Be it a Provencal feast or a Tuscan garden wedding; A Chinese new-year ritual or a traditional Scottish highlands banquet, food is a timeless and essential ingredient that goes hand in hand with travel and celebration.
With this in mind, Steve and Laura created Vagabond Gourmet, a luxury culinary travel company that pairs the exhilaration of the journey with the art of the table. They have spent a lifetime exploring, creating and celebrating extraordinary cuisine, and now they invite you to join them on a culinary adventure of a lifetime in Europe, Asia and North America.
Our itineraries are constantly changing and are carefully planned to satiate and satisfy any desire, whether you are a seasoned voyager or first time visitor.
In the kitchen, all the ingredients used by Laura and her guest chefs are the best and freshest available. You can roll up your sleeves to learn from the masters, or sit back and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere. Whatever your pleasure, eating well is guaranteed.
Essential to a well crafted tour means having a remarkable team assembled, each
bringing a special talent and knowledge to enhance
your experience.
Backgrounds may be diverse however our enthusiastic partners all love people,
their province, a culinary quest, and sharing
their favorites places.
Laura Schmalhorst
Creating stellar cutting
edge cuisine for
more than 25 years has been Laura’s hallmark.
From her early days
as a trendy Boston restaurant chef to the award winning magnificent
events and galas she produced from her catering business
A La Carte Event Pavilion. Laura’s
wanderlust and desire
to share her professional knowledge with others led to Vagabond
Gourmet.
Steve Schmalhorst
Steve is more than
just a husband and business partner, he is the “Life
of the Party.” He brings to Vagabond
Gourmet years of ” front of the house” experience
as the consummate maitre’d, sommelier, event planner, tour
guide and joke teller. Steve’s warm personality immediately
makes guests feel at home, and his love of a great food and
wine, and of travel is inspiring!
Kimberly Lovato
Kimberley Lovato is a writer whose articles have appeared in Tampa Bay Illustrated, The St. Petersburg Times, Fit Pregancy Magazine, and various online travel E-zines. She is currently the editor of Rendez-Vous, a magazine for American expatriates in Brussels, as well as the public relations and marketing writer for Vagabond Gourmet. She enjoys good food and fine wine. She laughs at her own jokes and is a perpetual student of all things French. She currently lives with her husband and daughter in Brussels, Belgium. Read about her life as an expat at www.abroadinbelgium.com
Sam Levin
Sam Levin is currently
an on-air/media entertainment
host and guest for Cool Mac/Tech Picks, Inside Mac Radio/TV
and a consultant in the emerging technology industry. Sam is
the former Co Founder of the Stanford Mac Users' Group, a key
special interest [Mac] group representing one of Apple's first
Consortium based Universities within the U.S. Levin forges
a path for airing new products and technologies and develops
crucial relationships between entertainment and technology
industries. Levin workes with leading Macintosh, PC and mobile
developers on viral/social media and strategic market development.
Sam directed licensing initiatives for leading entertainment
companies such as Virgin Interactive, Broderbund, and Mattel.
Sam has been using Macs and consumer electronic devices for 20+ years, as well as tied into the world of mobile and digital imaging, providing him a special angle on personal computing and today's digital lifestyle.
Katie Kirby - The Potato Babe
The team’s newest member, Katie Kirby, found her way to Vagabond
Gourmet through a slightly different path. A Cleveland native, Katie earned a degree in Journalism from Ohio University and moved to Colorado Springs, Colo. to begin her PR career with the U.S. Olympic Committee. Next, she moved to Denver, worked for a small public relations firm and spent her weekends traveling – and eating – her way through Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
After visiting every restaurant in the Rockies, Katie’s inner cowgirl gave way to her Midwestern roots and she moved to Chicago in 1999. There, she discovered her next big thing – a position as director of public relations for the Chicago White Sox. She worked for the Sox for seven seasons, managing special events and conducting media outreach efforts for the 2003 MLB All-Star Game and the team’s 2005 World Series Championship. Katie loved her job at the White Sox, but resigned to concentrate on her long-time dream of pursuing culinary school.
Now a part-time culinary student, Katie has joined Vagabond
Gourmet as the babe of all trades – part-time potato peeler, sometimes blogger and full-time epicurean adventurer. She dusted off her French/English dictionary, unlocked her diary and invites you to follow along as she spills every delicious morsel of her travels – and Steve and Laura’s secrets – this summer.
Giulio Benuzzi
Giulio Benuzzi is a native Italian began his career as a restaurateur in Milan at the highly respected restaurant Le Api. Having traveled all over Italy, his journeys eventually led him to Tuscany, where he soon fell under its spell and began another career as an enologist. Giulio is one or our most treasured assets in Tuscany and continuously searches for the finest local artisans and producers to add to our tours. His passion for life and marvelous charisma brings standing ovations to each of our Italian tours.
Cristina Teixeira Coelho
Crisina Teixeira Coelho a native Italian began her career as a fashion model working for the some of most important Italian designers in Florence, Gucci and Tod’s. She eventually became a buyer for Gucci and with her vast knowledge of the fashion world she shows you Florence from another point of view. Explore the history of fashion, the legends, or enjoy simply strolling through the streets of Florence for some spectacular shopping finds.
Pierre Cusseau
Pierre Cusseau is our French friend or "herbs shepherd" as he likes to be called, will introduce you to the aromatic world of spices – from the secrets of the harvesting and the drying process to preserving the fragrance. This amazing Renaissance man left the hustle of big city Paris when he fell in love with his Italian wife and the earthy Tuscan soil. Singing opera to his tender herb shoots and picking every blossom by hand before blending his secret potions has made Pierre’s aromatics coveted by Florence chefs visiting the Mercato or anyone else fortunate enough to taste them.
Donatella Cinelli
Donatella Cinelli was born in a small village on the hills of Maremma (South of Tuscany, near Grosseto) under Amiata Mountain. Since she was a child, she has learned the traditions of a simple cooking with authentic flavours and recipes from her mother. Her love for cooking has grown throughout the years much to the delight her large family. She now is a popular caterer and consultant to a highly respected restaurant in Florence.
Moreno Moroni
Moreno Moroni lives in the countryside near Anghiari with his favorite dog Alba and is considered by most Tuscans to be the world's authority in truffle hunting. Moreno talks nonstop in a secret language only Alba seems to understand but then again, he is the president of the truffle association of the Arezzo valley.
Sally Ann Evans
Sally Ann Evans fell under the bewitching spell of Dordogne during the five years she lived in Issigeac prior to becoming the owner of Le Prieure in 2005. Originally from London she is a gourmet cook, wine enthusiast, an avid good will ambassador to the Dordogne region. She is our very own conceriege who keeps us up to date all year with new finds and the latest market news. Sally Ann has a great passion for food, wine, and her engaging delightful personality is always a treat.
Helen Gillespie Peck
Helen Gillespie Peck is member of the Guild of Sommeliers and Guild of Cellar Masters in London. While studying wine at the Conseil Interprofessional des Vin de la Region de Bergerac she also began taking up work as a travel guide specializing in wine regions of France. After becoming a member of Association of Wine Educators, an accredited tutor for WSET she joined the Circle of Wine Writers. Helen returned to live in France and now conducts small intimate tours and classes.
Nicholas De Visch
Nicholas De Visch has a reputation as one Southwest France’s most innovative chefs earning him high accolades from Gault Millau and Guide du Routard two of France’s esteemed culinary reviewers. His stellar seafood creations are setting a new standard for Dordogne’s cuisine where only old traditions were known before.
Carmen and Werner Wunderli
Sally Ann Evans fell under the bewitching spell of Dordogne during the five years she lived in Issigeac prior to becoming the owner of Le Prieure in 2005. Originally from London she is a gourmet cook, wine enthusiast, an avid good will ambassador to the Dordogne region. She is our very own conceriege who keeps us up to date all year with new finds and the latest market news. Sally Ann has a great passion for food, wine, and her engaging delightful personality is always a treat.
Mark Lasky
Mark Lasky’s passion has always been food and wine. As a boy
growing up in New
Jersey, his Sicilian mother along with his grandparents, taught
him all about family traditions with respect to cuisine and
culture. From cooking with his grandmother on Sundays to making
homemade wine in the basement with his grandfather, Mark certainly
has captured the European lifestyle. Even today, he and his
wife Rebecca and their 8-year-old daughter Amanda, practice
and embrace this tradition. With 15+ years in the wine industry,
Mark is also a member of the Guild of Sommeliers and is a wine
educator at The Tampa Wine Institute in Ybor City. This is
why he affectionately known as “the wino”.
Udo Philipp
Udo Philipp a renowned European expert in history and communication and book-writer brings his brilliant analytical philosophy to food. Udo’s home in Provence is his laboratory and the combinations of color and flavours quite unlike anything we’ve seen. Udo passionate eye for detail and love of his culinary “hobby” is a unique and fun experience. Udo presents his new book about farmers-market of Velleron and the recipes of market-women and his personal interpretation! A must for cooks wanting more on the Mediterranean and Provencal kitchens.
Los-Dos Cooking School
We love it because, like us, the school was designed for people who love to cook as well as to learn about world cultures. And what better place is there to learn the art of the first fusion cuisine than at a magical hacienda in Merida, Mexico from American born professional chef, David Sterling who says he was “weaned on chili”. Hot stuff.
Los Dos is the FIRST
school in Mexico devoted to Yucatán cuisine and we’re pretty sure
it’s the only school that has star power worthy of a red carpet!
Featured in Condé Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Gourmet, and
The New York Times, Los Dos has become a "must-do" destination
in the Yucatán. Therefore we say: “I do” to Los Dos.
www.los-dos.com
Carol Coviello-Malzone
Carol Coviello-Malzone is a writer, lecturer, and hopeless Roma-phile who divides her time between Florida and the Eternal City. In the name of research and rank hedonism, she has eaten her way through most of Italy, stopping occasionally for cooking classes, seminars, and any food or wine festival she finds en route. Her articles have appeared in The Tampa Tribune, Media General syndication, and multiple websites. Carol also has operated cooking and art tours to Rome and has just published her first book Flavors
of Rome, an entertaining primer on how to eat no matter where you go in Italy. You can find the rest of the story on her website:
www.flavorsofrome.com.
Laura Neulat
Growing up in Uruguay and the US with a French grandmother who taught me the basics of cooking, gave my style an international flavor from the very beginning.
Later on, my French husband, children and I had the incredible opportunity to live and travel in faraway lands. From the fragrant Indian spices, to the rich flavorsome French gourmet dishes, and the hot colorful South American treats, nowadays I regularly teach classes that take my pupils on a sensory culinary adventure across the oceans and seas so they can take a little piece of my travels into their own pots and pans.
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