DERBY – For nearly 25 years, city resident and business owner Jo-Ann Gaidosz has combined her passions for gourmet cooking, fitness, and travel into a recipe for success.
Gaidosz is the owner of Active Gourmet Holidays, a culinary travel business that focuses on food and “active lifestyle vacations.”
What’s an active lifestyle vacation, you ask?
It’s a trip that blends travel and recreational activities, like hiking and biking, with an intense focus on sampling regional cuisine.
Examples of the latter include cooking lessons with a local chef in an Italian villa overlooking the Amalfi Coast, making mozzarella in Tuscany and savoring gourmet wines in La Rioja, Spain.
The Derby resident began the business out of her home in 2002 and has since grown Active Gourmet Holidays to offer more than 75 custom culinary experiences, paired with outdoor activities like hiking and biking through Europe.
Her love of travel started when she was a young girl, watching “The Sound of Music.” Her love of cooking began more than three decades ago, wanting to be a great cook for her husband.
“When I saw Julie Andrews spinning around singing ‘The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music,’ that scene and the scenery did it for me,” Gaidosz said. “And food? I got into cooking when I first got married (32 years ago) and wanted to be a good cook for my husband and wanted to entertain guests.”
Gaidosz, a Stratford native with a degree in psychology and marketing, was working in sales in 2001 when she had her “a-ha” moment about changing her career path.
“I was watching Oprah and she posed the question, ‘what is the conversation you can’t help but interrupt?’” Gaidosz said. “For me it was travel. I was in sales at the time but wanted to do something I was more passionate about, so I came up with the idea to arrange cooking vacations and active travel, combining all the things I love into a business.”
She launched a website in 2002 offering to book trips to places she had been.
“I visited these people and places and was so intrigued by the ideas for trips that I could curate,” Gaidosz said. “It snowballed from there and I knew this was going to work.”
Some of the themed trips include “Porto and Douro Foodie and Wine Adventure” in Portugal, “Tasty Liguria & Parma” and “Cook Like a Tuscan” in Italy, and “The Kitchens and Traditions of Zakynthos Island” in Greece. Gadiosz has personally experienced many of the itineraries she curates.
All the trips can be customized to match people’s interests. Prices can range from $2,500 to $6,500 per person, excluding airfare.
Gaidosz’ business has been featured on CNN.com, The New York Times travel section and several local television shows. The queen of all-good-things, Martha Stewart, gave away one of Gaidosz’ trips in 2005 – a trip for two to Provence, France – on her TV show.
For more information, Gaidosz can be reached at 203-732-0771 or by email joann@activegourmetholidays.com. You can also visit her Facebook page.