Airbnb now lets you take cooking classes with locals from 75+ countries

Did you really travel to a foreign country if you didn’t stuff your face with local food? Apparently, Airbnb wants you to do more than just stuffing your face. It wants you to get your hands dirty. 

Airbnb on Monday introduced “Cooking“ to its list of bookable “experiences” (aka activities hosted by locals). The new experience category is essentially a rehash of the platform’s existing list of food and drink activities — a category that has, according to the company, grown 160 percent year-over-year since 2018. The only difference is that it focuses on cooking. 

Airbnb says Cooking experiences are hosted by families, farmers, pastry chefs, and other locals who will share their recipes with guests — and the cultural traditions and personal stories behind them. Airbnb guests can now choose from 3,000 Cooking experiences in 75 countries.

But Airbnb isn’t just offering the opportunity to experience culinary cultures. They are also scouting around for 100 more home cooks to share their own food traditions.

Top applicants or nominees will win a trip to Italy, where they will study alongside chefs on a five-day course at the University of Gastronomic Sciences and have their family recipes published in Airbnb’s forthcoming cookbook. 

“We have realized that sharing a meal is the key that unlocks culture and fosters connection,” Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky said. “We want to bring back the tradition of people coming together to make and share meals, and through this help preserve unique recipes that are shared within family kitchens around the world.”