Yabouy Home Cooking School

Ida Cham Njai's home cooking school has been featured everywhere from the BBC to Lonely Planet, and it lives up to the press. The half-day class — around four hours — starts with a shop alongside Ida at the local market, choosing the fish, vegetables and spices, before you cook three traditional dishes from scratch in her courtyard kitchen in Fajara: benachin, domoda or yassa, depending on the day. Then you sit down and eat what you've made, and leave with a recipe booklet to recreate it at home. Groups are small, two to six people, the pace is easy and friendly, and the price includes the market visit, all ingredients, the class and a full meal. It's run in English, and Ida's warmth and stories are as much a part of it as the cooking. For a hands-on taste of Gambian food and culture, it's a genuine highlight.