Welcome to the Alpine Adventure Agency

DANIELA ANDERSON, the owner of The Alpine Adventure Agency, is the creator and director of program development for our International Cooking School Series. A bi-lingual, Italian-American who has shared a lifetime between the United States and Italy, she has an extensive background in attending culinary workshops and teaching cooking classes of all kinds to all ages throughout the North East United States. Her  knowledgeable background in the culinary arts and her lifelong friendships with families and business owners in the international regions we visit allows her to develop top-notch cooking programs with premiere chefs, enologists, sommeliers, culinary experts as well as experiences in the kitchens of local families who have passed down original regional recipes through many generations.

Daniela has taken part in culinary workshops and classes throughout her life, beginning her formal culinary instruction during high school when she decided to work in a well-known bakery and pastry shop in the Washington D.C. area to further her knowledge in the area of baking.  She has worked as a free-lance cake decorator for more than 20 years, and has taught the art of cake decoration for over a decade.

In her mid-twenties, Daniela developed a division of children's cooking programs for a renown resort in the Adirondacks in New York. This was at the personal request of the resort's owner, a gourmet and wine connoiseur who has spent years enjoying culinary workshops with top international chefs and working with enologists to add to the collection of rare wines in his private reserve. She also developed a series of cooking classes exploring diverse cultural cuisine for a very active community center in Harrisburg, PA.

This series of international cooking programs is near and dear to Daniela's heart not only because of her special interest in the culinary arts in general, but also because her family cultural background has had a very powerful influence in her life. She began in the kitchen at age three with her Austrian grandmother and Italian mother. Her great grandmother was renowned in the Tyrolean alpine region of the Sud Tirol/ Alto Adige region for the cuisine she personally produced in the kitchen of the family's charming hotel in the spa town of Merano, located on the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy. These recipes and the family's love for cooking were passed down to Daniela. She, in turn, has already introduced some of these recipes to her own son when he was only three.  Daniela's culinary background through her Genoese grandfather's family also contributed to the Daniela's love for cooking, exposing her to Ligurian cuisine from her earliest memories.

During your all-inclusive, dream cooking vacations, Daniela has created an unbelievably diverse program of scenic morning excursions for guests in our programs, immersing you into the culture, and allowing you to experience daily life not as a tourist, but as an extended member of the family. Daniela personally leads the morning group outings, providing translation and insight into the local culture throughout your cooking vacation. Her goal is to leave you breathless with emotion at the rugged beauty of your surroundings, and feel the warmth and charm of the towns and the people in your hearts. She strives for her guests to have singular experiences they will remember the rest of their lives, and go home with Italy in their souls.

The Pensione Hermann / Ermanno (Daniela's great-grandmother and grandmother's  hotel) in Merano, Italy. Merano is located along the Brenner Pass on the border of Austria and Italy in the Sud Tirol - Alto Adige region of the Italian Alps. Photo: Courtesy of Daniela Anderson.

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