Aqaba: Jordanian Cooking Class & Family Meal with Recipes

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Free cancellationExcellent quality

1/24

Duration3h

GroupUp to 4

Mobile ticketAccepted

Cook Maqluba in a Jordanian Home, Then Eat It Sitting on the Floor

You cook a full Jordanian meal with Mohammed in his family home, learning three dishes while hearing stories about his culture and his mother's recipes. You eat together on the floor, then receive a PDF cookbook to recreate the meals at home. Groups are small — no more than six — and the whole experience takes about three and a half hours, including the meal itself.

Step-by-step itinerary

Jordanian cooking and cultural sharing

Join host at family house
Cook typical Jordanian meal
Learn about ingredients and stories
Eat meal sitting on the floor
Share cooking book via email
Discuss culture and share experiences

The Experience

The first thing Mohammed does when you arrive is apologize for his nine-month-old son being louder than expected that morning. His wife laughs from the kitchen. And that's when you realize this isn't a cooking class in the polished sense — it's three hours inside an actual family home in Aqaba, where the recipes are his mother's, the ingredients are real, and the mess is part of it. You'll spend about three to three and a half hours learning to make a typical Jordanian meal: Baba Ganoush, Maqluba (that impressive tower of stewed chicken, rice and fried vegetables that gets flipped onto the plate), Um Ali, and either Fatoush or Taboleh salad, depending on what the group wants. Vegan and vegetarian versions are available if you need them.

The cooking class in Aqaba is structured in three steps, and Mohammed walks through each one without rushing. You're not performing for a camera or racing against a timer — you're learning his family's way of doing things, which means there's time for stories. He'll explain why certain ingredients matter, how his mother taught him, what these dishes mean in Jordanian culture. His daughter might wander through. His wife will offer tea. The point isn't to become a chef; it's to understand food as a way people connect. Groups stay small, maximum six guests, so there's actual conversation, not a lecture.

After the cooking, you all sit together on the floor — the traditional way — and eat everything you made. That's when the recipes arrive too: Mohammed sends a PDF cookbook via email afterward so you can actually make these dishes when you're home. It's not a souvenir; it's the thing that lets the experience keep going after you leave Aqaba. Public transportation is nearby if you need to arrange your own way there, and the whole afternoon ends with you having cooked, eaten, talked, and left with something you can actually use.

What’s included

Your afternoon includes all ingredients and cooking equipment, instruction from Mohammed in his family home, a traditional floor meal with everything you've cooked, tea and conversation with his family, and a PDF cookbook sent to your email after the class so you can recreate the recipes at home.

Good to know

Public transport nearby

Operated by Suhaila Cooking Class & Walking Tour in Aqaba

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to learn Jordanian food from someone who actually cooks it at home, not in a commercial kitchen — the small group size and family setting are what make the cultural exchange real instead of performed.