Even though we had just met them, our hour together felt like hanging out in the kitchen with old friends. (We used a couple of Impossible burgers instead of beef.) But it was Latoya and Delroy’s personal touches that set their class apart. And, compared with an in-person class, we had full control over making ingredient substitutions to suit our vegan dietary preference. They’ll walk you through the basics of making the classic flaky pastry as well as the deeply savory beef filling it encloses, interspersing history and cultural storytelling along the way.

Photograph by Val Latifi Prepare Jamaica’s Favorite Hand PieĮvery Sunday, Montego Bay–based home cooks Latoya and Delroy teach a one-hour cooking class on the signature Jamaican patty.

And at the end of the class, we’d have an ideal date night feast to enjoy from the comfort of our living room. Before the classes began, each instructor emailed us a list of equipment, ingredients, and prep tasks, which ensured seamless lessons every time. And whether they were taught by an Italian nonna with decades of experience or an off-duty restaurateur, each one was immersive, interactive, and well organized. Since discovering the virtual classes, we’ve taken a handful. And just like their IRL offerings, each class is designed and led by vetted hosts who are deeply knowledgeable about their local cuisines and cultures easily bookable on the site’s platform, which allows you to filter by location, time, language, price, and number of people and pretty affordable, starting at around $18 per person. So when the world effectively shut down in 2020 due to the pandemic, putting our globe-trotting on hold, we were delighted to find that the platform had brought all of those culinary experiences we loved online. What do a couple of master home cooks from Montego Bay, an instructor at the Tokyo Sushi Academy, and the heir to a restaurant dynasty in New Delhi have in common? They all host virtual Airbnb cooking classes and can teach you how to create exciting new dishes from the comfort of your own kitchen.Īs avid travelers hungry for local experiences, we would frequently book cooking classes through Airbnb in whatever country we were visiting.

Airbnb virtual experiences