Your appreciation for what goes on in the kitchen of your local dim sum or dumpling haunt is about to be taken to a new level.

Thanks to a tantalizing tour designed by Worldwide Quest, Canada’s experts in nature, adventure and cultural travel, you’ll get the rare chance to sample the culinary traditions of three of the great centres of Chinese cuisine, and visit local markets where you’ll buy your ingredients and then transform them into a delicious dish.

Departing Toronto on March 5, 2010, this 11-day tour to Shanghai, Xian and Hong Kong is led by Sara Waxman, an award-winning restaurant critic and food/travel writer who has eaten her way around much of the free world over the last two decades. Sara has also visited China and Hong Kong extensively over the last few years.

Highlights of this culinary trip include stops at a night food market, a visit to Toronto expatriate Alvin Leung’s Bo Innovation restaurant that specializes in “extreme Chinese cuisine,” and grocery shopping and cooking with a local family.

During a recent trip to Shanghai, Sara visited a restaurant whose avant-garde cuisine, she says, is becoming more popular in that city. "In Xintiandi, at the restaurant TMSK, I had an unusual dining experience that is an inspired fusion of Hunan, Shanghainese and Italian cuisine,” Sara said. “Wherever the eye falls, it will delight in something complex, new and beautiful. This is the emerging sophisticated Chinese culture in Shanghai.”

When you’re not cooking and eating, you’ll visit landmarks like the Terra Cotta Warriors and the Shanghai Museum, and have the chance to pop into boutiques, bookstores, artists’ studios and antique shops.

This tour departs March 5, 2010, and is priced at USD 4995 pp. Accommodation in five-star properties in the three cities, airport transfers and local flights are included. Along with Sara, a local representative will accompany you at all times.

For more information or to book this tour, please call Worldwide Quest at 416.633.5666 or 1.800.387.1483. Or visit the website, www.worldwidequest.com; keyword: Sara