Around The World

Your team picks one destination and cooks it together, live. A professional chef leads on Zoom from their own kitchen while a Rockoly host runs the room, welcoming people, watching the chat and keeping the conversation going so nobody sits on mute. Ingredients arrive at every participant's door beforehand, so everyone is chopping, folding and tasting the same thing at the same moment. Menus run 60 or 90 minutes depending on the dish. You end with dinner on the table, a group photo, and a team that has actually talked to each other.

Fourteen menus, spanning Europe, Asia and Latin America. Your team books one per event.

• Spain: chicken and shrimp paella with sangria, 90 minutes.
• Japan: spicy tuna maki and temaki hand rolls, or vegetable gyoza with dipping sauce.
• Italy: cavatelli with walnut pesto, lemon ricotta tortellini in browned butter and sage, seasonal risotto, or a quick pizza with mushrooms and cheese.
• Mexico and Latin America: street tacos with chicken and pico de gallo, or cheese and corn empanadas with chili sesame oil.
• Thailand: rice-wrapped shrimp summer rolls with peanut dipping sauce, or drunken noodles.
• India: chicken tikka masala with rice and naan.
• Greece: vegetable and chicken souvlaki with tzatziki.
• Plus a smokey veggie burger with sweet potato fries for a lighter session.

Add-ons deepen the theme: a paella pan, a sushi making kit, sake etiquette, tortillas from scratch, a cocktail, or a wine pairing to round out the dish. If you would rather plan a year of events than book a one-off, ask about the Culture Subscription, where you set the budget once and spend credits across the year.

Yes, and it is usually the part people repeat afterward. A few things chefs tend to explain while your hands are busy:

• Paella is named after the pan, not the rice. The wide, shallow pan takes its name from the Latin patella, a flat dish, and the crisp layer of toasted rice at the bottom has its own name: socarrat. Cooks fight over it.
• Drunken noodles contain no alcohol whatsoever. Pad kee mao translates roughly as drunkard's noodles, and the usual explanations are that it is what you want to eat after a night out, or that it is fierce enough to sober you up. Either way, nothing in the pan has been near a bottle.
• Chicken tikka masala is claimed by two countries at once. Its origins in Britain's Indian restaurants are argued about endlessly, and in 2001 the UK foreign secretary Robin Cook went as far as calling it a true British national dish in a speech. Indian cooks have opinions about that.
• Souvlaki simply means little skewer in Greek.

That context is what turns a cooking class into a conversation, and it is why teams remember this one months later.

They will, because these menus were chosen to be finished by a beginner inside 60 or 90 minutes. The chef demonstrates every cut and every technique on camera before you try it, then works at the pace of the room rather than the recipe. Your host watches the chat for anyone falling behind and flags it quietly. Cameras can stay off. Kits feed a family of four, and partners or kids can join free on the same screen, which is often what turns a skeptical participant into the most enthusiastic one.

Usually nothing new. Zoom is the default, but Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and WebEx all work, so the event runs on the platform your company has already approved and people join it the way they join any other meeting. Tell your planner which one you use at booking and they handle the meeting invite and the address collection. If your security team has requirements of its own, raise them early rather than the week of the event. It matters more on this page than on most: a team spread across Germany, India and Spain has enough moving parts without adding a new login for everybody.

Rates are tiered by group size, and the tier structure matters more than any single number. Groups under five book a flat event rate of $695 to $895 depending on the menu. Groups of 5 to 30 run from $139 to $179 per person depending on the menu, with paella at the top of the range and dishes like street tacos or pizza at the bottom. The per-person rate drops again from 31 to 50 people, and once more above 50.

The virtual event rate covers your personal chef, a dedicated event planner, a Zoom host, all ingredients delivered, and gratuities. Shipping is free within the US and insured, so a lost, delayed or damaged kit gets replaced. Ingredients also ship internationally, including to Australia, the UK, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, India and Spain. Teams that would rather shop locally can take a shopping list instead.

Yes, at no extra cost, as long as you tell us in advance. Every menu on this page already carries a gluten-free, vegetarian or vegan path: the tacos come with a hearty black bean version, the paella and Thai summer rolls are gluten-free, and the veggie burger is vegan outright. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, kosher and no-alcohol needs are all accommodated. Alcohol is always optional, too. The sangria ships non-alcoholic by default, with a separate alcohol kit only if you want one.

Fill out the inquiry form on this page and a planner comes back with menu options and a date hold. In practice the choosing takes longer than the booking, so it helps to arrive with one decision already made: whether you want a 60-minute session or a 90-minute one, because that alone narrows fourteen menus to a handful.

Plan on about three weeks for a cooking event, mostly so kits reach everyone comfortably. Rush dates are sometimes possible depending on chef availability, so ask rather than assume. A $250 deposit locks the date; payment is by credit card, ACH transfer or check. Cancel 21 or more days out and you are refunded what you paid less any nonrecoverable costs already committed; 8 to 20 days out you choose between a 50% refund and a 100% Rockoly credit; inside 8 days payments are nonrefundable, though one complimentary reschedule is yours if you ask 14+ days ahead.

Every booking carries the Love Your Event Guarantee. You can also call (617) 939-9732 or email events@rockoly.com.