November 28, 2019, Beijing — Discovering local cuisine has increasingly become a highlight of people’s travels. According to internal data from Airbnb, globally, bookings for food-related Airbnb Experiences in 2019 increased 1.6 times compared to the previous year. In line with this trend, Airbnb today officially introduced a new type of experience — Culinary Experiences, taking people on a journey to explore unique traditional flavors from homes around the world. From grandma’s secret family recipes to the originator of Peking Duck near the Forbidden City, the newly launched Airbnb Culinary Experiences feature 3,000 specialty dishes from 75 countries and regions, allowing travelers to easily enjoy authentic local tastes.
The newly launched Airbnb Culinary Experiences offer a fresh way to explore culture through food. Unlike traditional cooking classes that are often challenging and time-consuming, the core of Airbnb Culinary Experiences is to strengthen human connections — the joy lies in making and enjoying food together. These experiences will be led by local hosts such as families, farmers, and pastry chefs from around the world, allowing participants to enjoy meals in an intimate atmosphere, engage in deep conversations, learn to cook traditional dishes from local experts, and listen to the moving stories behind the food.
“Since the first guests joined Airbnb, we’ve recognized that sharing meals is key to connecting with culture and fostering communication,” said Brian Chesky, CEO and co-founder of Airbnb. “With Airbnb Culinary Experiences, we hope to bring people back to the tradition of coming together to cook and share meals, helping preserve and pass down special family recipes from kitchens around the world.”
Preserving traditional food culture is also at the heart of Airbnb’s launch of Culinary Experiences. To ensure that each culinary experience authentically preserves the original flavors of traditional recipes, Airbnb has partnered with the international Slow Food organization, which is dedicated to protecting traditional food cultures worldwide. Together, they review each experience based on Slow Food’s professional standards to ensure that every Airbnb host can convey the unique essence of their dishes through personal stories and share their insights into food traditions. In addition, Slow Food will also launch 15 exclusive Airbnb Culinary Experiences that strictly follow the principles of good, clean, and fair, including a “Cooking + Food Hiking Tour” along the Amalfi Coast and “Saving Food Together” in Cartagena, Colombia.
“We are honored to work with Airbnb to help people better preserve their family recipes and promote high-quality, sustainable food culture,” said Paolo Di Croce, Secretary-General of Slow Food. “Airbnb Culinary Experiences provide a valuable opportunity to make an urgent global call for more people to follow sustainable standards, protect biodiversity, and drive change across the food and tourism industries. We will work together to ensure travelers have an authentic experience, gaining deeper insights into local communities while raising awareness about sustainable food practices.”
In addition, Airbnb has simultaneously launched the “Italian Culinary Learning Journey” to celebrate the launch of the new culinary experiences and unearth more traditional food treasures. Food lovers from around the world can apply or nominate their favorite home cooks to participate. One hundred selected applicants will travel to Pollenzo, a UNESCO World Heritage town in northern Italy, for a five-day special program where they will cook with Chef David Chang and his mother Sherri, and study at the University of Gastronomic Sciences founded by Slow Food. There, they will refine their family recipes, with the most distinctive ones potentially included in our planned 2020 release of the “Airbnb Cookbook.”
In addition to attending workshops, tasting sessions, field trips, and receiving professional instruction from senior professors, applicants will also cook alongside Nonna Nerina. One of Airbnb’s top-rated culinary hosts, Nonna Nerina offers travelers an authentic taste of village cuisine in Rome and shares her family’s love for Italian cooking. Her experiences have generated over $150,000 in bookings. Thanks to these passionate hosts, the number of food experiences on Airbnb has grown by over 150% since 2018. The new culinary experiences will further showcase Airbnb’s forward-thinking approach, using intimate spaces and small-group formats to allow people to fully immerse themselves in authentic local culture.
Starting today, eligible Airbnb users can visit the Culinary Experiences page on the Airbnb website to apply or nominate their favorite home cooks. Applicants are required to submit an original short essay explaining their passion for cooking and why their chosen family recipe stands out. Applications are now open and will close at 12:59 PM Beijing Time on December 24, 2019. A judging panel composed of representatives from Airbnb, Slow Food, and the University of Gastronomic Sciences will select 100 lucky participants, who will travel to Italy in four groups on June 15, 22, 29, and July 6, 2020.
* All experiences mentioned in this article are for inspiration and showcasing purposes only. Airbnb does not specifically recommend or guarantee any of these experiences.