Healthy Resort Cooking Classes, Bring Home Some Skills

We get it: You go on vacation to be pampered. But with resorts updating their healthful cooking classes to include more engaging and specialized options, you may want to learn a few culinary tricks to bring back home. As a souvenir, it sure beats a keychain.

Esperanza Resort: Executive chef Gonzo Cerda leads vegetarian cooking courses with easy-to-replicate dishes like jicama-wrapped guacamole sushi and meatless paella. Shellfish lovers can also join him for clamming bonfires and grilling excursions on the beach along Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Rates from $595.

The Lodge at Woodloch: At this destination spa in Pennsylvania's lake region, chef Adam Mosher and pastry chef Christine Questore teach guests how to incorporate superfoods into savory and sweet dishes, such as banana-leaf salmon with pickled vegetables and pomegranate curry sauce; sweet potato, jalapeño and ginger soup; and vegan, gluten-free zucchini bread. Rates from $409.

Miraval: The famous Tucson, Arizona, retreat offers multitudes of healthy-living workshops, but a few that struck our fancy include one offering instruction on selecting foods that reduce the body's inflammatory process; a hands-on baking class exploring lower-calorie and reduced-fat desserts; and a course designed to decipher the difference among labels like "organic," "hormone-free" and "free-range." Rates from $349.