From tapas in Spain, bouillabaisse in France and hand-made pasta in Italy these tours cast a wide net across Europe and destinations in Mexico and the USA.
Patricia Wells (http://patriciawells.com)
Fun cooking tours of France and Italy from the famous chef and writer.
A chance to indulge in Chinese specialties like Peking Duck and Sichuan chicken in the great cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Do-It-Yourself Options
If you don't want to be spoon-fed (literally) a self-guided tour is definitely more rewarding. This means you will need to arrange your own reservations and take care of travel logistics. It will help if you already have a good knowledge of the region you plan to visit or are prepared to do some research. However the advantages of setting your own agenda, having more control over what you spend and the flexibility to change the schedule whenever you wish will far outweigh the additional preparation time.
For example you could visit regions of Italy like Chianti or Tuscany during the wine harvest season to see how wine is made and go vineyard-to-vineyard sampling the local plonk. Similarly focus on coffee in Brazil or Souvlaka in the old taverns of Athens. Another really simple self-guided tour is to concentrate on visits to particular restaurant groups like Michelin Star. Or book yourself into somewhere with a kitchen so you can visit food markets and prepare your own version of local dishes.
If you speak some of the local language you'll usually find locals, other restaurant patrons, waiters or even the chefs will enjoy talking about the food with you.
