A COOKING CLASS OF ITS OWN

From venues hidden deep in city backstreets, to rural epicurean delights, taking a carefully selected cooking class or food tour can unearth the unexpected

- KATIE SPAIN

Eating one’s way through faraway places is one of life’s ultimate pleasures but I’ve never been a fan of cooking schools or food tours. That was, until a close encounter with a Japanese home cook changed things.

It happened in Kyoto’s Shimogamo district; the relaxed residential neighbourhood home to Taro Saeki, his wife Yoshiko and their two young daughters. There, in their two-storey home, Saeki runs Haru Cooking Class, a business devoted to teaching visitors about Japanese life and home cooking. The intimate classes cater for a maximum of eight people at a time and focus as much on culture as they do on ingredients.

There’s no flashy website, big marketing dollars or social media campaigns behind it. Like most great, grassroots food experiences and clandestine Japanese treasures, Haru Cooking Class relies on word-of-mouth recommendations. That’s how we discovered this hidden gem back in 2018. In the years since, business slowed during Covid restrictions, but demand for unique food experiences is returning.

“People are travelling again so I host three classes a week now,” Saeki says. “It’s coming back to where it was.”

Saeki started his home cooking classes in 2010. “Before international tourism became big in Japan,” he says. “Previously, I worked as a hotel manager and always received lots of requests for tips on things to do in Kyoto. Back then, people visited temples and shrines but had little else to do activity-wise. So, I decided to invite people over to my house to do some cooking.”