From galas and poolside socials to lectures and movement classes, this year’s Holistic Holiday at Sea has all the ingredients for a fun and educational experience. While every aspect is important, food is at the heart of it all. In elegant dining rooms, guests will be able to choose from sit-down menus for all three meals. There are also buffet options for breakfast and lunch.
Whether you’ve been following a plant-based diet for decades or you’ve recently considered switching to one, you’re likely on the lookout for delicious and easy recipes. Cooking classes led by master chefs are here to help! Guests can watch these demonstrations and sample some of the prepared food.
Cooking Classes Cover All the Basics—And Then Some!
Mother and daughter duo Ann and Jane Esselstyn will discuss and demonstrate the practical side of staying heart healthy in their cooking class, “The How and Wow: Discussion and Demo of the Guidelines to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.”
A hypnotherapist, macrobiotic cook, and actress, Jessica Porter is a highly entertaining performer who makes her lectures funny, inspiring, and informative. She will lead the cooking classes “Elegant Plant-Based Party Dishes” and “Optimum Health on a Plant-Based Diet.” She will also offer a Cooking Boot Camp titled “Cook Your Way to a Better Relationship: Kitchen Secrets for Creating Harmony, Laughter, and Sexual Spark.”
Author of seven books and widely acclaimed chef, Mark Reinfeld joins the Holistic Holiday at Sea team this year as a menu and recipe consultant. He contributed more than 25 vegan fusion recipes to this year’s menu.
Mark will celebrate the world’s plant-based cuisine, including raw items, in “Vegan Fusion Healthy Snacks and Salads.” Recipes include golden turmeric milk, hemp energy balls, and a raw walnut taco salad. Mark shares, “I like to empower people with as many of the tools and tips that I can share in a class or workshop. I show people how to view recipes as templates, or ‘Template Recipes.’ By altering any of the components in a dish, you can create a new recipe. So even in a short cooking demo I can share hundreds and even thousands of recipes.”
He views cooking classes as a form of food activism: “Empowering people with the tools they need to create healthy and delicious plant based cuisine is a way of promoting human health, protecting the environment and creating a more peaceful world. To me this is a worldwide movement.”
You’ll likely recognize Christina Pirello from her national public television series, Christina Cooks. In “To Soy or Not to Soy: That is the Question,” Christina will dive into controversy around what she calls this “oh so humble bean.” Most heart disease is preventable and treatable, and Christina believes it all begins in the kitchen. Learn how to make heart-healthy food choices in “The Heart of the Matter.”
During Cooking Boot Camp, “The Joy of Plant-based Cooking,” Christina will turn your passion for cooking “from simmer to boiling over.”
If you have the fantasy of sitting in the Italian countryside, enjoying a meal with your friends and family, Christina dives into the secrets of how to create authentic Italian cuisine in “The Italian Table.” Christina shares, “One of the big misconceptions about Italian food is that it’s all cheese and eggs, and nothing could be further from the truth. That’s the American approach to Italian food. I cook with more traditional techniques using whole grains, beans and veggies to create authentic Italian-style dishes, and I use some of my own tricks to create some of the familiar flavors we love with no compromise to wellness. In all my classes, people can expect to have their questions answered. to see some amazingly simple and delicious recipes prepared, and to leave the class with a deeper understanding of the subject.”
If you’re following popular vegan food blogger Kathy Patalsky, then you’ve likely read about her super popular veggie burger. “This is a very different variety of veggie burger because it is really not trying to imitate meat at all!” says Kathy, “It is just super flavorful and has a unique soft, yet burger-y texture!” In her cooking class, “Super Smoothies and Scrumptious Veggie Burgers,” Kathy will cover plenty of veggie burger variations and techniques, as well as smoothie techniques and flavor combinations, including superfood add-ins.
Dig Right In!
Don’t miss your chance to learn a new recipe or three at this year’s Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise, embarking March 11! Cooking Boot Camps last two and a half hours and are priced at $150 per person. Click here for a full program schedule.
