Airbnb unveils Cooking on Airbnb Experiences – a new category of bookable experiences that unlock the hidden culinary traditions of families all around the world.
Since 2018, Airbnb’s Food and Drink Experiences have been growing rapidly. From learning grandmas’ recipes to traditional Uzbek home-cooking, guests from Malaysia and all over the world can now get access to 3,000 unique recipes that are usually reserved for friends and family in over 75 countries.
With Malaysians known for their love of good food, here is a selection of must-try Experiences that should not be missed, across Malaysia as well as neighboring countries around Southeast Asia:
Cook Malay Meal & Tour Tropical Garden – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Start off by exploring a home garden with over 50 herbs, spices and flowers used in everyday cooking, for an immersive experience in getting to know these local plants which are so important to Malaysian meals. Learn how to cook nasi lemak, Malaysia’s national dish, as well as ayam goreng berempah, and test your skills in teh tarik-making like a pro!
Traditional Malaysian Cooking Class – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Held in a pre-war house in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, this cooking Experience offers guests the chance to learn how to cook a variety of traditional Malaysian dishes, including rendang ayam, nasi kunyit, kari kapitan, and more.
Make Nyonya Kuih in Melaka – Melaka, Malaysia
Learn how to make iconic Nyonya kuihs from this mother-daughter cooking duo! Based on once closely-guarded family recipes, guests will now have the chance to learn delicious kuih lapis, pineapple tarts and onde-onde – and even take these desserts home to be enjoyed later.
Private Royal Thai Recipe cooking class – Bangkok, Thailand
A relaxing home experience, this hands-on cooking class takes place in a 120-year old colonial house, where guests will be taught the difference between familiar Thai dishes and a Royal Thai cuisine. Cook up an authentic Royal menu and learn tips and tricks for traditional Thai cooking in this personalized experience made for small groups.
Home Cooking Traditional Balinese Bumbu – Bali, Indonesia
Be introduced to the origins of the Balinese ‘bumbu’ blend and learn how to make your very own from an old family recipe handed down through generations. Explore the many ways in which ‘bumbu’ is used as a base for different Balinese dishes – and enjoy preparing five of these dishes, from starters to curries to steamed fish and more!
More about Airbnb Cooking Experiences
Through Airbnb Cooking Experiences, we are presenting a new way to understand culture through food. Unlike typical cooking classes, which can feel intimidating or time-consuming, at the heart of every experience is human connection; people coming together to make and share a meal. Hosted by families, farmers, pastry cooks and more, local hosts can now highlight the deeper meaning behind the food you eat, teaching traditional recipes and sharing stories in intimate settings around the world.
To protect the personal nature of each recipe, each experience has been vetted against guidelines inspired by Slow Food, a grassroots organization whose mission is to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions. Through this vetting process, we have verified that each host of an Airbnb Experience communicates the unique essence of every dish through their personal stories and has proven a deep knowledge of the heritage of the cuisine that they share.
Nominate your favourite home cook
Coinciding with the launch of Airbnb Cooking Experiences – and to find the next wave of culinary treasures – we are calling on the world to apply or nominate their favorite home cook so that we can treat them to a once in a lifetime trip to Italy. There, they will learn to refine their family recipe and cement their legacy in an Airbnb cookbook, planned for 2020.
The top 100 applicants will get to study alongside experts including chef David Chang and his mom, Sherri, during one of the four, specially-organized five-day courses at Slow Food’s University of Gastronomic Sciences, located within a UNESCO world heritage site in Pollenzo, Northern Italy. Alongside workshops, tastings, field visits and lessons from UNISG professors, there will also be hands on lessons from one of the most booked hosts on the platform, Nonna Nerina, who has earned over $150,000 just by welcoming travelers to the Roman countryside to learn about her and her family’s love of pasta-making.
To be one of the lucky 100 sent to Italy, eligible Airbnb users can enter on their own or nominate their favorite home cooks via airbnb.com/cooking, submitting a personal essay on why the nominee’s passion for cooking and their family recipe makes them the perfect fit. Applications are now open, closing at 11:59pm EST on December 23, 2019. The lucky 100 will be selected by a panel of judges including representatives of Airbnb, Slow Food and the University of Gastronomic Sciences. 25 spots are being offered on each of the four course sessions, starting June 15, 22, 29 and July 6 2020.
Highlights of Cooking on Airbnb Experiences include:
- Cook Lunch with Prue Leith (London, UK)
- Maize Workshop with Enrique Olvera (Mexico City, Mexico)
- Heritage Cooking with Damian D’Silva (Singapore)
- Make Japanese Street Food with Mom (Tokyo, Japan)
- Handmade Pasta with Grandma (Rome, Italy)
- Soba Noodle Making in a Traditional Home (Tokyo, Japan)
- Slow Food- Bento Box Making (Fujinomiya-City, Japan)
- Secret Garden Dinner in Historic Mansion (Khet Pom Prap Sattru Phai, Thailand)
- Cook and Sword Performance Back in Edo (Tokyo, Japan)
For more information, please visit https://www.airbnb.com/d/100cooks and you can also watch a sneak peek of the competition video here.
