Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 4, 1995                   TAG: 9510050005
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VACATIONS THAT REALLY GET YOU COOKING

Live demonstrations by "Galloping Gourmet" Graham Kerr at The Greenbriar in West Virginia; bread-making with Jim Dodge, "The American Baker," at The Inn at Essex in Vermont; and classes with culinary stars Wolfgang Puck and Julia Child at Dallas' posh Mansion on Turtle Creek, reports Travel Weekly - the leading travel industry newspaper.

According to a special report by Travel Weekly's hotel editor, Fran Golden, an increasing number of hotels and resorts are offering hands-on cooking classes and vacation packages for food-loving travelers that feature some of America's best-loved chefs.

"And, guests are, well, just eating the cooking programs up," says Golden.

"Not only are Americans more interested in food in general, but there is a growing market for going to a professional cooking school and combining education with a vacation. And hotels are finding it a great way to attract customers, highlight restaurant facilities and chefs, and perhaps spice up an off-season period, all at the same time."

Golden says that culinary vacation offerings have grown substantially, and that they appeal to a wide variety of tastes. Prospective chefs have an abundance of hotel culinary programs to choose from, including one-session cooking demonstrations to weekend or five-day packages.

For example, as part of its "Celebrity Chefs Festival" this winter, not only is Boston's Copley Plaza offering a weekend package, but also a series of one-session cooking demonstrations for a $10 donation each to the Greater Boston Food Bank. Even Disney is getting into the act with an extensive roster of cooking classes opening at Disney World's "Disney Institute" next year.

So popular are cooking classes, some hotels are offering culinary programs for kids. For example, the Four Seasons Hotel Newport Beach in California has a combined cooking and etiquette class for chefs of the future, ages 6 to 18.

In addition to accommodations and gourmet meals, a typical culinary package might include a tour of a produce market for shopping tips; cooking with celebrities and/or a hotel's executive chef; baking tips from the pastry chef; wine tastings; and nutritional information, chef's whites and recipes to take home. Some hotels also include spa treatments, golf or tennis.