Cooking Class & Market Tour In Cuenca

You will learn Cuencan and Ecuadorian history, tour a market as an insider and then cook and enjoy a meal. The pace was relaxed and my wonderful guide Eddie showed me native foods is never seen. The sellers Eddie knew were fun to talk with, as curious about me as I was about them. Then, after our shopping, we went to Doris' apartment to cook our meal. I felt like I was with family as Doris gave me instructions and we made the meal together. Then we all sat together and enjoyed the food with Doris' charming daughter. It has never failed me - experiencing the food of a culture is the best way toward understanding. I will remember the hospitality, genuine warmth and delicious food for a very long time. I plan to try to recreate the meal at home. Thank you, Eddie and Doris and Sariah!

This was an absolute blast; I highly recommend booking this. Adrian was an excellent guide and Doris was a wonderful host and cook. I ended with great recommendations, a very full belly, and a better understanding of the food and culture. Frankly, the worst part about this experience is that I don't have easy access back home to some of the foods I tried.

We had an incredible experience during our cooking class. Wilson was a great host, very knowledgeable and of course a great cook. The stop at the local market and shopping for the fresh ingredients was the highlight. Highly recommend!

We had Christian as our guide for the Private Cooking class and Market tour, as well as the El Cajas National Park Tour, and we had an amazing time. Christian was super knowledgeable, enthusiastic and passionate about his country. His English was excellent and we just had a really great time with him. We highly recommend these tours with Christian.

We had a great time. Adrian was a delightful fellow, friendly and informative. Had a great experience at the host house making (and eating! ) the meal. Enjoyed the shopping experience as well!

Wilson provided an excellent, fun and illuminating experience as my guide through Cuenca’s 12 de Abril market and as a cooking instructor in his home. I’m glad I opted for this experience.

What a fantastic experience! Shopping for the necessary items in the spectacular market was made more special with our guide Wilson ! Our cooking class was in the beautiful home of Montserrat who treated us like family and stepped us through preparing a special rice, Locro de Papa - a delicious signature Equador soup and Seco de Pollo - deliciously prepared chicken. We also had an Ecuadorian snack made with mote (one of Equador’s many types of corn) , queso fresco and a salsa that we also prepared fresh! Finally Montserrat made us canalazo, a Ecuador specialty made with spices and fruit (tree tomato!) mixes with an agave tequila.. We even had a homemade ( not part of the class) lime ice cream with local blueberry topping. Everything was totally fresh!

From the moment we entered the car, Wilson’s authenticity and verve for sharing information and Cuenca charm was obvious. He has such an incredible knowledge-base and we thoroughly enjoyed his explanations as we shopped at the Mercado in preparations for our class. We were warmly welcomed by our hostess, Monserrath, and in the beauty of her wonderful home, we learned to make a variety of traditional Cuencan foods. And the meal! Wilson excelled at translations to support our line of cooking questions and Monserrat made sure that we understood measurements and techniques. We finished the day informed, full, and utterly charmed. Thank you both for your kindness and knowledge! We will never forget this outing!

This was a highlight of our time in Cuenca! Colorful bustling market to buy ingredients, then to a lovely home to learn how to prepare delicious traditional Ecuadorian dishes. Highly recommend!!

My husband & I loved it! Our guide Wilson was very knowledgeable about the area, and the different types of foods and their tastes and medicinal properties. He took us through the market and we had the cooking class in a private home! He was very kind, and the meal we learned to make was incredible! We would highly recommend this to our friends & family!

Excellent Cooking Class with great friendly guide and Chef. My wife and I enjoyed the informative shopping experience in the Mercado plus being in the chefs beautiful home. Highly Recommended!

My wife, sister and I thoroughly enjoyed our cooking class. Our English speaking guide and translator Wilson took us on an informative tour of Mercado 12 de Abril to acquire the ingredients. Our hostess Monserrate was very gracious and generous. She made us feel at home, taught us a lot and served us a great meal. We will be adding these recipes to our repertoire.

Both the guide and the lady who taught us how to make a two typical ecuadorian dishes were great people. Would recommend!

Had a delightful and informative experience walking through a local produce mercado with Wilson, a professional guide who knows his territory. We were shopping for ingredients for lunch and I learned about the many special foods native to Ecuador. We were welcomed into Monse’s home to make a local meal. She is a good home cook and I was invited to help with preparing some of the ingredients. For me the best part of travel is getting to know the people, and even better to share a meal. Thank you for a special and intimate view of a modern local family. The world becomes smaller when we find common ground!

We had an amazing experience! It was wonderful to visit the market and then prepare our meal. It was honestly the best meal we have had in Ecuador. We loved everything!

I made this reservation not knowing what to expect.Boy am I glad I did. It ended up being one of the highlights of our time in Cuenca. Our guide, Adrian shared his extensive knowledge about Ecuadorian foods and cuisine enthusiastically. Montserrat was a charismatic hostess and a born teacher. We loved the simplicity and wholesomeness of the Ecuadoran food and will be making Aji, a bright and fresh, hot sauce, the rest of our lives!

Beautiful historic city. Amazing mountains. Lots of good restaurants. Lots of things to see in and near the city. I suggest IngaPirca, Chardoleg, the hat factory and museum and the 10 de agusto market in Cuenca.

Wilson was our guide, he picked us up at our apartment right on time. He took us to a local market to buy the ingredients and also told us about all the different exotic and local fruits. We then went to his aunts house which was very nice in a gated community. Wilson did all the translating and reall made us feel very comfortable, even learned a new way to chop an onion! Lunch was very good and the fruit drink exceptional. Wilson is a fantastic guide would recommend to anyone coming to Ecuador.

Fabulous tour. Highly recommended. We had a lovely morning in the market learning about Ecuadorian food and ingredients. Then with the help of Alexandra, we helped to prepare a marvelous meal. Absolutely wonderful!

This experience was amazing. We had such a good time with Javier and his wife. We learnt a lot about Ecuador and its cuisine. I can only recommande it !

We spent a lovely 4 hours with Flavia and her aunt, exploring a local market, buying ingredients, and preparing and eating a tasty and generous lunch of pollo seco and rice with all the typical accompaniments. Both have a wealth of knowledge about local recipes and ingredients and enthusiastically shared their tips and “secrets”. Be sure to ask Flavia’s aunt for her “green garlic” seasoning hack!

We absolutely loved the market shopping, participating in cooking locro de papas (potato soup), seco de pollo (chicken), rice, and several accompanying dishes. And we had the choice of English or Spanish which we loved because we wanted to practice Spanish. We learned so much about the city and culture as well from our guide and the cooking instructor, in whose home the class was hosted. We highly recommend this experience!

We enjoyed the guide and all of the history he shared about Ecuadorian food, this was the most interesting part of the tour. We felt very welcomed in a traditional Ecuadorian home, the food was hearty, the potato soup was excellent. It was a little difficult to really immerse ourselves in the cooking process, although we were invited to help, mostly due to the home kitchen set up being a little tight for all three of us to be in the kitchen at once. We are glad we took the tour, it was also interesting to go to the market to pick out the ingredients. We feel this was an authentic experience in Cuenca.

Was visiting Cuenca on a solo trip and saw the opportunity to take a cooking class. All I can Say is this was absolutely fantastic! What a great experience to shop the Mercado with my guide Peter, who not only helped with my Spanish, but just made the overall experience a 10/10. My kitchen host was absolutely the most kind woman on the planet and I couldn’t have a stronger recommendation than taking this class. Would do it all over again when I’m back. Aloha.

Wonderful experience and meal!!! Tour of one of the Cuenca open markets with a discussion of local culture and customs. A cooking class in a private home with delightful hosts and incredible food. Pictures are of the market as I did not ask our host's permission to post pictures from her home.

First of all it was nice and we enjoyed the food. It was delicious. The Cook was really friendly and lovely. But we have a few things that maybe can be changed. We compared it to other cooking classes we had in different countries. First it felt like a cooking show and not a cooking class. We watched her almost the whole time how she was preparing and cooking the dishes. We only peeled potatoes and cut a few vegetables. We prefer to cook more by our own. We also ask ourselves if the price is justified. It would also have been nice to know in advance that the cook only speaks Spanish. We had a translator but it's just a different atmosphere when there is a language barrier.

We had a fantastic experience! The market tour was great! We learned a lot about the fruits of Ecuador, about ancient grains and the origin of potatoes. Wilson answered our many questions and treated us to some mercado fare. Our cooking class hostess gave us several different fruits to taste, showed us how aji and lulo were made, and prepared a delicious traditional Ecuadorian meal. This was one of the best experiences of our time in Ecuador!

I highly recommend this tour! We live in Cuenca but really wanted to learn more about the local cuisine. This tour was perfect. We learned how to shop at the market, the names of local fruits and really enjoyed getting to know our chef and tour guide. Really a must experience if you enjoy food or cooking at all.

It was great going to the market, then. Seeing how all the ingredients were used in the soup and chicken. We also tasted fruits I had never heard of. Juan was a great guide; his English was so good that we were able to engage in a far reaching conversation during appetizers and the meal.

This was so much fun! We visited the Mercado (which is interesting in and of itself) and got food for the meal we were cooking. While there, we also enjoyed a quick snack and drink, which were delicious. Then we went to our guide/cooking instructor's home to make the meal. It was so neat being in a local's home and cooking authentic dishes together. We learned so much about Ecuadorian food and culture as well as some history during our few hours together. By the end, we felt like part of the family! The food was amazing and there is something extra special about connecting with other people while traveling (beyond just walking around a museum or park). I highly recommend this experience for anyone who loves yummy food and/or wants to get to know what it's like living in Cuenca.

It was so a nice experience! We went to the market with our guide Sebastian and we learn so mandy new things about Ecuador. It was really interessting and also the cookingclass! The learn about the culture and all the things about food and cooking. Thank you for this beautiful experience!

Our guide Flavia picked up my husband and I right on time at 10:00 at our front door for our half-day cooking tour and drove us to a local open-air market. On the drive she explained just what our adventure today would entail and a little about the city as we drove along. Once parked she gave each of us a cloth bag to carry everything we’d need from the market for our meal today, along with the shopping list. Walking through the market was a true sensory experience – the colors of the wide assortment of fruits and vegetables - and the traditional clothing, the aromas of roasting pig and baking sweet breads, the sounds of busy people, and tasting stuffed tortillas right off the griddle. Once provisioned off we go to the home of our vibrant teacher and excellent cook Monse who makes us feel warmly welcomed. More than simply helping us prepare our soup and main course, Monse showed us how to prepare a base sauce for all savory dishes, and a so delicious sauce for appetizers – made from the tree tomato. All the while we are peppering Flavia with questions about Cuenca culture and life. Flavia is so knowledgeable and articulate, and Monse the magician in the kitchen, we learn far more than we expected and are delighted with the entire experience they provide. Our resulting meal was both delicious and filling! The cost of a 2-hour cooking class back home is anywhere from $50-$80, with no market experience! This 4-hour class was well worth the cost and I would gladly take it again, especially since planning the class via email with Javier was a breeze.

A wonderful, approachable introduction to the food of Cuenca and the Andes. Staring in the market gave a sense for the beautiful diversity of foods cultivated in Ecuador. Monse is a gracious host and wonderful cook who, along with Wilson, talked us through all the steps of preparing a traditional lunch. Less hands on than anticipated but still thoroughly enjoyable. A great first taste of ingredients and elements you'll find throughout Cuenca.

Our experience was much better than I anticipated. The market was interesting to us with the variety of produce unknown to us. The guide, Wilson, was patient and congenial. He gave us a true market experience. Then he drove us to the home of the most gracious hostess I have ever met. She effortlessly prepared the entire meal while we watched and learned. She cheerfully served us each course and surprised us with her dessert.

The cooking class was good, lovely people. But not worth the price. Two courses for 95 dollars, ingredients very cheap, good quality though. The two recipes are lovely and easy to cook. But for this price I would expect a bit more, there was no alcohol involved, which was fine with me, but how to justify the costs then.

The tour and the cooking class at an Ecuadorian home was such a unique and special experience. It was a beautiful way to connect with Ecuadorian culture and people through delicious food and traditions! We had a great time. Silvia was an excellent guide and Monse was such a warm and caring host.

We made and ate a wonderful Ecuadorian lunch. The trip to the market was interesting and educational. We enjoyed getting to know the people and food culture.

We enjoy the service of this company. They are very attentive and responsive. We attended the market tour and cooking class. It's a very culturally immersive experience. Instead of cooking at a professional kitchen, we actually cooked at a local's house! The market tour was very informative, and the home was cozy. The guide and the chef were very friendly and clear on the instructions. We learnt to make several Ecuadorian dishes that we absolutely love and enjoyed the snacks and fruits too. We had two kids with us (age 7 and 10), and they were able to accomodate them as well,

What a wonderful way to get introduced to the traditional foods of Ecuador. Andres picked us up from our hotel and walked us to the main market where we purchased the items needed for the class before we drove to the home of our hostess. We helped with some of the meal prep but our hostess did most of the work. The meal was excellent from start to finish! I would recommend this class to anyone who enjoys a hands on cultural experience.

This was a much richer and fun experience that I expected, even though the overwhelming number of reviews already supported this. Andres León, who served as tour guide and translator, is very knowledgeable and likable. I couldn’t have asked for a better guide! The amazing market, MERCADO 10 DE AGOSTO, is easily one of the best and fun markets I’ve ever visited. Nothing beats a busy local market loaded with foods that I’ve never seen before. And to wrap it all up, and outstanding cooking class at the home of an incredible and unforgettable local cook where we cooked up all those local ingredients we bought at the market. If you’re considering whether or not to sign up for this activity, let me help you out: DO IT! 😁

A great way to experience the local markets, not just for the ingredients we needed to get, but a full market tour with our amazing guide. Cooking and eating at a local person's home was so interesting and fun. Not only did we make and eat great food, we learned the chef's 'secret' additions and had the opportunity for a lot of conversation about many different topics. I would highly recommend this tour!

My boyfriend and I booked a cooking class to try something new and unique. We did not expect our experience to be so much more than a cooking class. Andres picked us up at our Airbnb and took us on an impromptu walking tour of Cuenca. Andres is so knowledgeable about the history and culture of the city. Alexandra is incredibly hospitable and an incredible cook. The two made such a fun team! It will be almost impossible to top this experience. We got so much more than we expected. Thank you!

We loved the four hours we spent with Wilson and Montse! We were picked up on-time from our hotel, and went to the market to pick up some ingredients for our three-course lunch. Wilson provided very valuable information about the fruits and vegetables, and was happy to answer all of our questions. Then we went to Montse's house and felt very welcome there! We helped prepare our lunch, which was delicious. My favorite part of the day: cuddling with Montse's dog on the couch. I highly recommend this experience!

I loved this experience, the guide and chef were very friendly and made us feel at home. We cooked delicious Ecuadorian food from scratch and just spent an overall good time hanging out.

I very much enjoyed the market tour and the cooking class. I learned a lot about Ecuadorian culture and cuisine. The visit to the local market was an interesting experience. It was fun to sample unusual Ecuadorian local fruits, vegetables, and drinks. Wilson was a wonderful guide. He speaks excellent English and is very knowledgeable about his country and its food and culture. Flavia is a great cook and a good teacher. I particularly enjoyed the relaxed domestic setting of the cooking class. Everyone associated with Cuenca Bestours was very helpful to me and a pleasure to deal with. I feel that Cuenca Bestours greatly enhanced my visit to Cuenca and I highly recommend them.

What a treat! We loved the market and cooking adventure with Wilson and Flavia! They shared their home and hearts. Absolutely the best Ecuadorian experience full of warmth and flavor. We learned so much about the history of their food culture! Cannot recommend HIGHLY ENOUGH!

If you love learning about the people of a country and what they eat taking a cooking class in someone house is a great way to do this. Our guide Wilson first took us to the market to show us what vegetables and fruits would be needed in our meal. If was fun seeing how a local deals and then buys from another. Then we went to his aunt house who let us do as much as we wanted to in the making of our meal which consisted of a soup, an entree and a dessert. It was a fun experience that we will always remember as we try to recreate the meals at home. If you are thinking about taking the course just go for it!!

This was an amazing experience and the highlight of our trip to Cuenca! So much to learn about the fruits and veggies of Ecuador, plus the opportunity to taste them all was amazing. Helping cook our meal AND get the recipes was well worth it.

Javier and Alexandra provided us with an unrivaled experience. It wasn't just the market visit or even the cooking class per se, but being able to spend time in a lovely Cuenca home and, for the better part of an afternoon, becoming part of a warm and loving family. We wholeheartedly recommend this experience to anyone with an interest in Ecuadorian family life, not to mention great food.