Wine, Culinary Tours and Holidays in Eastern Europe

 Aside from language, nothing identifies a people and their culture like their traditional food and drink. Yet the standard fare served up in restaurants rarely reflects the rich diversity of culinary traditions handed down through the generations across Central Europe. Leisure to Taste culinary tours teach you to cook like grandma, find the finest local produce and hard-to-find ingredients in the local markets, explore the café culture that spawned so much music and literature, and dine at down-home restaurants with the locals. On request, we can also take you on a tour of Hungary's legendary wine regions - because where there is fine wine, there is always great food.

Culinary activities and holidays available now:

Budapest: Wine Tasting in Budapest and Market Tour & Hungarian Cooking Class

Krakow: Zakopane to Krakow Culinary Adventure, Krakow Brewery Dinner and Krakow Vodka Tasting

Warsaw: Cooking In and Around Warsaw

Cook-It-Yourself

Leisure to Taste gives you hands on experience of local cuisine - by teaching you to make it yourself using the finest ingredients sourced locally. From simple dishes, such as soups, stews, cakes and signature pancakes, to cooking over an open fire and the spoils of a traditional pig-sticking, we give you the full spectrum of local cooking passed down through the centuries. We provide all the ingredients and qualified chefs to show you the ropes.

Down the Market

Although supermarkets are ubiquitous, many Central Europeans prefer to shop in their local markets. In addition to the hustle and bustle of familiar faces, they enjoy being able to shop with the seasons, taking home the freshest produce to cook the traditional way. But without knowing your way around, the protocols of weights and measures, and, of course, the local language, the market can be a daunting place. We show you around the biggest and best markets in Central Europe, introducing you to the dozens of types of sausage and cured meats on offer, exploring the local specialities and taking time out to snack on typical market food. Once you have packed the basket with goodies, we can also teach you how to cook it up local style.

Café Culture

Central Europe has a rich tradition of relaxing in coffee houses eating cake, drinking coffee and, for a short time only, smoking wistfully. The grand old cafés of Budapest, Vienna and Prague have many a story to tell, and our café tours will indulge your passion for historical gossip and the myriad pastry and strudel specialities of Central Europe. Leisure to Taste café tours let you explore the finest cities of Europe through their oldest cultural centres, the grandiose palaces of idle chit-chat and creative thought, where many of the region's finest works of literature and music were born.

Eating Out

Despite the joys of cooking with the freshest locally sourced ingredients, sometimes you want someone else to do the cooking. But while "international" cuisine is the flavour of the month in Central Europe, it takes some local knowledge to find the places that prepare traditional meals well and in the right setting. We take you out to eat in the region's best traditional restaurants away from the tired tourist traps.