You may seen hundred of TV cooking show where instructor demonstrates the process of making certain dish. Chop this, fry that, mix them together, put them on fire, and out of a sudden, a delicious looking dish comes up like magic. These cooking lesson feed your mind.

But there are a few cooking lesson which also feed the soul. Participants are not only learning how to make a dish, but become immersed in an experience. They are brought to the fields where the food comes from and to the home where the cook lives so they can experience the culture from where the dish comes from. This is what you will get when you attend a cooking class organized by Paon Bali Cooking in Ubud, Bali.

Run by a couple of husband and wife Wayan Subawa and Puspa Wati, Paon Bali Cooking is numerously acclaimed in various travel forums. “Not to miss experience”, “Must do in Bali”, “The best way to learn Balinese cooking” are only a few phrase taken from TripAdvisor.com. Check out travel websites you like, and most probably you will find Paon Bali Cooking at the top board of things to do in Ubud.

In fact, TripAdvisor connected me from the Philippines and all other participants of my groups -  four from Australia, two from Canada, four from the United States – with Paon Bali Cooking. “We found this one with fantastic recommendations on TripAdvisor”, said Paul Michaelson, an American retiree who was accompanied by his wife, Janet.

It is quite interesting to learn how technology help traditional flourish by creating shared experience among diverse culture from the story of Wayan and Puspa. When she started last year, Puspa only had one student in her first class. An American friend of hers asked her of she could teach an American visitor about Balinese cuisine.

It was a start of one of the most acclaimed traditional cooking school in Bali. The website paon-bali.com then attracted even more culinary adventurers from various countries. America, Netherland, France, Singapore are just to name some of the origins of those enrolled for her half-day program.

“My father is the best cook in our village. People would invite him to cook of someone held significant ceremony. I learned to cook from him when I was five years old”, said Puspa. “We only cook authentic Balinese foods like lawar, urab, and pepes ikan”, she added. Cooking is her life. Before deciding to concentrate all of her time to her cooking school she commands a team of cooks in Balinese and Indonesian cuisine at a hotel in Ubud for 15 years.

Puspa and his husband take the cooking class beyond just a source of family income. “It is something we love to do. We are happy to meet people every day. We are proud to teach them our culture”, Wayan said. “And we are pleased to introduce them to our family”, he added.

Conducted in English, the course are centered in Balinese family culture. This feeling is taken by participants at the first time they meet somewhere at Ubud market. They are told that they would be in a different family for a day where everyone rodes together, walks together, cook together, and then enjoy the meal they cooked together on a table, just like a family.

During their shopping session at Ubud market Puspa would explain the ingredients and spices used in traditional Balinese cooking. After shopping participants are driven up to rice field and and family house at Lalapan village, about 15 minutes drive away from central Ubud. Wayan would explain how the crop is grown, how the paddies processed into rice grain, and its role in Balinese life during their visit to the rice field.

Then we all walked up to their home to cook. All dishes are prepared with organic ingredients grown in the family garden. All cooking preparation was done at the outdoor kitchen in combination of traditional method like grinding spices by stone and heating in Balinese wooden-fired stove.

Puspa and Wayan would answer every questions regardless if they are not related to the cooking. “The most essential thing in Balinese cooking is the sauce. If you are good in making the sauce then your food will be excellent”, Puspa said when asked about the secret of Balinese cooking.