as linen, tableware, crockery, glassware and furniture •sourcing of ingredients (allowed by USDA!)…These are many of the “new” and some already existing services we want to offer our food people!

This is all for now, I will follow with more soon. And those of you who are already our people -our gente- an email will go out soon. ¡Hasta pronto! Carmen