Lifelong Learning, One Block from the Mediterranean

Food has an incredible ability to bring people together - not just to nourish us physically, but to create community, spark curiosity, and inspire real change. When people come together to learn about food in a meaningful, hands-on way, something powerful happens: health improves, connections deepen, and the distance between us and our food begins to shrink.

Last week, Christina and I experienced this firsthand in Altea, Spain, where we were invited to help teach at our friends Juan and Mariana’s cooking school, the Artisan Culinary School. Being asked by Chef Juan to contribute to his program was a genuine honor, and it placed us in the middle of an extraordinary group of people who had traveled from around the world to learn, cook, and share meals together.

Altea, Spain at the most beautiful sunset ever which happened to be my birthday and just 1 block to the Artisan Culinary School

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Chef Juan and Bill making baguettes to go with dinner

Teaching is fulfilling. Learning is essential.

Over the last several years, we’ve been deeply focused on building the Modern Stone Age Kitchen and Food Lab - developing systems, refining processes, conducting research, and teaching. We are passionate about teaching, and it is incredibly fulfilling to share knowledge, skills, and perspective with others.

But if teaching is one side of the equation, learning is the other - and it is just as essential.

This week in Altea was a powerful reminder of that.

As much as we taught, I learned even more.

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A school built around meaningful education

The Artisan Culinary School is located in Altea on Spain’s Costa Blanca, and their entire model is built around immersive, hands-on education - baking, curing, preserving, cheesemaking, charcuterie, and more. Their mission is clear and intentional: to inspire through meaningful education. And that mission is evident in every aspect of the program.

Their courses are designed as true immersion experiences - often one- or two-week programs, along with longer intensives - bringing together artisans, farmers, food professionals, entrepreneurs, and deeply curious students from around the world. They’ve also built an environment that allows learning to take center stage, handling logistics, accommodations, and transportation so students can focus fully on the work.

And the setting doesn’t hurt. Altea is a place that immediately slows you down. Just one block from the Mediterranean, it reminds you what food is meant to be: not a commodity or a source of stress, but a daily practice of nourishment, connection, and care.

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Learning that changes how you cook - and why

While I’m always learning when I’m in Chef Juan’s kitchen, I also had the opportunity to spend several days working alongside Chef Laëtitia Visse, the chef-owner of La Femme du Boucher in Marseille. She is an expert in French charcuterie, with a particular focus on offal and whole-animal cookery - an approach that aligns deeply with how I understand our evolutionary relationship with food.

I am convinced that when our ancestors adopted a true nose-to-tail relationship with animals - including meat, fat, organs, skin, and blood - it fundamentally shaped our biology. This approach supported growing brains and bodies, while also establishing an ethical and sustainable framework: if an animal gives its life to nourish us, we honor that gift by using it fully and respectfully.

That philosophy was lived out every day in the kitchen.

We butchered pigs and worked with ducks, geese, chickens, and rabbits. We handled meat and fat, organs and blood, skin and bone. We made terrines, pâtés, head cheese, rillettes, rillons, sausages, and boudin noir. This kind of hands-on learning is irreplaceable - and I can say with certainty that what we learned will be finding its way onto plates at the Modern Stone Age Kitchen this spring.

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The people are half the experience

One of the most powerful aspects of this week was the students themselves.

They came from all over the world - the United States, Haiti, France, Greece, and beyond - and from all walks of life. There were professional chefs and butchers, people in the midst of career transitions, and others simply seeking a deeper understanding of food and how it is made. What they shared was a sense of purpose and curiosity.

Spending long days learning, cooking, and sharing meals (and yes, wine) together was a powerful reminder of how food brings people together. Real food - food with meaning, history, and terroir - has an incredible ability to create community and foster genuine connection.

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Why this matters - and why it might matter to you

Bill revitalized at the Artisan Culinary School.

Here’s what I hope you take away from this:

Engaging in food-based learning - especially learning that pushes you outside your comfort zone - is profoundly empowering.

It reconnects you to the world around you. It shortens your food chain. It improves health and wellbeing. It builds confidence and capability. And in a world that often feels increasingly abstract, it grounds you in something real.

There are many ways to step into this kind of learning.

You might consider traveling to the Artisan Culinary School for one of their immersive week-long programs - or even one of their longer intensives. You might join us for a weekend workshop at the Modern Stone Age Kitchen. Or you might cook alongside us week after week inside the Ancestral Table.

However you choose to do it, choose it intentionally.

Food is one of the most powerful vehicles we have for learning - about health, culture, ecology, ethics, and ourselves. When learning is hands-on, communal, and rooted in real food, it doesn’t just change what you know.

It changes how you live.