Private Traditional Colombian Cooking Class with a Local in Medellín

In my first experience with Traveling Spoon in Merida, Mexico, I commented on the limited stove time and I felt more like the prep person then anything. I still had that issue with my Medellin experience with Catalina. That being said, I did prefer our time with Catalina and will highlight the insides and areas for improvement. Let’s start with messaging. We were supposed to make dinner. However, there was a change in her schedule and we were requested to make lunch. Once we connected directly with Catalina and eliminated the intermediary of Traveling Spoon, we found her very responsive. Especially with guidance on directions. She knew we preferred vegetarian and was quite accommodating. She has a lovely apartment. And, as in Merida, got to see life on the inside. The table was set with lovely dishes. Catalina did ask how involved we wanted to be and I wanted to be very hands on. Limited guidance and direction from Catalina and let us prepare everything. That’s were I think there is room for improvement with the Traveling Spoon model. If the guests just want to watch. Fine. If they want some hands on, ok. If, like me, I prefer to prepare the entire meal with basic guidance from the home chef and the story behind the ingredients and such, then let it be. I am fine with Catalina making the dessert in advance. Flan requires setting overnight. For everything else, I really wanted to be more involved. She had made yuca chips in advance. We could have done that. There were a few other items prepped in advance that we could have done. As I chopped the onion for the guacamole, Catalina noted my knife skills. Thank you. However, I should have been able to make the guac start to finish. It was clear there is some liability concern with Traveling Spoon because in both instances, the oven and stove top were almost taboo. Which if that’s an issue, why let us play with knives? When all was said and done, we enjoyed the experience in Medellin with Catalina more then Merida. Better pace, more relaxed. And when we sat and broke bread, it was a family experience. Catalina and her boyfriend were super accommodating and the meal and conversation were lovely. And we had leftovers that we had at Parque Arvi the next day! She even assisted us with guidance in directions after we left. Net, both hosts were quite nice and it was great to be in their homes. I am not sold on Traveling Spoon based on the two experiences in terms of really getting hands on. Juries still out.