Good food meets good times at Tasmania’s cooking schools

If you’re coming to Tassie to feast on its famous food, why not dive right in at a cooking school? Some of the state’s top chefs can take you from harvesting produce so local it’s often just outside the kitchen, to savouring your creations with new friends and gorgeous views.

One of Australia’s great paddock-to-plate cooking-school experiences, The Agrarian Kitchen uses the heirloom fruits and vegetables and rare animal breeds thriving around its Derwent Valley farm setting. Classes are held in a handsomely converted 19^th century school, and usually led by host Rodney Dunn, former Gourmet Traveller magazine food editor. Whether it’s autumn’s tomato gluttony class or cooking with fire in winter, just reading about what’s in store is mouthwatering.

From a miniclass dedicated to making perfect tiramisu to a masterclass in alfresco food, The Farmhouse Kitchen has got Italian cooking covered. Your host is Giuliana White, whose parents migrated from Italy in the 1950s. She learnt everything there is to know about the southern region of Puglia’s traditional cooking from her mum, and passes on the secrets of la dolce vita in her big, beautiful country-style kitchen in the Huon Valley.

Matthew Evans’ ongoing transformation from high-profile Sydney food critic to Huon Valley farmer has made great TV on the SBS series Gourmet Farmer. Since 2016, visitors have been able to get behind the Fat Pig Farm scenes to enjoy his produce and cooking at long lunches, usually only offered weekly, and even more rare cooking classes. Book early if you want to be part of these seasonal sessions that start with harvesting ingredients and saying hello to the Wessex Saddleback pigs.

From visiting local producers and foraging for ingredients to the four-course meal at the end, a Provenance Kitchen cooking class is an all-day foodies’ delight. The setting is part of the pleasure: the 1830s Highfield Historic Site in Stanley, a fishing town on the wild north-west coast. The recipes you take home will be enduring reminders of a tasty day in Tasmania, and with classes limited to eight people you might make some lasting friendships too.

Spanish cooking, slow cooking, bottling the season’s produce or building a wood-fired oven and creating the perfect pizza, Sally Wise Cooking School has a class for every taste. The author of oodles of cookbooks, and 2019 Tasmanian Senior Australian of the Year, Sally shares her wisdom and recipes using produce from local farmers and her own garden and orchard in the Derwent Valley.

Former cafe owner and chef Jane Bissett now shares her kitchen smarts in her own home in the Tamar Valley, overlooking Hinton Bay Vineyard and the Tamar River. In lovely light-filled spaces made for feasting and fun, with a welcoming open fire on chilly days, you can prepare then eat dishes she’s designed to impress. Hinton Bay Kitchen’s classes include authentic Thai, vegan and vegetarian Italian, or for romantic escapes with a delicious difference, weekend cooking retreats for couples.

Want to master handmade pasta or Moroccan tajine cooking, or do you simply need to learn the basics? Sylvia’s Kitchen Tasmania has a class to suit, with a maximum of six participants (or just two for private classes) so everyone gets hands-on help and the mood’s relaxed. Sylvia welcomes you into her own Launceston kitchen, where she reveals techniques, tips and recipes gleaned from decades of professional experience in restaurants, catering and teaching cooking.

Information included in this blog is correct at the time of publishing. Please contact individual operators for further information.