10 Resolution-ary breaks for 2008
Want to make your New Year’s culinary resolution more fun? Include it as part of
a holiday, suggests Norman Miller: it will transform it from a chore to an enlightening,
even life-changing experience.
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- Maine, USA
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The resolution
Embrace the outdoors; catch your own seafood.
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The trip
Become part of Maine’s lobstering tradition aboard the Lucky Catch. Haul in the
traps, then take Maine’s most famous seafood offering back to cook and eat on the
balcony of your ocean-view suite. If you’re squeamish, the hotel chef can cook your
crustacean. The luxurious Inn By The Sea is in US magazine Travel & Leisure’s
top 100 hotels in the States and Canada. As Maine’s only officially carbon-neutral
hotel, it’s also good for greenies. Situated in the upmarket resort of Cape Elizabeth,
the Inn is just ten minutes’ drive from the shops and culture of the state’s main
city, Portland. The bright lights of Boston, meanwhile, are an hour and a half away.
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The details
The two-night Real Maine Experience at the Inn By The Sea (+1 207 799 3134;
innbythesea.com) is available
from 6 June to the end of September, from $849 (£417) per couple for an ocean-view
balcony suite, b&b, with lobster trip and lobster included. Flights to Portland
cost from £330 return at
cheapflights.co.uk.
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- Rotorua,
New Zealand
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The resolution
Discover the food of indigenous cultures.
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The trip
Head to the geothermal heartland of Rotorua for Maori chef Charles Royal’s tour
around his coastal marae (holy place) at Te Kaha. Stay with Charles’s whanau (family)
and share the stories of his ancestors while cooking traditional Maori meals including
kina (sea urchin roe).
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The details
Kinaki’s (+64 7345 3122;
maorifood.com)
three-day Marae and Seafood Tour costs NZ$1,875 (£700) including home-stay, transfers
and meals. Air New Zealand (0800 028 4149;
airnewzealand.co.uk)
flies to Rotorua via Auckland from £1,141.
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- Tuscany,
Italy
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The resolution
Acquire Italian bread-making know-how.
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The trip
Fed up of uninspiring loaves? Learn to bake your own at an artisan bread school
in Tuscany. La Macchia is a pastel-stone estate in the Val di Pierle. You’ll bake
everything from focaccia to sourdough olive bread, while Tuscan cooking fuels you
for pottering round local villages.
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The details
Artisan Bread School’s (07785 320213;
artisan-bread-school.com)
three-day courses cost €630 (£440) including accommodation and dinners with
wine. Ryanair (0871 246 0000;
ryanair.com) flies to Perugia
from £11.99 one way.
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- Mugla, Turkey
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The resolution
Learn to make veggie food that isn’t boring.
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The trip
Yediburunlar Lighthouse is a small, six-room mountain retreat on the dramatic Lycian
Way, with stunning views over the Med. Guests cook veggie Turkish cuisine such as
roasted, smoked aubergine, and fried filo parcels with crumbly cheese, mint and
parsley, using home-grown organic produce. The hotel has impeccable green credentials.
Guests also dine with the village headman to learn about life in the village, and
escorted treks reveal wildlife and ancient sites.
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The details
Exclusive Escapes (020 8605 3500;
exclusiveescapes.co.uk)
offers seven nights half-board from £900 including flights, transfers, cookery lessons
and treks.
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- Japan
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The resolution
Expand your culinary horizons (eastward).
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The trip
On this food-lovers’ odyssey you’ll visit a restaurant in Osaka that serves fugu
(deadly blowfish), cook your own okonomiyaki (pan-fried batter cake) dishes, and
learn about Kyoto’s imperial cuisine. You’ll be immersed in Japan’s spiritual culture,
too: learn zazen meditation, staying and dining for two nights with Buddhist monks.
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The details
Responsible Travel’s (01273 600030;
responsibletravel.com)
13-night Japan Cuisine Tour costs £1,560 including meals and inn accommodation.
Flights to Tokyo with Virgin Atlantic (0870 380 2007;
virgin-atlantic.com)
start at £603.60.
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- Monmouthshire, Wales
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The resolution
Get back to your primal roots – go foraging.
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The trip
Want to meet Raoul, Man of the Woods? No carbon-hungry plane journey needed; just head for Nantyderry in deepest Monmouthshire for a weekend at The Foxhunter pub, from where Raoul will lead you in search of wild garlic on the hills, ceps in the woods and samphire on the Bristol Channel shore. Then bring it back for a feast cooked by the pub’s chef, Matt Tebbutt.
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The details
Wild Food Foraging Weekend at The Foxhunter (01873 881101,
thefoxhunter.com)
costs £375 for two nights for two, with cottage accommodation, foraging foray and
a wild food meal all included.
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- The road to Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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The resolution
Make a gourmet pilgrimage.
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The trip
Tread the famous pilgrims’ path of the Camino de Santiago with fabulous food en
route, including partridge and lentils at Roncesvalles, and sopa Doña Jimena (a
garlic, bread and egg soup named after the wife of El Cid) in Burgos. As you reach
the holy city of Santiago, try wonderfully fresh seafood, such as crab and shrimp,
from the nearby Galician coast.
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The details
ATG Oxford’s (01865 315678;
atg-oxford.co.uk)
15-day guided Camino de Santiago tour from Biarritz, full-board with drinks, costs
from £3,150 excluding flights.
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- Petra, Jordan
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The resolution
Explore Arab history, culture and cuisine.
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The trip
Stay by the ancient rose-red city of Petra, delving into Arabic cuisine amid Biblical
sites. Learn lots of Jordanian culinary specialities, and end the trip by the Dead
Sea with a rejuvenating soak in its salty waters.
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The details
On The Menu (0870 899 8844;
holidayonthemenu.com)
offers seven nights for £779 including accommodation, cooking lessons, excursions
and four dinners. BMI (0870 607 0555;
flybmi.com)
has direct flights to Amman from £432.20.
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- St Felix, Mauritius
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The resolution
Improve body and soul.
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The trip
Overlooking the Indian Ocean, Shanti Ananda Maurice is a luxury spa offering the
ayurvedic system of medicine. Discover your dosha (individual body type) from an
ayurvedic doctor, with advice on how to keep it on the right track, assisted by
a tailored menu of dishes. Mull over whether you really are a pitta (hot and fiery)
while chilling in the spa.
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The details
Erna Low Body & Soul (020 7594 0290;
bodyandsoulholidays.info)
has seven-night packages from £2,305 with accommodation, flights and transfers,
detox menu consultation, meals, personalised spa programme, yoga, meditation, cookery
demos and excursions.
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- Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
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The resolution
Become an ethical coffee-drinker.
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The trip
Cafédirect-lovers get to meet the farmers who grow the beans, and learn how it’s
all done, at Kahawa Shamba in the Kilimanjaro foothills. Also included is a stay
at a luxury safari camp in the Tarangire reserve.
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The details
The full-board Kudu and Coffee package with Tribes Travel (01728 685971;
tribes.co.uk) includes two
nights at Kahawa Shamba and three at Tarangire from £1,070. Kenya Airways (01784
888222;
kenya-airways.com)
flies to Kilimanjaro from £500 return.