PERSPECTIVES│Why do we love to cook on holiday?
When we go on holiday, we often imagine restaurants, terraces, and long dinners out. And yet, something curious happens: many of us find ourselves shopping in local markets, unpacking fresh ingredients, and spending hours in kitchens that aren’t even our own.
Why do we love to cook on holiday? The answer lies not in recipes, but in culture, connection, and the simple joy of slowing down.
A Taste of Place
Cooking while traveling is one of the most authentic ways to experience a destination. A basket of sun-warmed figs from a Provençal market, fresh pasta bought in a small Italian village, or seafood straight from a Greek harbor — these aren’t just ingredients. They are stories, fragments of local life carried back to the holiday table.In each country, kitchens become windows into culture:
In Spain, families gather around paella, each ingredient tied to the land and sea.
In Thailand, a curry paste pounded with mortar and pestle reveals centuries of tradition.
In Morocco, slow-cooked tagines carry the rhythm of desert caravans and spice routes.
Cooking on holiday is not about feeding ourselves — it’s about tasting the identity of a place.
The Luxury of Time
At home, cooking is often squeezed between work, errands, and obligations. On holiday, the pace shifts. There is time to let bread rise, to wait for flavors to deepen, to linger over preparation with a glass of wine in hand.Cooking becomes a ritual of slowness. Shelling peas on a balcony in Portugal, grilling by the beach as the sun sets…
This isn’t duty. It’s luxury, the luxury of time.
Food as Connection
Meals cooked on holiday are rarely solitary. They invite gathering, laughter, and memory-making. Friends take turns at the stove, families share the table, and neighbors sometimes join in. Every dish becomes a story, like the improvised pasta that turned into a favorite memory.
Holidays remind us that food is never just food, cooking is not just coking, it is togetherness.
Why It Matters for brands
Cooking on holiday brings us closer to culture, slows us down, and connects us with others. It transforms eating into experience, and kitchens & appliances into living parts of our journeys.
It is not about recipes or technique. It is about belonging to a place, to a moment, to each other.
That’s why, year after year, we find ourselves drawn to the stove, even when we could dine out every night. On holiday, cooking is not work. It is joy.