Put your taste buds to work on a culinary vacation

Recalling past vacations when you were younger and raising families, did it occur to you that someday you would be comparing travel notes with other geezers and boomers and find yourself saying, "Been there, done that"?

It's a condition we won't complain about, and even if true, the travel industry keeps inventing enough specialty vacations to keep us coming back year after year.

Examples are arts and crafts, bicycling, birding, boating and sailing, fishing, food and wine, golf, hiking, hunting, language schools, rock climbing, photography, scuba diving, spiritual trips and wildlife.

Food and wine have been atop the list of popularity for a long time, but of late, culinary schools have become hot, especially for retired seniors who want to put a little spice in their lives, both figuratively and literally.

Italian culinary trips, particularly in Tuscany, are so popular it seems that every farmhouse with two or more spare bedrooms has a cooking school. I counted more than two dozen food and wine and cooking classes in Italy on one Web site alone: www.infohub.com/travel_packages/food_wine_italy_203.html.

A sample trip is called Arrivederci Roma -- The Eternal City, eight days beginning Oct. 28, costing $2,995 to $3,595 per person, plus air fare. Groups are small, from six to 12 persons, and include cooking classes, a cheese seminar, winery tour and tasting, plus other tours of Rome along the way.

This trip is sponsored by the Gourmet Traveler, owned by Beverly Gruber. She advises clients that, particularly in Italy, rural locations often shut down November through April, but large cities such as Rome are available for cooking classes in the winter.

A trip to the Amalfi Coast is aptly called Cooking in Paradise and is held for eight days starting Oct. 7. Prices are $2,995 to $3,595. The chef/teacher is Mamma Agata, who makes or raises everything used in the classes: chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruits, marmalades, olive oil and wine. The cooking classes are held in her 300-year-old country house on a cliff 1,000 feet above the sea. Tours of Ravello, Pompeii, Capri and Positano are included.

A more adventurous cooking experience attracts grandparents who wish to share the learning experience with their grandchildren. Don't worry. It's not to be in your kitchen, but in Mexico at the Esencia Resort in Playa Xpu-Ha on the Riviera Maya 46 miles south of Cancun.

Chef Alejandro Rojas, formerly of Four Seasons and the James Beard House, is the head chef. This is a small 29-room boutique resort that offers the cooking program year-round for one day of your visit, which can be as long as you wish.

Traditional Mexican cuisine is on the menu and is taught in the kitchen of the Sal y Fuego Restaurant. Adults will be assigned to the Executive Chef class where you will assume the task of preparing a six-course Mexican meal. The class size is from two to six persons, lasting four hours at $100 per person. You will learn how to prepare botanas (cocktail snacks) such as empanada or ceviche, then soups, salsas and moles (sauces), stuffed chiles and Yucatecan baked fish.

The Junior Chef class is for ages 8 to 12. Salsas, guacamole and masa fantasies (specialties made from corn or flour dough), sopes (fried cakes), tortillas, gorditas (thick tortilla tacos) and tamales are among the recipes. This is a two-hour class, costing $100.

Mini Pastry Chef is the course name for ages 4 to 8. It involves cookies, muffins, small cakes and tarts with icings and meringues. The objective is for youngsters to become familiar with such basic ingredients as flour, sugar, chocolate, eggs, butter, dried fruit and nuts. Two hours long, it costs $100.

Room rates, based on double occupancy, start at $475 per night ($75 for children 12 and younger). For more information, call (877) 528-3490 or visit www.hotelesencia.com.

In Vermont, the Inn at Essex, which is home to the Essex campus of the New England Culinary Institute, offers the Chef "Inn" Training program, a hands-on interactive cooking class taught by one of the institute's instructors. Reservations, which include the class, accommodations, continental breakfast and a tour of the culinary institute, cost $275 to $335 through October, $259 to $289 November through April and $269 to $339 May through June.

A sample recipe would include asparagus and scallop brochettes, poele of Rock Cornish game hen and flourless chocolate souffle. The class is generally held on Wednesdays through Saturdays.

The inn is close to several Vermont attractions, including Burlington's Church Street Marketplace and waterfront, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, Shelburne Farms and Museum, Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Stowe, Montpelier, Mount Mansfield and the Long Trail of Vermont.

For more information, phone (800) 727-4295 or visit http://vtculinaryresort.com.

John Hilferty's column formature travelers appearsmonthly.He can be reached athilf@johnhilferty.com.